A park or a ground with a grown-up

Lawn bowls at home

Bowls and a green at a club; a rolling ball on a lawn or carpet at home.

4 cards at home 2 for a park or court 1 for the club

What should we practise today?

Tell us where you are and who is playing. You get one card and the reason.

Where are you?

Who is playing?

Start a session

New to lawn bowls? The game in a minute

Read this once before the first card.

The game in short: Players roll bowls, heavy balls that are slightly lopsided so they curve, along a smooth, flat lawn called a green, trying to stop them as close as possible to a small white ball called the jack.
How points are scored: When every bowl has been rolled, that is one end. The player or team with the bowl nearest the jack scores 1 point, called a shot, for every bowl that is nearer than the other side's nearest bowl. Then the next end is played back the other way.
How a game is won: Singles is one player against one; pairs, triples and fours are teams. A singles game is often first to 21 shots; team games are played over a set number of ends, and the higher score wins.
Rules children break first: One foot stays on the mat until the bowl has left the hand.
Wait your turn; one player bowls at a time.
Stand still and quiet behind the mat or the jack while others bowl.
Flat-soled shoes only on a green.
At home you roll a ball: A tennis ball on a lawn or carpet with a cone as the jack, a pendulum swing, a routine before every roll, and a ball with a lump stuck on one side to learn how a bowl curves.

Words you will hear (22, in plain language)

Bowl: The heavy ball used in the game, slightly flatter on one side.
Bias: The lopsided shape that makes a bowl curve as it slows; the small mark on the bowl shows the inside of the curve.
Jack: The small white ball that is the target.
Mat: The small rubber mat the player stands on to bowl.
Green: The green is the whole lawn; a rink is the strip one game is played on.
Ditch: The shallow trench round the edge of the green.
End: One round, when every bowl has been rolled toward the jack.
Shot: A point; each bowl nearer the jack than the other side's nearest.
Head: The group of bowls lying round the jack.
Delivery: The whole movement of rolling a bowl.
Pendulum swing: The arm swinging straight down, back and forward like a clock's pendulum.
Anchor foot: The anchor foot stays on the mat; the lead foot steps forward along the line.
Grip: How the bowl is held: with the fingers spread under it and the thumb on top (claw), or resting in the palm with the thumb lower down (cradle).
Forehand: Rolling so the bowl curves in from the right, or from the left (for a right-hander).
Line: The direction the bowl is aimed, which is wide of the jack because the bowl curves.
Weight: How hard the bowl is rolled, which decides how far it goes.
Draw: A bowl rolled to stop close to the jack.
Forcing shot: A firmer bowl rolled to push another bowl away, or a fast one to knock it out.
Pre-shot routine: The same few steps before every roll.
Lead: The lead bowls first in a team; the skip bowls last and directs the team.
Singles: Games of one, two, three or four players a side.
Boccia: A similar target game of throwing or rolling balls to a jack.

Try it, nothing to buy

Mark the space once. Every card starts from it.

A suggested first ten sessions (optional)

The cards, level by level

Nobody is late. A beginner of any age starts at Basic.

Basic 4 cards · show· hide Holding the bowl or ball, a stable stance on the mat, a pendulum swing with release low, and aiming at the jack. A delivery has five parts: a pre-shot routine, the grip, the stance on the mat, the release and the follow-through.

Move on when the child meets the self-checks on b1 to b3.

Intermediate 2 cards · show· hide The draw to the jack with forehand and backhand, the controlled forcing shot, the drive, delivering the jack and making the first bowl count. Record where each bowl finishes so progress shows.

Move on when the player can draw, force and drive with control.

Advanced 1 cards · show· hide Exact draw weight, accurate drives, shots that place a bowl where it helps later, adapting to different greens, planning end by end, leading a team as skip, and staying calm in key ends.

a1 Positions, tactics, the skip At a club what the coach teaches, what to ask

Teaching this at home

More space and a second person. A grown-up can run every card.

You do not need to know the sport. Each card tells you where to stand, what to say and what to look at. Pick one thing to say in a session and say only that. The first week looks messy; that is normal. End every session on one that works.

Cards marked At a club are taught by a coach. They tell you what the coach teaches, what is safe at home, and what to ask the club before your child joins.

How to warm up before playing is at workonfitness.com. The rules of the game are at sportsmaze.com.