Mike lost one of his shoes recently to a black hole at the gym, so he decided to use the remaining shoe as an educational visual. First he taught the kids how to tie shoes, and then they took the shoe apart!
Four-year-old Johnny was especially interested in looking at how the shoe came apart. They talked about why different materials were used for different parts of the shoe:
And even examined the different building materials with magnifying glasses!
Have you ever taken a shoe apart? If the kids were a little older, we might have gone into the chemistry behind the different synthetic materials…
Learning Laboratory is a celebration of hands-on, creative, fun learning for all ages! Here are some links I loved last week:
- 3D Street Art Process from Creative Family Moments.
- 7 Ways Kids Can Play With a New Sibling from B-InspiredMama.com
- Playroom Rhythm: Tempera & Sheet from Play Through the Day
- Science at the Beach from Taming The Goblin
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
No! I have never done this…I know what my old shoes will be destine for now! :)
:-) it was a lot of fun!
ooooh fantastic idea! We might have to do the same thing! xx
Wow, fantastic idea! I would never have thought of that, but my kids would have loved it!
It was a lot of fun :-)
I think my husband’s shoes are ready to be retired…I can’t wait to do this. This goes to show you that all things can be (STEM) learning activities, and blogging material!
Can’t wait!
Darci
It’s a lot of fun!
The idea never crossed my mind!!!!!!!!!!
What a great idea. With all the velcro and slip on shoes for kids, it’s hard to find ones that tie. We had one pair of baby sneakers that my girls rarely wore but I’ve saved them because they tie and I figure I’ll put them on a doll or stuffed animal when I want to teach the kids to tie shoes. I never would have thought to take a sneaker apart though – very clever.
I love the idea of saving baby sneakers to teach tying! My kids don’t own any tie shoes.
I love how Mike is game to take anything apart. :) :) What a great learning experience.
I don’t think Mike will ever tire of taking things apart :)
Reverse engineering at its finest :) That’s the best way to learn how things work.
It’s a very fun way to learn how things work!
I <3 shoe science, but I am biased since my lab is currently working on special footwear for people with knee osteoarthritis. Maybe we can do a video tour one day. We do motion capture (like how they do some computer animated films and video games) and we have a full body laser scanner! The cub scouts I gave a tour to in May loved it (but they are a little older).
A video tour would be amazing!!!
Great idea, Mike! Shoe/sneaker construction is a marvel!
It’s some amazing technology!
What a great idea for shoes that are no longer wearable! I love it.
What a great use for an old (or lost the match) shoe! Material science can be really interesting. :)
I think material science is fascinating! Wish I understood it a bit better – something for me to learn about!!!
Just starting to teach my son. Thank you for this post!
Cool idea!
With so many velcro shoes in our house, it didn’t occur to me until recently that my daughters have never owned tie shoes. Guess what I’m working on this summer? I have some old shoes and now I know what to do with them!
My kids don’t have any tie shoes either!
I don’t know that we’ll end up doing this with a shoe, but I like the idea of taking something apart to see its components, especially something that we’re going to have to throw away anyway. I’ll try to remember this the next time we have something that can’t be recycled or reused.
What a great idea to take it apart. We haven’t taken any apart yet on purpose…… We’ve had a few fall apart.
Okay, that is seriously COOL!
I would have NEVER thought to use the remaining shoes as a learning tool-very creative :)
Personally, I would have loved to be apart of that learning laboratory!