Wooden Platform Shoes for Balance

Grandpa Bill and I worked together to make Rachel a pair of wooden platform shoes for balancing.
They are similar to the pair Rachel's physical therapist loaned her. (Supply list is based on assuming you already have a jigsaw available)

Supplies Needed
Plywood 1/2 inch wide (each shoe is 10 inches long by 5.75 inches at the widest point)
Template (see Wooden Platform Shoes template under the pages section on this blog)
1- 4 inch wide snap in drain
1/4 inch long screws
Velrco
Ribbon
Shelf lining or another non slip material for bottoms of shoes
Paint (optional)

Using the template trace the wooden platform shoe pattern onto your plywood. You only need 1 template for both shoes. Cut out the wooden platform out of your plywood.

Grandpa Bill then painted the top and sides of the shoes.

Bottom view of snap in drain

Inside view of snap in drain

Grandpa Bill cut the snap in drain in half. Next he removed a large portion of the inside mesh pattern of the drain.  If you do not cut out the inside mesh  pattern of the drain your child's foot will not lay flat. 

The painted view of the drain cut in half with the mesh pattern cut out.

Next I cut out a total of 8 pieces of 1 inch wide ribbon into 11.5 inch long pieces. I also cut out 4 sets of 1 inch wide velcro measuring 10 inches long.

I added Fray Check to the ends of each ribbon.

I pinned the wrong side of the ribbon and velcro pieces together- centering the piece of velcro onto the ribbon.

I sewed along both edges of the velcro and ribbon to make straps.

Finished straps. Repeat until you have a total of 4 pairs of straps.

At this point I left the straps with Grandpa Bill. He attached them to the wooden platform shoes with small screws. He attached the cut drain at the same time.

Rachel is wearing a toddler's size 6 shoe in this picture. As she gets bigger we can either make an additional set of straps and add them on or remove the current top set of straps and place them further down the wooden shoe.

You can also line the bottom of the wooden shoes with poesy grip or shelf lining to help prevent sliding.