wiggly two and 3 yr olds

ok i need some tips and suggestions to how to get a wiggly 2 or 3 year old to look at you when they want to look everywhere else and they are not even sure they want to be painted! The mom of the little boy did say she was surprised he even got in my chair let alone let me paint him as he will not for anyone else they have gone to!Needless to say it wasn't my best work but they were happy.
I did twin 4 year olds today that were slightly less wiggly but I gave them the mirror to watch while I painted and all was good, didn't expect them to sit still they were boys LOL.

I find that it is mostly BOYS who are gonna be the wigglers..I also get quite frustrated with it..AND they always choose something that has lots of nice straight lines in it What can you do...try the mirror,,try talking to them..but yeah..One of those things..I always cringe when they walk out with something that is not my best...If you find the magic cure..LET ME KNOW.
However I do find that most kiddies are just brilliant.

Thanks Freedspirit!! I tell you when my daughter said we had a face paint customer I got excited till I turned around and seen two of the smallest (allbeit most precious) little kids and I thought oh dear time to work now for sure. Ah well they loved their faces and mom and grandma were pleased so its all good. I just am kicking myself cause I could have done much better had I not had to chase their faces with my brush LOL.

Sometimes, I will put a green dot on my nose and ask the child to look at the green dot.

I won't face paint a kid that young. I will attempt to paint something on their arm or leg. They can watch me paint it and then they can look at it anytime they want...no mirror needed.

Today I had a 3 yr old boy who wanted a spidey ..."on BOTH eyes!" I just knew I'd need my Starblends! Quick, quick mask...Thank You Mehron, 'cause he was wiggly! Fesspenter, I love the green dot idea.

I have to paint that age most of the time... I'm a clown, they don't hire me for 14th birthdays....

Anyway, I usually try to get them to look at my nose because it big, red and shiny... but it almost becomes a mantra the whole time I'm painting them, "Keep looking at my nose... what colour is it? is it changing colours? it's still red?... did you know your nose just changed colours?" it helps, it's not perfect, but it helps. You can try to get them to keep their eyes closed the whole time so that they don't see all the distractions BUT with kids that little, you're sometimes lucky if they even understand that they need to close their eyes for you to paint over them, let alone keep them closed. Then, if you actually CAN get them to close their eyes, their chin starts to drop....

I found a pair of glasses that are mirror so little ones can see themselves as I paint them. They are fantastic! I just slip them on when I get a child having trouble sitting still - actually all kids love it & makes it so much easier!

That is genius, erica!

Hey thanks but I def can't take credit as I'm pretty sure I read it in a super old old thread right here on this forum - so thanks again forum! You are all the best!

I actually went shopping for a cool cap to wear on my first ever job - which i found but then noticed that they also had the most gorgeous mirror glasses - I used them for that first job and they were awesome - so now they are always packed in my kit!!!!

Thanks Erica...Fantastic!

I usually always talk them through it. Like "I need you to shut your eyes now, this sponge will feel a little cold, but try not to move" or "i need to draw the web now, which means we're almost finished, so please sit really still so I can get these lines looking really good for you"
Some times all kids need is their parent standing beside them so they can see them.
I wont paint them is they dont be still and i explain this to them the moment they get wiggly "cause we wouldn't want smooshed butterfly now, would we?"
I actually find that a mirror is a distraction and I always put it out of site. I had a kid one day wanting a tiger and it took me an eternity to paint him because he kept looking in the mirror, in the end I just took it off him and said we'd better get this done, I think mum wants to get going.

I also try to wear an interesting shirt, like with a cartoon character or something on it.

Love this topic. I practice on my 3 yr old who is always moving. I figure it's good practice for when I have to paint that age.. Good suggestions here for the wigglies.

I just ordered one of these. I will be wearing it a little higher so I can get them to have their head pointed in an upwards direction. I think that it will keep them form trying to take in everything else going on around them if I tell them to keep looking for a certain image to appear.

http://www.quasarelectronics.com/velleman/vm112-personal-animated-badge-module.htm

BTW... that's about $46.00

I don't like letting them look in the mirror - they start asking too many questions. Why is that color there? Can I have more xxx? They don't understand that the design builds from the bottom.

I had one little boy who was trying to paint his face by leaning into my brush. His cheek was moving toward my brush - it was so funny! I've never had that happen before. I was like hold still...I'll handle the painting

I've had 2 year olds that hold still as stone. 5 year olds who move away like everything hurts or something. I guess you just never know!

Amy

My tip?

Don't paint children three and under.

Simples.

I've actually found that the 3 year olds do remarkably well.
It's the 5-7 year old boys that usually wiggle away from me.

Really, truly, the wiggle factor is at almost any age... I've had 12 or 13 year olds I thought I needed to sit on just to keep them from moving... and 2 year olds that hold perfectly still.

...And what about eye scrunching? Sometimes I feel like a need to carry pliers in my kit to open up kids' eyes!

My favorite is the kids who you tell to close their eyes and they will close one eye tightly and still try to watch you from the other eye... I find that adorably cute and entertaining...

All part of the non-exact science to the art of face painting...

Love the mirrored glasses idea, but I usually tell them to keep their eyes closed. It keeps their face relaxed.

Thanks so much for all the SUPER advise y'all are the true best!!! I had a better day today even my little tiny one year old let me paint her tiny hand and arm so precious!!!! I do two different locations on the weekend but after June I will be located at the one location where I make the most money. I had an awesome day today and I am exhausted!!!!

I found teenagers the worst. They have all their giggling friends around them, texting on their phones and want to talk to their friends while you're trying to paint them!

I literally tell parents that under twos HATE getting painted, especially on their face. I'll do the paint test by doing a blossom or something on their arm. If they pull their arm away then I'm not going to traumatize them.

I had a mom try to tell me "we just got him painted at the blah, blah event just last week and he did great!" I attempted a simple design (she got her painting first...get a feeling she knew what was coming?) and he practically did back flips. I said, "he doesn't want to be painted" and she tried to reiterate how he LOVE it. Well, she tried to put his head in a vise and I just said "I'm sorry, he doesn't want to be painted" and she wouldn't get out of the chair. I finally said "We're done mom" and she finally got out of the chair when I just went over to the table and started cleaning up my paints.

But the other painters are right. I had a 10 year old girl that was one of my WORST flinchers. It was horrible and the design suffered for it. It's kind of sad when they really want it but they are so brush adverse that it seems like they are miserable...but they can't help it.

I'm not to "no under 3 yet" but I was insisting that they can sit in a chair and tell me what they want. It stops a lot of that parent tagging garbage. "I want a U of U logo right here...that would really freak out her dad." GRRRRR. Now that I'm more experienced and not so scared I just say "I want to know what SHE wants."

On the practical side, having them hold the mirror is my last ditch effort. If they can't even do that we're done.

D.

I just did a 3 year old party today. The three year old and her classmates were absolutely WONDERFUL! Apparently the mom wrote on the invitations that there would be face painting, and the kids walked into the party with a list of exactly what they wanted. I LOOOOVE parties where the kids are polite. There was a lot of "peas can I have a butterfly -with the pink! with that pink (pointing to the pearl) -Thank you." Plus they had a general idea of what face painting means ("hold still and look at Mrs. Z!").

But the 5 year old cousin? Biggest flincher I've ever seen. I was kicking myself for not having star blends.

It all comes with the territory.
For every party or event booked you are going to get your share of at least one or a combination of all of the following:
Constant flinchers
And eye waterers
And face scrunchers
And leg swingers
And just-gotta-scratch-at-everythingers
And looky-all-arounders
And can't-seem-to-stop-it-chatterers

And then there are the little angels who just sit there so still that you think you should maybe place the mirror under their nose to make sure they are still breathing

Oh yeah, glad you reminded me Rhonda! What is up with the eye watering thing? Sometimes I haven't even TOUCHED the kid and their eyes start watering. Does anyone know why? Is there anything that you can do about it? Of course my most recent one wanted Spiderman. He was a runny mess before even leaving my chair.

Inquiring minds want to know...
Amy