Monday, May 26, 2014

{Think Outside the Toy Box} Glow Sticks: Glow-in-the-Dark Bowling

Welcome to the first week of the Think Outside the Toy Box Summer Fun Series!
If you are here for the first time or missed Friday's post, you can check out the Introduction the Think Outside of the Toy Box for all the details of this awesome new series. 

Now on to this week's fun with:

 GLOW STICKS

This week's item was a tough for me! I wasn't too worried about engaging Myles because he has a pretty big fascination with glow sticks, so I figured he would love whatever we did with them. However, I wanted to start this series off with something that would BLOW YOUR MINDS... and well... I feel that I fell a little short of my expectations. I seriously racked my brain for days and even went so far as to ask my boyfriend for ideas! In the end, the right side of my brain totally failed me on this one. But I will say that both Myles and I had a pretty good time, even if it wasn't the most creative!  

Glow-in-the-Dark Bowling





What You Will Need:
 
1 container of 10-15 glow bracelets (found at the dollar store or Target's One Spot)
10 (empty) plastic juice bottles, rinsed out and dried
1 small to medium sized ball

Directions:
For this game to be played to its full potential, wait until it is dark outside or set it up in a room that can be made mostly dark. Also the best ball to use is one that is heavy enough to knock the bottles over, but light enough to be rolled by your little one. The first ball we used was a little too light. It worked okay, but when we switched to a heavier ball (toddler sized basketball), it worked a lot better.

1. Break the 10 glow sticks, shake them, put one in each bottle, and then screw the top back on. To be honest, this was Myles' favorite part. He loved breaking the sticks and putting them in each different bottle. This entertained him more than the actual bowling! That's a toddler for ya!

2. Set up the 10 plastic bottles (with glow sticks in them) in bowling pin formation.

3. Turn off the lights (or set them up outside at night time). You probably need a little light, but make it as dark as possible without endangering you/your children!

4. Play! 
I wasn't able to get any very good action shots because I was having to set the bottles back up every 5 seconds. And then Myles thought it would be fun to just kick them all down instead of using the ball.

Variations: Use less bottles if you don't have ten. Use plastic 2 liters, or for a small version, use 1 liter pop bottles. Put 2 or more glow sticks in each bottle.

After our bowling, it was bed time, so we used the rest of the glow sticks to take a glow-in-the-dark bath. We just used the 5 we had left over from the pack, but I think it would have been better if we used more.

So there you have it: week one of the Think Outside the Toy Box Summer Fun Series is in the bag! Also don't forget to check out what all of the other ladies put together for this week's item in the link-up below. 
And if you have a post (new or old) that you created showcasing glow sticks in a kid's project, craft, game, experiment, etc., submit it below as well. No post this week? No problem; join us next Monday when we will be using plastic pop bottles! 
 
Also just in case you want to get a head start, here is the complete list for the coming weeks:
June 2 - Plastic Soda Bottles
June 9 - Paper Grocery Bags
June 16 - Kool-Aid
June 23 - Ice Cream Cones
June 30 - Pool Noodles
July 7 - Wax Paper
July 14 - Puzzle Pieces
July 21 - Paper Cups
July 28 - Plastic Milk Jugs


14 comments :

  1. I love the idea of glow stick bowling! How fun!

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  2. Oh we'll definitely be trying this one out! Nicholas loves bowling :) Great idea!

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  3. We've done the glow stick bath tub too! My daughter would love the bowling version! :)

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  4. Yea not super creative, but pretty fun. I think older kids would like it for a sleepover party game more. Myles just wanted to kick the bottles all over the kitchen!

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  5. I loved this first week and so excited for the weeks to come now. Everyone had such good ideas and since glow sticks are to cheap. I will be trying them all! Myles didn't quite get the game but he had fun putting it all together and that's good enough for me!

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  6. It's weird because my son was a little scared of the bath. I really don't know why because he sleep in the complete dark and plays this his flashlight in the dark. I think he was just ready for bed so he wasn't really feeling it. I thought it was pretty awesome though and might just do it for myself!

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  7. I will have to try the bath tub. I'm worried they wouldn't like being in the bathroom in the dark. Especially the older ones because of some kids at school telling them the bloody mary story and no matter how much I tell them that they shouldn't believe those kids at school they still do. I would love a nice glowing bathtub and some bubbles lol

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  8. Cute Myles! You know a toddler when you see one! Hehe. It's so funny that he just wanted to kick all the bottles rather than do bowling itself! Ahaha. I'm sure you had fun though so it's still worth it! :)

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  9. Looks like it was so much fun!

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  10. Desiree @ Macke MonologuesMay 28, 2014 at 8:37 AM

    Love these ideas! We are always looking for new things to try, as our toy box can get kind of boring (even with the 5 million toys in it)! We will have to try the bath tub glow sticks for sure - two things I KNOW Marcus will love!

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  11. OMG I remember the Bloody Mary story. I;m glad those adolescent stories are still being told! They are a part of growing up! I surprised my son didn't really like it either. I think he was just tired and ready for bed, but he only stayed in for a couple minutes and acted scared. Yea I think it looked like fun more for myself!

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  12. Yea he's not really into structured activities yet! And he definitely likes to destroy rather than put together! But it at least kept us busy even it if wasn't played in the way I had intended!

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  13. I'm not sure he had that much fun with the intended purpose of the game, but he had a blast kicking the bottles around the whole kitchen! And he loved the glow stick part, so I call it a win in my book! Sure miss you! Hope to see you back soon!

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  14. It's so funny because we have sooo many toys too and half of them never get played with! I keep thinking I find something he will absolutely love and then he doesn't even care! So now I am looking more into making stuff because he seems to be into how things work more than the actual toy now. So anything that is different and not a toy he is all over! I thought it was super fun, I even wanted to take a glow-in-the-dark bath myself!

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