The Dancing Shoes (Working!)

When the handle is turned, the shoes magically dance in circles.

This idea is inspired by a small attraction in a Dutch theme park (Efteling) that tells a modernized and more appropriate version of an ancient fairytale about enchanted dancing shoes. The thing that amazed me as a kid wasn't the story, but the fact that the shoes danced by themselves without any wires or sticks. I really wanted to know how this worked, so it triggered the little engineer inside me. The little engineer never left and about a year ago I wondered if it would be possible to create the same effect with nothing but Lego. Turns out it works and my daughter was amazed by it, and really wanted to look inside to see how this worked. Just like me all those years ago. I think she isn't the only one... and that's why I think this could be a great Lego set.

With this set you can build something magical together with your kids. The kids will be amazed and if there's a little engineer inside them too, they will want to know how the trick works. With this set they can actually look inside. When the model is upside down you can still turn the handle and see the mechanism working inside. Alternatively you can put the model on a mirror so the shoes can remain on top. I have used different colors inside to help point out functional parts of the mechanism.

As you can see in the video, the shoes each take steps one at a time, lifting the heel when they move. The movement is entirely powered by turning the handle.