How to Make Stuff Out of Shoe Boxes

Every time you purchase a pair of shoes, you are left with an empty shoe box. Instead of throwing away this seemingly worthless cardboard, reuse the material for family arts and crafts. Shoe boxes can be crafted into rubber band guitars, decorative storage boxes, doll houses and jewelry boxes. Shoe box crafts are great for the whole family. One interesting item that can be made from old shoe boxes is, fittingly, a pair of children's lounging sandals. With a few simple materials, your child can make personalized sandals for romping around the house and playing dress-up.

Things You'll Need

• Shoe box
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Colorful fabric
• Glue stick
• Colored masking tape
• Foam stickers
• Faux flowers, feathers or sequins
• Puffy paint
• Liquid glue

Instructions

Sandal Bottoms

1. Cut open the box until it is a flat piece of cardboard. This will make it easier to trace the shape of your child's foot.

2. Place your child's feet on the flattened cardboard and trace around them with a pencil. If there isn't enough room for both feet, trace the other foot on the box lid. Make sure the ends are rounded, and leave about 1/4 inch between the toes and the end of the sandal.

3. Cut out the foot shapes. These will be the bottoms of the sandals.

4. Place the cardboard sandal bottoms on top of the colorful fabric and trace around them with a pencil.

5. Cut the foot shapes out of the fabric. They should be the exact same size as the cardboard sandal bottoms.

6. Smear glue onto the cardboard sandal bottoms and place the fabric on top of the glue, pressing down with your fingers. Make sure the fabric is aligned with the cardboard sandal bottoms before gluing.

Sandal Straps

1. Cut long strips out of the remainder of the shoebox.

2. Have your child stand on top of the sandal bottoms and wrap the strip around the entire top of the foot and the sole of the sandal. Add more than one strap if desired or create a crisscross strap.

3. Tape the strap to the bottom of the sole. Do this by wrapping tape all the way around the sole and the top of the strap. The colored tape will hide the cardboard color of the strap.

Finishing

1. Attach foam stickers to the non-fabric side of the cardboard sandal bottoms. This will give the sandals some traction and keep your child from slipping on indoor surfaces.

2. Create patterns on the straps using puffy paint. Create polka dots, zigzags, smiley faces or sports colors.

3. Glue sequins, feathers or faux flowers to the straps to add a personalized touch.

Tips & Warnings

• These sandals are not meant to be worn outdoors since they do not adequately protect feet and have little traction.

References

• Disney Family Fun