8 Simple Children’s Face Painting Ideas to Master

Getting your face painted as a kid was always a major highlight. Whether it was at a children’s birthday party, a local fair, or circus; the fun of dressing up with your favourite design on your face was one of life’s simplest pleasures. If you wish to give your children the same experience or are hosting a birthday party and want something unique for the kids, then try your hand at face painting! See our face and body paints here.

Beginners face painting tips: paints and supplies

Before starting, you should have the basic supplies in your face painting kit to ensure your creations come out looking great and remain long-lasting to survive a whole day of playtime. Generally, you can find basic face painting kits with everything you need to get started. Most of these kits will come equipped with the popular, versatile colours such as red, green, yellow, blue, and white along with a couple of brushes.

To make application easier and to better the chance of a detailed design, consider also investing in:

A makeup sponge for covering large areas of the skin with paint, along with an extra sponge for removing
A set of Snazaroo Body & Face Painting Brushes ranging from fine to flat to allow for easy application and versatility
Spray bottle of water to activate the paint
Water container to wash the paint off brushes and sponges
Dry cloth for brushes and spills
Baby wipes to remove face paint
Non-toxic face glitter for added sparkle on designs

Prepping the skin: Face paint works best on clean, dry skin. Make sure to lightly wipe the face with a baby wipe and fan or press a towel against the face to dry before applying the paint. Now let's look at some face paint ideas!

Face painting design ideas

Butterfly

Butterfly face paint is one of the most requested and popular among kids and adults alike - and for an obvious reason! It’s such a pretty design and is simple enough that even a beginner face painter can achieve it! If you can draw a butterfly on paper, then you can easily draw one on the face.

You have an option to either draw the butterfly wings around the eyes with the butterfly’s body in the centre along the nose or you can simply draw smaller butterflies on the cheek for a pretty look! You can make the butterflies wings more magical by adding some Snazaroo Face & Body Glitter.

Tiger

The tiger design is another great one to paint on the face. Tiger face paint is not only popular with kids but also a highly requested choice for adults on Halloween. One of the best parts about the tiger face paint design is that it’s so simple to do! You need just three colours at most - orange, black, and white. Start by outlining the ears in black above the eyebrows and fill in with white. Next, cover the face in orange before using your black paint to create the tiger lines and whiskers.

Clown

The clown face can be as simple and minimal or as elaborate as you like! Just as the case with entertainment clowns - your only limit is your imagination! You can go with a simple clown design and paint a red nose and cheeks and exaggerate the eyebrows into a sharp arch using black paint, or you can try painting white rings around the eyes and an elongated red clown mouth!

Pirate

A popular one for everyone, the pirate design is fun to create and allows for a child's imagination to go running wild! Use black paint to draw an eyepatch around the eye as well as a moustache and goatee. You can even add a pirate bandana by painting the top of the forehead red and adding white spots.

Flowers

This is such a pretty design and very easy to recreate. All you need to do is draw a flower on the cheek or you can draw flowers of different sizes and designs up the side of the face and add coloured face glitter to make it pop.

To begin with, take your fine brush and apply a yellow dot. Then take a soft colour, such as pink or purple, and draw the petals. You can add a green stem and leaves or even do some decorative line drawing to tie the whole look together.

Puppy

This is such a fun and cute design. For a simple application, create a spotted puppy face by applying a white circle around one eye and then cover the rest of the face in brown paint before using your black paint to create a little puppy nose.

Monster

For a classic monster face paint design that’s easy to achieve, all you need is green and black paint. Cover the entire face in green, and then use your black paint to create a Frankenstein monobrow along with a black circle on the temples to act as ‘bolts’. Lastly, take your fine brush and paint black frown lines on the forehead.

Rainbow

Rainbows are always so magical to look at and are especially fun to paint! The best part is, you have so many options with this design! You can paint a rainbow coming out of a cloud on the cheek. You may want to paint a giant rainbow over the entire face. Or you can draw a small rainbow in an arch over the eyebrow. This design looks so pretty with added face glitter!

Removing face paint from skin

To remove paint from your awesome face painting ideas, simply wipe the face with baby wipes. It may need a few wipes to remove completely. You can also use a cotton ball dipped in baby oil to wipe away the paint. With most of the paint cleaned off, simply wash the entire face with warm, soapy water.

Shop for face paint for your next children’s birthday party

Find everything you need to create magnificent face paint ideas and designs at Discount Art N Craft here. We provide face and body paint that is non-toxic and safe to use, coming in a range of colours and kits.

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