et the whole family into the spirit of the Olympic games by making athletic shoes with personality for the Family Olympic Shoe-Kick competition. This is a great way to use those old, worn-out sneakers from the summer! "My kids love any crafts. This was no exception," reported one mother of two. A New York mom "thought they might be hard (to make)," but ended up saying, "It was easy!"

Here is what you'll need:

• An old sneaker for each player
• Spray paint
• Tacky glue
• Collage materials such as felt, fabric scraps, rickrack, wiggly eyes, buttons, etc.

Here's what you do:

• Run the sneakers through the washing machine and dry them thoroughly. Each person will need only one shoe that will fit at least over his or her toes.
• Spray-paint each sneaker in a color of choice and let the sneakers dry overnight. This does wonders for the looks of old sneaks!
• Have each family member add a face to the front of a shoe by decorating it with collage materials in a way that reflects his or her personality. Let the glue dry completely.

The Krabacher family, who recently moved, had no old shoes to spare. "We ended up using old shoe boxes." Great idea! I love creative problem solving! "I wrapped the boxes in white paper so the kids would have a 'blank canvas.'"
The LaClairs had plenty of old sneakers and sprayed them a variety of colors. "Ryan (12) used green paint and turned his into a bug with pipe cleaners for antennas and pinchers and bottle caps with stickers for eyes." Mom, Peggy, reported that Rachel (9) "had fun getting creative" and little Christine (5) "did a good job working on her own."

How to Play Family Olympic Shoe-Kick

• This is an outdoors game. Have all the players line up in an open area, each with a shoe just over the toes of one foot. The idea is to kick the shoes and see how high, how far, or how wild they go. Make up a variety of shoe-kicking games so that everyone can be successful at this silly, fun event.
• Try having a shoe high jump challenge by having a stick holder raise the bar higher after each height has been mastered. For this event, it's a good idea for the stick holder to stand behind a tree while holding the stick out to give the holder protection from flying sneakers.
• Put out a bucket or laundry basket, and try to kick the shoes into the target.
• Try out each other's shoes for a challenge. Your preschooler may not kick Dad's shoe very far, but then Dad may never successfully balance the little shoe on his toes long enough to launch it at all.

As a special surprise, have medals ready to award all the shoes. Tape the two ends of a length of ribbon to a shiny quarter for each medal. Present them with great ceremony and try to keep a straight face as you hang a medal on each shoe as the proud owner presents it. A New York mom says, "I made the medals and presented them after the game to the kids, and they liked them a lot."

What to do with the shoes when the games are over? First, you may need to get out the glue bottle and use it to repair any damage received in the heat of the games. The victorious athletic shoes can then retire to individual desks and dressers to be used as catchalls for small items and a happy reminder of the Family Olympic Shoe-Kick competition. (Are you sure you've never heard of this event?)

TAKE IT FROM ME:
"I put hula hoops in the yard and each one was worth a different amount of points. They were actually cheering for each other!"
-- The Krabachers


Some families thought up indoor events as well; one involving a basketball hoop in the cellar and another using a basket as the target.

Related Items:

• Kids Games [1] contains the rules to dozens of common children's playground games like Capture the Flag and Marbles.
• The Official Olympics Website [2] has an entire kids' section.

This article © 2001-2004 Studio One Networks.

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