Shoes That Quak

When my daughter was in 4th grade last year (2014) she joined the Lego Robotics Team for her school. It was an all girls team made up of 4th and 5th graders. The team had chosen the name Mico Chick's to compete under. So as the year progressed and a lot of hard work and hours went into building a robot and learning the competition routine. The first competition takes place, which is district. The girls now have hats and T-shirts made, along with wearing a yellow tutu and look very cute. The Micro Chicks (the only all girls team) make the hard work pay off by winning the competition and their district.

So with winning the district competition, the Micro Chicks qualify for the SC State Championship. This is when my daughter had the idea to have her team dress up in the duck shoes.

One night after dinner, my daughter and I discussed how the shoes should look. She had a pair of inexpensive white shoes, and we got to work. In a few hours time, this is what we came up with!

Start with inexpensive white shoes. With painter's tape, tape around the bottom rubber of the shoes. Then remove shoe laces and fill the inside of the shoes with newspaper. This will help keep and maintain shape along with protecting the inside from over spray. Place shoes on cardboard for over spray protection of ground.

With regular spray paint, cover the shoes evenly with several light coats. The first one or two coats might not be sufficient for the color you're looking for but after the third to fourth coat, the fabric should hold the color. Let dry in a well ventilated area. Overnight if time permits.

After the base color has dried, take a pencil and draw the face. I used the hat they had made as a template to go by. Once the face is drawn on one shoe, repeat for the second shoe. Now that both shoes has the image and are evenly drawn, you can start to paint in the colors. I used water based crafters paint. After I filled each space with the corresponding color and they had dried, I retraced the pencil lines with black paint. This made the face really stand out and helped to match the team hat. Once all the paint has dried, I added the shoe laces back in for the finished product.

The girls all loved the shoes once I had all 11 or 12 pairs completed. The Micro Chicks wore their outfits and new shoes to the SC State Championship and there too, the Micro Chicks won!

My wife and I along with other parents were proud and shocked that they won at the state level. This got them an invite to travel across the country to CA and Legoland in San Diego for the World Championships.

To make a long story short, the only all girls team, being also in elementary school, while competing against mostly middle school teams, ended up winning judge's choice for best team and a world title! GO MICRO CHICKS!!!