Teens will love personalizing their shoes with a perennially-trending galaxy design. You can choose to supply the shoes or have the kids bring their own.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Library programming is designed to be fully inclusive. Age limits may be implemented in certain programs to ensure that program content fosters appropriate developmental markers.
Accessibility: If requiring that your participants bring their own shoes, have a few pairs of common sizes on hand just in case someone is not financially able to purchase their own.
Mode: Facilitated
Staff Energy: Moderate
Ages: 12+
Cost: low to high
Length: 60-90 min.
Ideal Attendance: 10+
STEAM Practices:
✓ Art
Tags: Teen, Art, Free, Galaxy, Clothing
Credit: frugalmomeh.com
Supplies:
(Commonly on-hand supplies are not included in cost breakdown.)
- White canvas shoes (prices vary dramatically; you may want to request participants bring their own)
- Painter’s tape
- Rubbing alcohol
- Droppers
- Sharpies (Different shades of blues and purples; black; red or pink)
- White acrylic paint
- Small paint brushes
- Table coverings
Instructions:
- If the shoes have laces, remove them.
- Put tape around the soles to prevent the colors from running.
- Color shoes using various galaxy colors.
4. Using the dropper, drop rubbing alcohol over the colored section. The colors will bleed. The more rubbing alcohol you add, the better it will look.
5. Put first shoe to the side to dry and repeat with other shoe.
6. Using white paint and paint brush, paint small dots and stars around the shoes to look like stars or galaxies.
Staff Know-How
Planning, Set Up & Facilitation
Prep:
- Purchase shoes.
- Make a sample pair for yourself.
- Just before the program, cover all surfaces.
Pro-Tips
- In your publicity, make sure you tell teens to bring white canvas shoes. They don’t have to be new; they just have to be white and canvas. If you are buying shoes, have teens register with their shoe size.
- This would be super fun as a lock-in activity.
Marketing & Promo
Registration required to obtain shoe size if you are purchasing shoes for kids.
Galaxy Shoes TV Ad (1029x1080px)
Galaxy Shoes Social Media Post (1200x1200px)
Book Suggestions
Galaxy & Shoes Book List Template
Resources are availabe in the SHARE catalog as of May 2025.
Generation T : beyond fashion : 120 new ways to transform a t-shirt (Nicolay, Megan)
Reusability
Blue painter’s tape can be used for all kinds of projects.
Extra pairs of shoes can be bundled with a some galaxy colored permanent markers, a dropper, a small container of white acrylic paint, a small container of rubber alcohol, and a small paint brush to make a fun (and inexpensive!) prize.