Ever have trouble face painting because the child was wiggling around? Almost everyone does! Here’s a simple tip that can make a big difference when you are trying to get that makeup just right on a squirmy little princess or Spiderman.
Try having the child look in a small mirror so she can watch while you apply the face paint. You’d be surprised how much this will help.
Have some other ideas? Add them to the comments below!
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Here are some of the ideas we use in my area to get children to sit still:
* Use your free hand to hold and rotate their head as needed (just watch out for head lice!).
* When painting Spider Man, I tell them to not wiggle too much, or they'll look like Spaghetti Man!
* When they sit still, I ask them if they've been to modeling school, or that they would make a terrific model someday
* I want them to be the very best butterfly or princess or monster or whatever at the event
* Sometimes I'll use my free hand to hold their head under the chin
Great ideas Kris, thanks for sharing!
I've used a small mirror before but it always causes more trouble then it's worth for me. Kids will sometimes hold still, but frequently I would have kids not liking what I'm doing (the process, not the final results) because it's not what they imagined it would look like. When kids ask me now if they can see it before it's done I tell them it's like building a house… it's a mess right up until it's finished!
I hold kids still by placing my hand on their head and making sure I have part of my hand holding the brush touching their face… that way if they do move a bit my hand follows and holds the brush in the same spot.
For the real wiggle worms I find that if I touch above the nose, directly between the eyes, it will hold them still while they are concentrating on that for the few seconds I need to get my hand on their head and to talk to them. I'm always careful that I'm not trying to FORCE the kid to be still, it wouldn't work anyway, and it could hurt them or me. But when kids are concentrating on a new sensation they forget to wiggle (as long as it doesn't go on long enough to be uncomfortable.)
Warm water instead of cold for your brushes and paints takes some of the fidgets away, too.
I normally ask them to close their eyes when starting a full face design. This is good for painting around the eyes. But, if they start to wiggle around a lot, I ask them to close their eyes again, and that often slows down their wiggles.
I have to agree with Cheyne about using warm water. Cold water can be a shock and cause them to squirm even more.
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