American Girl Bowling Set
American Girl Bowling Set
Ever since the really cute Our Generation bowling set came out, the kids and I have been obsessed with our dolls needing to bowl! We stalked our local Targets for weeks until finally, one day, the set was there! Very excited we brought it home and opened it to play with. My honest review of the Our Generation bowling set is that I was very disappointed with it. The ball is extremely small for what I think the scale should be. It is hollow and very light. It is not able to knock over any bowling pins that we made unless we really chuck it at them! So, once again a DIY was in order. Yay! Craft time. I really love the outcome of our our DIY American Girl Bowling set for so many reasons. First, it was very inexpensive! We got the wooden balls from Hobby Lobby which come 4 to a bag for $3.99 and of course we used a 40% coupon with it! That’s the only thing we had to buy! Woohoo! Everything else we had on hand. Second, it feels more to scale for the dolls. Third, the dolls can actually hold the balls all on their own without a clear rubber band! Fourth, it’s super fun for me! I mean the kids. Really, the kids have been setting up the pins and playing over and over. The Our Generation set didn’t come with pins either, so the DIY is a win win!
Small confession: I really wanted to find wooden pieces for the pins. I looked everywhere! I even tried to imagine two wooden pieces put together to look like a pin. No luck. Maybe a wooden maraca with the tip cut off and turned upside down? I couldn’t find any. So I just moved on and made them with cereal boxes. However, if I find what I was originally looking for, I will update this post! If YOU find something that will work, PLEASE share it with us!
Materials Needed:
- Paperboard (I used cereal boxes)
- Glue Stick
- Wooden Balls (Hobby Lobby)
- Drill
- Paint
- Sponge
- Scissors
- Red/Black Sharpie
English
June 29, 2016 at 3:49 pm –
this stuff is awesome!!!!! I plan on making a lot of your things!!!!!!
April 30, 2016 at 6:29 pm –
Hey all you bowling fans … Just found a website that makes wooden bowling pins in AG size. I bought the pins and balls. Of course they have lots of other fun AG wood working things.
http://www.caseyswood.com
February 7, 2016 at 9:31 am –
Your crafts are amazing . They look realistic.
January 19, 2016 at 1:20 pm –
Hi my name is Laura how did you get the bowling pins?
December 31, 2015 at 7:20 pm –
AWESOME!!!!!!!! The paperboard looks so real!, but could you also use foam board?
December 30, 2015 at 10:06 pm –
How do you get the printibles?
December 10, 2015 at 2:51 pm –
Look under wooden cutouts on a site that sells wooden dowels.
Or JoAnn’s might be where I found mine. I’ve had them for awhile, and can’t ,remember where I got them.
I put holes in the wooden ball with a drill {hold the ball with a pair of pliers. Do Not hold it in your fingers}
Hope that helps a little.
October 22, 2015 at 3:25 pm –
Love it!
October 18, 2015 at 9:21 am –
i love your site and adore your little helper! she always makes this grandma smile when she helps with the videos. thanks for all the great inspirational vids. you are amazing!
October 18, 2015 at 11:22 am –
Thank you! I adore the little helper too ?
September 28, 2015 at 7:14 am –
you did not show how and where to put the holes so the dolls could hold the balls
July 2, 2015 at 3:04 am –
My son loves bowling and we bought the og bowling set first thing. I too thought the ball was small, but he loves the set. I can’t wait to try this with him. I think we will experiment with pins. ..
May 20, 2015 at 8:49 pm –
I agree with you Rebecca
May 20, 2015 at 8:47 pm –
WOW THIS IS AWESOME my ten year old daughter is amazing at arts and crafts and she has an AG doll
May 11, 2015 at 5:24 am –
Wow, Flo – great find! We don’t have Hobby Lobby’s so I guess I need to keep my eyes open for balls!
May 9, 2015 at 6:10 am –
Look what I found!
http://www.caseyswood.com/shoppingcart/zen-cart/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=185_99
May 4, 2015 at 4:47 pm –
On the Hobby Lobby web site they have a wood curtain finial unfinished (Lara’s crafts) 41/2″ that if you cut off the bottom looks like a great bowling pin. It is 1.99
May 4, 2015 at 5:51 pm –
You are right! Those would look so cute! I wish I had found those in the store!
May 4, 2015 at 6:06 am –
This is really cute and looks real!
May 3, 2015 at 6:00 pm –
Same here!
May 3, 2015 at 5:59 pm –
Thanks; I was wondering if I should get the bowling set from OG. I thought the bowling ball was too small up close. Can’t wait to start on a bowling project! ?
May 4, 2015 at 8:38 am –
Yeah, I am a fan of a lot of OG stuff, however the bowling set was not cutting it for me.
May 3, 2015 at 5:51 am –
This is so cute and so much better than anything I’ve seen on sale. I will have to keep an eye out for these wood balls, I definitely want to try this.
May 1, 2015 at 2:39 pm –
I saw an idea on how to make American girl bowling pins once! They used wooden “eggs” ( one that was about the size of an actual egg and one to go on top) they painted them white and glued them together, and for an added detail: they took a small red rubberband and put it on the pin. ( the only problem with this would be that they might be too heavy for the bowling ball to knock down)