Balloon Chat
Uncategorized Boards => Topic/Discussion Of The Month => Topic started by: Captain Calamity on January 02, 2010, 09:18:31 AM
So I'm sitting at home at 9am on a Saturday morning just drinking a coffee before I head off for my 11am party and I started wondering are we the last of the balloon modellers?
It just seems to me that technology and the need for an immediate fix has taken over and that skills that require time, dedication and patience don't have a place in our modern society.
I remember sitting with my dad on a Sunday afternoon working on building, gluing and pain stakingly putting together a model plane or ship. I used to make aircraft hangers of boxes which i cut and glued and painted to house my models but all these activities take time , dedication and patience. I used to build up a collection of action models and paint each one but I look at my son and as much as I love him; he is part of a different generation.One that is expert at computer game play, one that knows all the characters to the latets Ben 10 series on TV. One that certainly absorbs everything around him but not a generation that will carefully sit and learn how to model a balloon and then work until he has become an expert in his field.
It strikes me that crafts that require time and dedication and that includes balloon modelling and sculpting are not crafts that will be picked up by future generations... or am I wrong?
What are your thoughts?
What a great post, plenty of food for thought. Danny this could be discusion of the month??
Why not? But what would you call it for a topic of discussion?
:shock:
I have to admit whilst I agree to a certain extent I have 2 children who are very much into crafty stuff and will just as happily sit drawing for a couple of hours as they will watch tv. The are very young at the moment (5 & 3) but I am very concious not to let them waste their lives in front of the telly or computer (not saying that anyone else is btw but I do know people that use the TV to babysit their kids). Neither of them use a pc (other than at school) and both have so far shown no interest in the wii and I intend keeping it that way as long as possible.
Rachel, my eldest is always drawing, she loves to face paint (and has her own kit) and she loves doing all the fiddly hama bead type stuff. Adam is more into making and fixing things (he is actually very good at simple construction and is already onto proper Lego) and absolutely loves puzzles. Both of them helped their Dad yesterday paint the walls in the kitchen and had a blast - to quote my daughter "this is much more funnerer than watching TV". They are also very much into their music and actually understand more about it than I do!
As soon as they are a little older and can understand instructions a little better I shall have a go at teaching them twisting. Rachel has shown interest but her hands are too small to cope and she doesn't yet have the attention span to be able to make anything from start to finish.
I honestly believe that whilst the technological age has it's downside for our children it will also open up endless learning possibilities. For example look at that little boy in the YouTube clip a while back on here who had taught himself entirely from video's he had watched on YouTube! Amazing. We never had such fanastic learning tools when we were kids (or at least when I was).
I agree that some children; if encouraged to do so by their parents will grab a paint brush or sit and work through a jig saw but too many parents want the easy option and it is too easy to sit your child in front of the tv or computer and working with a balloon, crafting it, modelling it and using ones imagination to turn it into something special requires time and patience that the next generation of adults (all be it with a few exceptions) just don't have. Do they?
I'd love it if you made this topic of the month! :lol:
Its wierd, I hear people saying that thier children are crafty and that its sometimes because the parent is a twister, but for me, my girls 5 and 3, have always been crafty like thier card aking mum and it was them that got me into twisting in a funny way.
I left work for health reasons and after being a hands on person for years i needed something to do to occupy my time, without the XBOX. So I, like the small boy, started looking on You tube and after about 8 months I think i'm getting quite good at this, I THINK!
I love this topic
p.s if anyone wants to make me a XBOX balloon modelling game, feel free.
I get your point about kids emulating their parents but my parents never had time to be that hands with the crafty stuff and to be fair never had the money to have hobbies. My Dad was a DIY'er, my Nan was seamstress and my Mum and other Nan knitted but that was the extent of it.
I got into twisting via face painting and I only got into that once I had my eldest as something to entertain her with.
I really believe that if you spend good time with your kids and encourage them to pursue their interests they will find their own "thing" which makes them happy. My daughter especially does not enjoy learning new things but that is only if she realises she is learning. At present she does music class, swimming lessons and rainbows and each is fantastic for a different reason.
Also seeing the enjoyment the kids at Music school get from learning their chosen instruments I honestly believe there are enough kids out there still that understand that to do anything well you need to actually work at it to become better at it.
Ok. Let me play Devils Advocate just for a moment. I can accept that those of you who are artists (balloon modellers and creative types) may well have nurtured children who are of a similar persuasion (i don't know how to smell persuasion) but what about the children you entertain in your work? Are they also creative types with an ability to absorb your creative juices or are they (as I suspect) made up of people who need a quick fix and quick balloon or 5 mins of one style of entertainment followed by 5 mins of another. I'm sure attention spans are getting shorter because of the instant access we now have to a thousand different tv channels etc and i'm sure when you look out on sea of faces at say a children's party that they are not looking for a 20 minute or half an hour experience watching and learning as you create a beautiful balloon sculpture with them assisting. I'm sure they want an instant fix followed by another and then another.
Hi Captain - great topic.
Your last post kind of touched on what I was going to say. When I've turned up at parties and events with 'pre-made' animals, hats etc, the kids generally tend to take them, run off, and if we're lucky they last 5 minutes - I don't think they really 'get' the piece, it's here and now!
However, the ones that wait and see the item made in front of them more often than not do so with a degree of interest and wonder, and on the whole *seem* to be more connected to the piece, and 'own' the piece more, if you know what I mean. I suppose its a similar thing to the argument that you are more likely to take care of something you have waited for, saved up for, earned, etc than something that is just handed to you. As twisters/modellers, most things are made within the attention span of children ( I have a 5 yr old and a 2 yr old - ok, the 2 yr old isn't the most patient!) but generally speaking they can deal with the wait - and as long as they're interested, will wait, and are pleased with or even cherish the end result then I'm not convinced we live in a world of complete 'instant gratification' and that we have many, many more years of entertaining to come! :)
Best regards
--Neil
All three of my children are very crafty and all three do balloons. I must say though, that when they were little, I limited their tv time to one hour a day in a foriegn language. They only got more if their Dad was home watching something child friendly in English.
I also use to limit their TV time.
A lot of their friends are pure lazy and just sit around watching tv and texting each other.
But, when I do parties where I allow the kids to model balloons with me, I see a lot of interest in it from some, and some who do quite well. That is the same with painting when I allow them to do it on their own.
To be honest, I find that about 25% of the kids I run into are very creative and curious about learning balloons or other crafts. It has probably been the same throughout time. Each of us is born with different personalities, but of course I interest develope by us having fun experiences with things like balloons, crafts, sports or such.
I would love to hear others opinions.
Simply Shonna
I've always found it more interesting and exciting to watch a balloon modeller perform a show with balloons and whilst carefuly sculpting some great big balloon model; he is also engaging the children with jokes and interactive moments when they must clap their hands, wiggle their fingers and jump up and down. But the demand (certainly in my experience) in the corporate arena (shopping centres and town council jobs) seem to be more for the balloon line (where one makes a series of single balloon models for every queueing (god, my spelling's awful) child. I find that when Marketing Managers of these kind of establishments book me; they have less interest in the show and more in the production line. Is that more to do with their understanding of what a good balloon modeller can do or are they responding to the need that children have for instant gratification? I imagine it's a bit of both.
The topic of this month is children's attention spans.
Its already started and Graham will kindly move it to this thread shortly.
Captain whilst I agree with you regards shopping centre Marketing people's wish to have the fastest and cheapest person (well the ones near me do anyway) to get through as many kids as possible I have to disagree with your comment about children wanting instant gratification.
I've not noticed it so much with the balloons but I have often wondered at the children queuing patiently to be face painted and it is usually their parents who get fed up and try queue jumping or kicking off if you need a toilet break!
Shonna I actually agree with you. I think in each generation there are children who do nothing with their lives, others who strive to achieve great things and then there are those in the middle that find their niche in life and do their best to excel at it.
There will still be kids who grow up to be entertainers, twisters, etc just as kids will still train to be electricians, carpenters and builders because in these days where office jobs are disappearing to the far east as is manufacturing it is only services such as ours that to some extents are a safe lifelong profession.
This thread is January's Discussion of the month and will be moved, when Graham has a moment, to the Discussion section.
thanks
Danny
THANKS GRAHAM!
;)
I'm really gratified to hear that most of you seem to think that the day of the balloon modeller is far from over. I still find that many entertainers don't seek to learn how to balloon model properly. They know that a child will be more than happy with a quick balloon sword, dog or flower and have no interest in improving their skill level as the majority of children that they come across don't want to spend time watching a great modeller invent and create. They just want to 'have' something. Not only that but once they have it; they will proceed to untangle, stretch and ultimately burst the item as that seems to give them more fun than actually looking at, holding and appreciating it and then even perhaps one day trying to make it themselves.
Sometimes it is not so bad that a child unravels or takes about a sculpted balloon. I know of some children(Dustin especially) who use to take apart everything from balloons to TV's and computers trying to figure out how they worked and how he could do it himself.
Sometimes things are not always as they seem to us.
Yes, most of us young and old still want instant gratification, that is why we have so many fast food places and microwavable foods, but there are still plenty who like to stand around for hours and watch balloons being made, especially children.
The twisters in our area who do the quick one balloon, can't tell what it is stuff, never have a line, whereas we always create a line. When people are willing to stand around and wait 1 to 2 hours to get a balloon, it is no longer instant gratification. I believe it is appreciation and the age old feeling that if something is being given out for free, "I better damn well get one."
Just a reminder, there are plenty of one balloon creations that are truly masterpieces of the mind. Everytime I look through some of the old books and at some of the sculptures Ralph Dewey, Ed Chee, Guido Verhoef, and Jack Matterson have done with one balloon, I am truly impressed. Our art has progressed greatly, but it was the one balloon artist who got us all started.
I remember thinking that I could only use one balloon; that that was how it was done. It was so much more important to be very precise with the size of your bubbles and the amount of inflation to a balloon. Now I can move so much faster at twisting because I can know break off balloons, and in new balloons, use multiple colors to age detail and deminsion. Man, in the beginning the original balloon twisters had to do everything with just one balloon. Hats off to those that came up with some of the earlier designs!
Great discussion - there are kids out there who will find their imagination fired by something like watching a good twister at work - or a painter, or performer - and they will have the drive to folow it up of their own accord, others may need some encouragement and a lot just won't bother because "you need to be born with a talent" - I was 58 when I twisted my first balloon so the talent (what little there is) took a long time to surface :D
Earlier this year I did a Children in Need fund raising day in Oxfordshire - I was told there would be another twister there but they were oinly just starting out. The other twister was a 14 year old boy who had been fascinated by watching some one twist at a party and had got himself some balloons and a couple of basic books, after a few weeks he asked the organiser of this event if he could have a go. Understandably his repertoire(sp?) was limited and he had to refer to his books quite a bit, but he turned out some reasonable stuff and learned a lot from the experience - we even had time to jam a little when it was quiet.
During the day I found out this lad was also studying clowning and circus skills - as a thank you for passing on some of my knowledge he got out his unicycle and tried to teach me to ride it - I think my efforts on that entertained the crowd more than my magic or balloons :D :D
There will always be people to continue the craft... I'm sure of that. But looking at the much bigger picture... There has been over time a move away from creative practices. Once upon a time we needed people who could make things now a lot of things that would have been made/crafted by a skilled person are imported or made in a factory so quickly and so cheaply that there is less need and less people see the point of learning a creative ability.
Look at our schools more and more children who are good at maths, english and science are called 'intelligent' and those who are good at creative subjects are called 'unintelligent'. The emphasis in school is on the academic subjects. Artistic subjects are considered 'soft' subjects not to be encouraged. As someone who studied for a BA in performing arts I can tell u a lot of people think u r unintelligent or wasting time.
A lot of crafts are dying out... I really hope twisting is here to stay...
Some of you will have noticed that 'The Scallywag' who has just replied to this thread share the same web address as me. He is my double-act partner and not me being schizophrenic. I hope that clears things up.
Quote from: "Captain Calamity"Some of you will have noticed that 'The Scallywag' who has just replied to this thread share the same web address as me. He is my double-act partner and not me being schizophrenic. I hope that clears things up.
I kind of liked the schizophrenic idea myself :D
after all we all are to a degree, who we are in RW is not who we are in our latex world, most of the time
I think Scallywag makes some interesting points about the educational system viewing artistic endeavours as of less importance than traditionaly scolastic skills and thereby making children feel inferior if they want to persue the arts. Despite living in a suposidely tolerant and supportive age; children still get told by their piers to get 'a propper job' when expressing an interest and/or ability in an artistic pursuit. They don't teach circus skills, magic and balloon modelling at school and yet many of us make a very reasonable living out of just that.
Anyway; back to the subject of attention spans getting shorter. I've just been chatting to Graham Lee and we seem to have reached an agreement on the point that whilst entertaining at a children's party; an entertainer must be a 'jack of all trades and a master of none' in order to keep all the young participants from losing interest and attention. One must do five minutes of magic followed by 8 mins of balloon modelling followed by an action dance then a puppet show and then circus skills etc etc. This is the only way to keep children glued to your show. One must also (at times) not be afraid to be quite assertive with children if they decide to fight with each other or disrupt the party in any way. If one doesn't do this then the risk is that through boredom and the inability to keep connected with your entertainment; the party will descend into a mess.
And by the way Professor T Wist in response to your thred; I am a little schizophrenic I suspect.
I remember when LEGO® didn't have instructions....
Both my kids are semi artistic, my youngest (12) surprises me the most. She actually made up the cat head on my 2nd DVD!!
CReativity has a new tool that many of us did not have .... the computer. It makes it hard to gauge the creativity because most things look so good.
The hand to eye coordination doesn't seem to be there that many of us had in the past.
Too much is emphasized on perfection and not play. Also schools have cut back art programs considerably...
Great topic btw.
I think it's important to note the difference from a hobby and a job, in schools they strive to meet government targets on education so the next gen will go on to be successful in their career and life.
School do offer after school clubs, the Scout movement is stronger than ever, Sport clubs are popping up all over the place and dance groups.
In the UK we have a huge shop called Hobby craft, which run workshops all the time, my Son plays Warhammer which he sits there for hours painting tiny models so he can play war games, my Daughter makes things with beads and also makes cards.
But with crafts and sports we have to enjoy what we do and that is where the attention span comes into it, if you don't enjoy what's the point?
In my hour show I do break it up with a game but still have them sitting there for half an hour magic show, not very often but sometimes you get 1 kid that plays up but then the same can be said for adults.
I see twisting being an art that the majority of us will pick up latter in life, plus there is a market for every type of twister we just need to find it.
See my experience of the school system this side of the pond is different. My old senior school (high school to those in the US) was, and still is, the best school in town but it has also got special award status as a school for the arts and this was very much encouraged when I was at school (I left some 15 years ago) although at the time I felt I had no aptitude for the arts. Also I never specifically studied at school to be a lawyer but the subjects I took helped me when I went to university just as the subjects I took at school have helped me with balloons to - it's just a different application of the same things more or less. Also Schools don't teach plumbing or do training for electricians either but they do offer art classes, music, CDT, drama etc which are all compulsory until GCSE level.
As for the arts being seen as soft subjects in the academic world - so what :?: There are also degrees that are book based that are also seen as soft i.e. business studies was the one when I was at Uni. I'm afraid in higher education there is a huge amount of snobbery involved but if you love what you then who cares what some stuck up old git thinks :?: (my question mark button will not work at the mo!!!)
As for key stage 1 and 2 at my daughter's school it is excellent. They have specialised teachers that come in and teach them art, music and pe from Reception age. Our school also have an after school art club which I would love my daughter to attend except it clashes with her music class.
Finally I really don't believe children's attention spans are decreasing. I never had much of an attention span as a kid and neither does my daughter. I believe it is because we are both dreamers with our heads in our own little worlds and my thoughts are constantly skipping between what I have to do (and rarely get round to LOL) and what I want to be doing, ideas for balloons or face painting, what I want to do on my website etc.
My son has amazing patience for things. He turned 3 in September so cannot read yet but does recognise some letters. He has paid so much attention to his sister learning to read he can blend words together if you tell him the sounds (phonics based system of learning to read we use in the UK) and since he can't read he cannot read instructions that come with things like Lego but a few weeks back he was given a small pack of Lego that came with the newspaper and he had it assembled correctly in seconds - not much but my Mum and I were impressed. I think he is going to be like his Dad that in a few years I will find my TV dismantled in the living room just because he wants to see how it works!
Quote from: "Captain Calamity"Anyway; back to the subject of attention spans getting shorter. I've just been chatting to Graham Lee and we seem to have reached an agreement on the point that whilst entertaining at a children's party; an entertainer must be a 'jack of all trades and a master of none'
I have to disagree with that statement, did I say that??
It should be "You need to know many trades and be master of them all"
You must know how to deal with every situation, but this only comes with experience
Such grand wisdom coming from a Sage Old Magician and Balloon Artist!
Graham, you are a fountain of knowledge!
I agree with Graham that you need to master a few skills to really be successful and good at entertaining. Some learn quickly, and for others it takes years to get there. ;)
Many schools in the states have cut some art programs and given more to the Football and other teams, but art is definitely stressed by many teachers in our schools by the projects the kids are asked to do.
When Dustin was little, they put him in gifted program for learning, but then took him out because they said he was ADHD since he would not focus on what they were doing, but he could concentrate for hours if he was drawing or writing a story. I would not let them put him on any medications because I did not find anything wrong or unusual with him being able to focus on art and other things he loved.
Later his teachers admitted that he was probably just more artistic and creative than other kids, but that their program didn't focus on those skills.
From watching my girls and other children, I just think that some are more inclined to certain areas of interest than others. I have been doing children's parties for nearly 25 years, and the biggest difference I see in the children is that they have more gadgets to distrack them from what I am doing, but there is always one or more child who will stay by me the entire time I am twisting and watch intently while I make balloons. When my husband does jobs as a line twister, people are not amazed at what he makes, but they stay watching because he is very funny.
Some kids perfer interaction constantly with an adult and others like to "study" things quietly. I believe there will always be entertainers and observers and maybe a nice mix of balloon artist and balloon entertainers.
;)
I wish I was more like Graham though and a master at all! :)
My appologiese for misquoting you Graham. Of course the ideal is to be 'a jack of all trades and also a master of them all' what I would argue is that is all very well in an ideal world but an entertainer doesn't have to be a master of all in order to entertain many children. I can't juggle very well but i can bring a few dozen juggling balls into a circus workshop and get the kids interact with me and trying to juggle. A lot of children's magic is self-working so if i can tell a good interactive story and weave a basic trick into the story then kids will love it. I don't need to be a master magician and the same applies with balloon modelling, dancing, venting and other areas of children's entertainment. Whilst it is great to be brilliant at them all; to engage children at a party one must offer variety and understand a little bit of the psycology of entertaining children, but one doesn't absolutely need to be brilliant (the one should strive to be as good as possible) at everything. That is how you keep childrens attention. Isn't it?
Quote from: "Simply Shonna"I wish I was more like Graham though and a master at all! :)
I wish.....................
But it is important not to spread yourself too thinly while trying to find your feet and way in entertaining. Find what your good at and stick with it. Then keep practising it and honing it, adding to it gradually so that you keep improving that one thing instead of trying lots and being a jack of all trades and master of none...........now where have i heard that before :D
I know what I think are my strong points and try to stick to them, the person that says he takes on any job and anything when the phone rings and then works out how to do it after worries me. Surely it's better to give that job to someone that is an expert in that field already as if you go and do it and only make a half hearted attempt at it and the booker realises then surely you wil be damaging your reputation and the booker will think more highly of you if your honest and say that this is not your field of expertise but I know a man that is, just my opinion.
During the past quarter century, a subtle change has gradually taken form in the mental attitude of our children. Today's child is sophisticated to a greater or lesser extent. Through the so-called benefits of modern science-the impossible exploits of movie heroes and blood-curdling video games-the child is thrilled to such an extent that a twisters balloon bag becomes a poor substitute.
All this has brought about another more malicious change. Fifteen or twenty years ago the average child, with a few exceptions, was well-mannered, and quiet and attentive. The balloon artist had very little difficulty in keeping them under control. Today it appears that those few exceptions have become the rule. It may be true that children today are no worse than they were fifty years ago. But the most casual observer must admit that today children are more ill-mannered. They have less respect for their elders and their conduct in public places is often far from commendable.
What you've just read is the opening passage from 'Entertaining Children with Magic' by Eddie Clever published in 1939.
David Kaye the famous children's magician uses this passage in the preface to his book 'Seriously Silly' and I think it is relevant here.
In David Kaye's book he (as do I) substitutes "blood-curdling games" for the original "blood-curdling action stories on the radio". I have also substituted "a twisters balloon bag" for the original "magicians bag of tricks" and "the balloon artist" for the original "the magician".
I hope I fooled you into thinking I was writing about the kids of today. So perhaps we need to accept that children don't really change from one genration to the next or at the very least that our perception of them has always been the same. Your thoughts?
Just to clear things up I am a different person to Captain Calamity! I have changed my profile picture which may clear it up a bit. I work with Dov as part of a double act as well as by myself. :shock:
Back to the discussion! :geek:
The extract from David Kay's book 'Seriously Silly' does prove a point... as 'Mike and the Machanics' put it in the song 'Living Years' "Every generation blames the one before". What it shows is that every generation thinks they where better behaved and had a longer attention span that the one before. Did they? Do we look back with rose tinted glasses?
I find quite often its the parents who are impatient and want a a balloon for there child now, rather than waiting; they are the ones in a hurry! children are happy to wait a bit. When doing shows I find you do have to change your angle of attack! Do 15 minutes of magic, 10 minutes of dancing, 12 of twisting and so on. The real art of entertaining children comes in knowing what to do when in my opinion. You don't need to be a master twister or magician; you do need to know when the little people are getting bored.
What is certainly unique to the next generation is a massive leap in technology. Mobile phones, internet, 100's of TV channels, instant meals, emails. There is an expectation of having things straight away, perhaps people in general have less patience and our children will learn this lack of patience. This may be controversial but I have also noticed a change in the willingness of some parents to discipline their children. For example if a child walks up to you and hits you, or tries to break your props parents often ignore this. As and entertainer I am not there to discipline other peoples children so its can be frustrating. I think controlling and keeping children's attention spans has become more and more difficult and more and more a central part of our profession.
Picking up on something that was mentioned by Scallywag; I would love to hear about people's experience with parents/guardians inability to disciplin their children during parties or functions and what you as an entertainer/twister have done to ensure you are able to continue doing your job and keep the participants attention whilst at the same time preventing arguments, fights breaking out and full blown wars between members of your lovely young audience. You all must have some great stories. Care to share?
Over to you then... :lol:
Thanks Captain! I think it would be interesting to hear from others. I notice we have a few members who work outside the UK. I would love to hear from people in other countries; does there seem to be a reduction in attention spans where you live? Are parents less willing to discipline their children where you live?
As no one else has replied yet, I'll start the ball rolling shall I?! :D
Recently I had a kid about 4 years old (I was entertaining 5 year olds) a little younger than the others their. My act tends to be very silly, I drop things and get things the wrong and the children correct me. This little fella got a little over excited walked up to me hit me in the leg and said 'smelly bum'. I ignored it but he kept walking away and coming back again and doing the same thing again and again. I could see I was starting to lose the other 30 kids and needed to rein him in. I asked him to stop because he was spoiling it for the other children. He carried on. I could see the parents finding the whole thing amusing. No one stepped in to discipline him, Finally I resorted to handing out sweets to the good kids. This worked and he (wanting a prize) fell into line.
He was a lovely kid who really did well and I ended up shaking his hand and giving him a prize by the end because he was listening and joining in so well. The parent who booked me praised me for my amazing patience and ability to control the children so the party was successful. Super human patience does seem to be a necessary requirement for children's entertainers these days!
What surprised me was his mums attitude. I noticed at one point after I'd rained him in he started hitting another kid and at that point his mum waded in pulled him out and had a chat with him about how wrong it was. Yet when he was thumping me she did nothing other than laugh a bit.
What is this teaching her son. he must not hit other children, but hitting adults is perfectly all right? Its ok to thump someone in a costume? It really surprises me that mum would have this attitude, but I do see this a lot.
I am in my early 30's; I know if I had done the same thing as a child, I would have been in a lot of trouble! I would have got a smack for sure (now I do not advocate violence towards children, I believe in 2010 times are very different and there are many things a parent can do without having to resort to physical discipline) and I would certainly have been told off and I would have been told why what I did was wrong.
So why in 2010 do some parents seem to feel that its all right to let there children get away with this kind of thing? And what do other entertainers do to deal with these kinds of situations?
I'm sensing a reluctance from people to get 'stuck in' to this topic of conversation.
I certainly have a story or two where i feel my skills as an entertainer have really come into their own and where less experienced entertainers may have struggled.
I think to control 'over excited' or abnoxious kids one must first understand the psycology of what makes children tick. What engages them, what turns them on and off, what makes them tick and for ages eight and above; what is cool and what is very definately uncool.
I think if an entertainer can 'keep it real'. Entertain in the moment whilst responding and interacting with their young audience rather than resorting to an over rehearsed and formulaic approach to entertaining then children will (in the most part) remain engaged.
What is your experience? :lol:
This is a great discussion topic. What I find is that the more I physically involve children in what I'm doing, the more they'll love it and stay around for the final result.
The specifics of what I do change all the time but here are some of the things I like to do, in a random order: Have them hold the balloons. Usually around their neck, under their arm, under their chin, etc. I'll talk to them, tease them, pretend to misunderstand them (you're 73? wow, you're short for 73). I tell some stories, we make up some stories. I teach them how to be whatever I'm making them into (dragon, princess, etc.) with dragon roar or princess wave. You get the jist.
I also like to make things that are interactive such as balloon balls inside 260s to race each other (I don't know how else to explain that) or a basketball or baseball game. If my space is big enough, I'll make a quick soccer ball.
Another thing I'll tell the person booking me is that not all children will be in the room with me while I'm making sculptures. This depends on the kids and what else is going on at the party. I love parties when parents rent a bouncy castle. That way when they're too excited or too full of sugar, they can go and jump for a while to get the edge off and then come back later. The best party is where the kids can bounce around to different activities at will: Bouncy castle, outside swingset, get a snack, go to birthday child's room, come and see me, talk to their parents, and back and forth and back and forth until they're exhausted.
I also like to come with some preinflated balloons. This speeds me up a bit (I'm a painfully slow twister) and then when there are some left over, I like to teach a simple sword to everyone at the end of the party as a good way to exit. Whenever I do this, I'm very happy that I did. Even if I don't do the sword thing, there will still be some balloons left over for the kids who need to be into everything. It just gives me more options.
On another note, I do workshops for all ages, and I find that once I teach the kids to make stuff, they're really into it. I've especially had great workshops with teenagers and they've come up with amazing stuff too. One kid actually inspired the jet pack I make to this day.
Ok, I talk a lot. It's a way to avoid doing actual paperwork or cleaning the house. Works well for me.
Annie Banannie (aka Laura Caldwell)
Because Every Balloon Has a Story . . .
www.BalloonStoryteller.com (http://www.balloonstoryteller.com)
www.Twitter.com/BalloonStory (http://www.twitter.com/BalloonStory)
Don't worry about talking a lot, I got a lot from what you wrote, TY.
I can't help but notice there were comments above that no one seems to be joining in anymore but some of the questions posted naturally exclude some of the forum (myself included) that do not do shows. I am not a magician nor do I do shows. I either twist or paint faces but no show. I have my own methods of controlling children's behaviour but they are incredibly different to those that would be required to control a group of kids whose parents are not right there with them.
Laura I love your ideas for the kids and would love to know what the "ball of choice" is that you mentioned in your interview when you are talking about queue control. I know I'll be implementing them as soon as I get a booking in :roll: