Favorite prompts for Outdoor family photoshoots
Taking family photos with your children sometimes gets a bad rep (although not as bad as dragging your husband along for photos). I once had a friend tell me that she would only do mini sessions with her children because “after 20 minutes they are completely done and melting down anyways.” Don’t get me wrong- I have definitely had some shoots where the kiddos truly have ZERO interest in anything I’m selling. But nine times out of ten I have found that as long as you come prepared and have a solid game plan, you can get kids to play along for a full hour long session.
For more suggestions on how to prepare for a session with young children check out the link below. But for today here are five prompts that I use to make photos fun for your kiddos. The best part? You can use all five when taking your own photos too!
Bumper Butts
When used with adults this prompt is more “hold hands and walk like you’ve been drinking”. With kids I like to rebrand it into a bumper cars version of walking. It’s simple. I have the family hold hands and have them walk away from me and back towards me while playing “bumper butts”. I do like to tell the little ones ahead of time that there is one rule for bumper butts which is not to be too rough. The last thing we want is for an older brother to send their younger sibling flying. Usually just the term “bumper butts” is enough to get some giggles but then the game of bumping into each other and walking leads to even more laughter.
Tickle Fight
I love a good tickle fight. The beauty of it is that it doesn’t matter the age of the children involved. Tickling or being tickled can elicit a smile out of anyone. The trick for tickling when there is more than one child is not to let it get out of hand. It’s all fun and games until one kid is done playing but the other one isn’t. To try and avoid this I will sometimes preface the start of the tickle fight by saying “okay now on the count of three you have 15 seconds to see who can tickle the most! 1,2,3, GO”. That way there is a clear time limit.
Airplane
This one works best for children who are physically small as it involves picking them up and spinning in circles. The adult holds the child across their arms and the kiddo puts their arms out to the side while the adult spins. You know, classic airplane style. The look of excitement on the little one’s face plus the wind in their hair from spinning make the end images super dreamy. For older or bigger children or if the adult just doesn’t feel up to hefting their kids into the air a good alternative is a ballerina spin. The outcome is the same without the workout.
Run and Catch
Run and catch is one of my favorites to use with young kiddos who aren’t exactly loving being held still for pictures. What I do is ask the little one if they’d like to play a game (hopefully they say yes). Then I have them come stand next to me while their family faces us about 10-15 feet away. I then tell the family they are going to call the kiddo to them as enthusiastically as they can and to scoop the little one up into a big hug when they get to them. I then count down from three and tell the little to “run, run, run!”. I like to take pictures with the focus on the family and some where the focus is on the kiddo and the family is blurry in the background. If the child enjoys this game I will ask them if they want to do it again and get some cute shots of them running back towards me as well.
Star Of the Show
Star of the show can be done with kids of any age. It’s really only called star of the show when you have a four year old who is over this photo taking business and the only way to get them to participate is by showering them with attention. But no matter the age of what you want to call it the idea is simple. The child (or children) are closer to the camera and in focus while the parents are blurry in the background. To get smiles from the kiddos I sometimes ask them to make silly faces or say silly words (farts is always a winner) while their parents can’t see or hear them.
So. Cute.
And boom. Just like that, five super easy prompts to get your littles loving their photoshoot.