{Recycled Craft} Make a Vase from Old Shoes Kids Activities Blog

Make a vase that will remind you of times past. This simple recycled craft is made with a pair of your child’s old shoes. Kids Activities Blog loves to find easy {and inexpensive ways} to get kids involved in the craft process and this recycled shoe vase is easy enough for a child to create.

Recycled Craft

We are celebrating our differences and worked together to make a vase from old shoes!

Rory has Congenital Femoral Deficiency. I know that she is going to struggle with her leg for such a long time, and I know I am going to struggle with it too. Her ever growing shoe is part of our life, and I want her to always be proud of them and of who she is. I do not want her to throw herself a pity party because of her leg. I want her to know what a strong girl she is for walking and running with her little leg every day. I want her to see her shoe as a strength rather than a weakness, which has inspired this week’s project.

Make a Vase

Materials Needed:

a pair of old shoes
styrofoam board
scissors (or exacto knife to cut the styrofoam)
artificial (or real) flowers
scrap fabric
pen or other utensil used to poke through the fabric into the styrofoam

Old Shoes

This project will work with any shoes (I bet it would look super cute with baby shoes), any shoes that you can’t seem to throw away. I had some styrofoam board that many use for flower arranging (we like to dry cake pops on them). I also had some scraps of fabric lying around that I used to cover up the styrofoam board.

Measure the inside of the shoe as best as possible. Cut out the styrofoam to fit inside the shoe. Wrap the scrap fabric around the styrofoam and place it in the shoe. Think about how you would like the flowers to be arranged and poke holes in the styrofoam. Place the flowers in the styrofoam. I let Rory put the flowers in the shoes. We used this opportunity for counting the petals on the flowers, the leaves on the flowers, and all the flowers in the shoe.

Rory really liked seeing her old shoes become centerpieces on her book shelf! I want Rory to look at her old shoes with the flowers in it and to see beauty. I want her to know that we are celebrating what other people think could be a weakness, or deformity. Her little leg is special.

I encourage all moms to find what makes their child special, the weakness that others may find in your child, and let them know that it is something that makes them special. I find that many times, a parent’s attitude is reflected in the children's attitude. If Rory sees me being positive and optimistic about her shoes I think she will be positive too.

These flower shoes are just another way of me showing her how much we love her leg!

Psst… You may like this whiligig water bottle craft