I discovered by accident that asking kids to make "monster faces" is a great way to break the ice. My neighbor had asked me to shoot the kids for the Christmas card. She was a "helicopter" mom hovering over my shoulder and telling the kids to sit-up, behave, etc. Of course the last thing the kids wanted to be doing on a Saturday morning was sitting in their Sunday clothes for photos. Looking for a diplomatic way to get mom out of the way so I could engage with the kids I said. "Don't listen to Mom, I want you to make monster faces."
The kids of course loved that idea on several levels. They started goofing off and I'd snap a few frames, show them the results and say, "not scary / goofy enough, try harder". After a few rounds of that they ran out of faces, settled down and became ideal little models; paying attention and listening to instructions. I showed the older girl how to "pose like a model" and at one point when into the other room to grab a different lens to find her coaching her little brother how to pose. It cracked me up and impressed me with how closely the kids were paying attention. I've done their holiday photos for several years now and the kids actually look forward to it. Some of the best shots were those captured with them goofing off..
