Beesqueaky Shoes and Mooshu Trainers: Toddler shoes you can hear

When I was at the 2006 ABC Kid’s Show, I visited the Beesqueaky Shoes booth because the shoes looked very cute.  However, cute shoes are a dime a dozen.  Unless there is something particular special about a pair of shoes, it’s not going to capture my attention.  So what sets Beesqueaky apart from every other shoe?  For one, they squeak!  There are little, for lack of a better word, squeakers, in the heel of every shoe.  At first, this sounded like an awful idea because they make a lot of noise, but once Nora Martinez, the owner, explained their purpose, I wanted some. 

Since new walkers have a tendency to walk to the balls of their feet, having squeakers in the heel encourages them to use their whole foot when walking, and to put their heel down.  They like hearing the squeak so they keep doing what they need to in order to hear it.  Eventually, they will walk properly out of habit. 

Beesqueaky Shoes are also a good way to keep track of your kid.  When they walk around your home, you can keep track of them in the way that many parents of yesteryear tied bells to their kids’ laces (but even safer because the kid can’t swallow them). As Nora says, "They are like an adorable baby tracking system for parents while they give the kids hours of entertainment as well."  She also told me that they have a customer whose child has cerebral palsy, who only started walking after putting on Beesqueaky Shoes. 

I was concerned that the squeaking would eventually drive me crazy and then I would have to get rid of a good pair of shoes, but Nora assured me that the squeakers are removeable. Made of very soft pigskin leather as well as canvas, and in styles for both boys and girls, they have a very large assortment of styles.  Their wholesale customers can customize the shoes they carry so they can be the only store that carries that certain color in the paticular style.

Mooshu Trainers also squeak.  We got Anya the black Mary Jane style (pictured left).  Like Beesqueaky, they have a removeable squeaker in the heel and are cute, soft, flexible shoes.  The shoes were a little too big for Anya but I put them on anyway, just to see how she liked them.  It only took her a minute or so to figure out that she could hear a squeak every time she stepped and she just took off!  She spent the next 20 minutes running up and down the hallway.  She absolutely loves these shoes.  We like them because they are super cute and have soft flexible soles which are important for new walkers.

Check out this video of Anya running around in the shoes at UFC (Unidentified Flying Chickens), a new Korean fried chicken joint in Jackson Heights, Queens (read Josh’s review on his site, The Food Section).

Both brands retail for about $26-28 and are available in girl and boy styles, leather or canvas, and in sandal styles.  Some styles of Beesqueaky shoes are available at Kayla Rose Boutique and a large variety of styles are available in over 220 retail locations in the US including BuyBuyBaby. Mooshu Trainers are more widely available online, at Baby Bliss, Zack & Zoe, Little Monkey Toes, and lots of other web sites as well as at retail locations. 

FYI Celeb parents whose kids have Beesqueaky shoes include Tia Carrere, Angie Harmon, Carnie Wilson, Angela Bassett, Laura Leighton, Allison Sweeney, Kevin Weisman, Angelina Jolie, Brooke Shields, Courteney Cox, Gwyneth Paltrow and Gwen Stefani.

PS I discovered another company that makes squeaky shoes, called Squeaker Sneakers.  As I have not had a chance to see them in person or have Anya testdrive them, I can’t recommend for or against them.