Bowling is a great way to get your kids out of the house and active for the summer. From May 30 to September 5, 2011, AMF is offering FREE bowling to kids under the age of 16. Register your children on the AMF site and each week they will email you coupons for two free games every day for each child! Games are good every day until 8:00pm.
Visit the AMF website to register your children and find a location near you. We visited Forest Lanes in Lyons so some of the information below may very depending on the location you visit.
Location: 7700 West 47th Street, Lyons
Phone: 708-447-7547
Hours:
Sunday – Thursday 11:00 am – midnight
Friday – Saturday 11:00 am – 2:00 am
Cost: Price varies from $1 to $5.45 per person per game depending on time of day. Shoe rental is additional.
Bathrooms: There are public bathrooms. There are no changing tables, or surfaces of any kind to change a diaper in the bathroom.
Nursing area: There is no designated nursing area.
Handicapped/stroller accessibility: The bowling alley is accessible to the handicapped and strollers. There is a ramp going down to the lanes.
Food: The Laneside Grill offers pizza, burgers, nachos, chicken wings, and other snacks and meals. A menu is available online. There are a variety of deals that include bowling and food and drinks. When you register your child for free bowling, the coupon can also be used to get a kid’s meal for only $2.99.
Other amenities: Birthday parties can be arranged, as well as fundraisers, adult parties, and group and corporate events.
We paid: $5.50. We paid $5.50 for Cooper’s shoe rental. They didn’t have shoes small enough for Dexter and I have my own bowling shoes because I was once on a high school bowling team (cool, I know). Since our coupon entitled the boys to two free games each and we only used one each, they didn’t charge me for my game.
Our experience: The boys are probably a bit young for bowling, but we had fun anyway. We used the bumpers to help the boys out. They were both very excited and a little obsessed with the bowling balls, ball return, and hand dryer. They used a 6-pound ball and both were able to carry it on their own and drop it (Dexter needed a little help making sure it was moving in the right direction). I had to hit the reset button every time one of the boys took a turn because their ball was moving so slow it didn’t trigger the reset. I don’t know that we’ll make this a regular activity until they’re a little older (especially Dexter), but it was fun and nice to do every once in a while. It’s a nice wait to teach the kids about taking turns and cheering for each other too.
Do you go bowling with your family? What other summer activities do you like to do?
I participated in this campaign as a member of the One2One Network and am eligible for a prize drawing. All opinions are my own.
I took one of my little friends bowling just last week! Its a nice way to spend an hour or two.