Are you an avid bowler with a young child eager to follow in your footsteps?
If so, great! It’s a well-documented fact that children need a variety of hobbies, skills, and activities to stoke their curiosity and stimulate their minds.
Better yet, if they take an interest in a pastime that’s dear to you, that can be a really exciting and special time for you as a parent.
However, you’re likely to have anxieties about the notion of bringing your child to a bowling alley and the potential safety risks attached, such as the wielding of heavy bowling balls, as well as concerns about them being able to practice safe and proper form.
So, how can you best prepare them for the thrills and adventure at the lanes, all while making this conditioning process a source of hours of fun? The solution lies in a kid’s bowling set.
Bowling sets for kids are usually composed of lightweight materials, making them both low-cost and safe for little bowlers. Since they are easily set up in your living room or backyard, they also offer an opportunity for children serious about the sport to safely practice bowling at home.
In this article, I’ll be giving you a rundown of the best bowling sets for kids available to buy today.
Contents
At A Glance: Our Top Picks for Best Kids Bowling Sets
If you’re in a hurry, you can jump straight into our top picks (these are the kids’ bowling sets that most people buy).
- Stats Bowlercade Top Pick
- Sportcraft Bowl-A-Rama Bowler Runner-up
- Majik Roll-A-Strike Runner-up
Top 5 Best Kids Bowling Sets – Our Reviews:
1. Stats Bowlercade
The Bowlercade from Stats is an insanely cool miniature bowling set that can recreate all the fun of the alley in the sanctuary of your backyard—or living room for that matter.
The length of the alley comes to roughly 5ft., which is ample space for your little one to swot up their technique and maybe even start working on hooks!
There are six pins in total, which is a nice enough reduction to help your child gradually work up to a full pin arrangement without diminishing all the element of challenge.
The pins are attached to the ceiling of the box, retracting upwards when hit and resetting at the end of a turn. This is a great function that can effectively emulate an authentic bowling experience.
The ball return is a neat addition, allowing for a streamlined process of continuous play. However, some users have complained of a degree of wobbling as the ball travels along the rails.
Pros
- Pin reset function
- LED scoreboard
- Ball return system
Cons
- Batteries not included
- Ball return rail is reportedly wobbly
2. Sportcraft Bowl-A-Rama Bowler
The Bowl-A-Rama from Sportscraft is a popular choice among parents for younguns entering the world of bowling.
It features a 4ft. lane, which could be an ideal length for children ages 2+.
Similar to the Bowlercade, the Bowl-A-Rama has a LED scoreboard, a ball return system, and a pin auto-reset function. This makes it another great option if you want to offer your child a truly immersive bowling experience from the comfort of your home.
The one minor setback is the lane’s fabric composition, creating a significant degree of friction between the ball and the ground surface. However, this shouldn’t be too much of an issue as it can make straight bowling considerably easier.
Pros
- LED scoreboard
- Ball return
- Great for two players
Cons
- Fabric lane
3. Majik Roll-A-Strike
The Majik Roll-A-Strike is a compact and simplified alternative to the more extravagant and embellished kids’ bowling sets also available on the market.
Rather than deploying real pins into the setup, the Roll-A-Strike instead features a backboard fitted with sensors to calculate the result of the bowl, with the score displayed on the screen above.
The set is straightforward and quick to collapse and reassemble, making it a great option for young, ambitious bowlers who are constantly on the move.
Pros
- Intuitive scoring system
- Hard lane surface
- Portable
Cons
- No physical pins
4. Cosmo Kids Bowling Set
The Cosmo bowling set takes a more rudimentary approach to child-size home bowling, making it a great option if you want to teach your kids how to bowl.
Subverting the interactive scoreboards and return systems for just the bare essentials, this will offer your kid crash course in the basics of bowling.
The set comes equipped with a full set of ten pins, a foldable cardboard lane, a paper score chart, and a half-size bowling ball for the kids.
It could definitely prove a great activity for parents and kids to enjoy together too, as the pins and ball are heavily weighted enough to offer an authentic bowling experience.
Pros
- A great, back to basics bowling set
- A complete pin arrangement
- Decently weighted ball
Cons
- Cardboard lane lacks durability
- Not suitable for younger children
5. Etna Giant Inflatable Bowling Set
This inflatable bowling kit from Etna is a great option for summertime.
Opting for novelty fun in place of realism, the Etna giant bowling set will keep a child of almost any age occupied for hours.
It’s a great excuse to get your young ones to spend more time outdoors too, working as a great accompaniment to a paddling pool, picnic, or even a trip to the beach.
By nature of the set being inflatable, it can be deflated to a compact size, making it a great portable option that can be enjoyed on almost any terrain.
Pros
- A lot of fun for any number of players
- Great for the summer
- Portable
Cons
- Not suitable to be used indoors
- Not recommended if you want to give your child an authentic introduction to bowling
Wrap Up
The sheer amount of choice out there can be overwhelming, and it can be a daunting task figuring out what kids bowling set will best suit your child’s, yours, and your household’s needs, especially when taking space and budget into account.
Hopefully, this list has helped you refine your search and has given you an insight into the best of the options available to you. If your kid has shown some serious interest in bowling, you might want to keep track of his/her progress using bowling score apps that record a player’s performance and identify room for improvement.
Whichever avenue you opt for, make sure your child exercises proper safety precautions and most importantly enjoys their first steps into the world of bowling!