16mo–2.2y10 minFree playFamily timeOutdoor
Bottle Skittles Count
A simple at-home skittles (bowling) game using bottles as pins to practise counting small sets and using early quantity words like ‘more’ and ‘all gone’.
What you'll need
Essentials
- 3–6 empty plastic bottles or cups (as skittles/pins)
- a soft ball (or rolled-up socks as a ball)
- a clear floor space (hallway or living room)
Nice to have
- masking tape to mark a ‘throw line’
- a small cloth for quick clean-up
Movement level: mild
What you'll do
The 4-step guide, with what to look for at each step, is for signed-in parents.
What this develops
What it practices
- Selects a small number of objects from a group when asked, for example, ‘please give me one’, ‘please give me two’.Observable behaviour from Development Matters
- Uses some language of quantities, such as ‘more’ and ‘a lot’.Observable behaviour from Development Matters
- Recites some number names in sequence.Observable behaviour from Development Matters
- Begins to make comparisons between quantities.Observable behaviour from Development Matters
Where it comes from
- Source
- Development Matters in the EYFS (DfE, 2012)
- Original guidance
- “Provide games and equipment that offer opportunities for counting, such as skittles.”
- License
- Open Government Licence v3.0
- Attribution
- © Crown Copyright 2012 (Development Matters in the EYFS, DfE)