Pet & Animal: How to Tickle Feet

You can tickle feet by lighting touching a person's feet with a feather, soft-bristled brush, or even your fingers. There are a few techniques for getting the best results when it comes to tickling feet. Just make sure you're not tickling someone (too much) against his will, or there may be a lot of kicking involved!

Steps

Approaching Your Victim

Choose your tickling tool. The fingers are very effective for tickling and have been used for this process for centuries. However, if you want to mix things up, a feather or a soft-bristle brush can also help you use some tickling tactics. It's up to you.

Try the sneak tickle attack when your victim is lying down. The perfect time to tickle a person's feet is when the person is lying down, oblivious, and the feet are already exposed. If the person is on the couch, tanning on a fold-out chair, lying on a picnic blanket, or just hanging out in bed, try to come up to the person and be perfectly natural as you move closer to his or her feet. Alternately, you can just start tickling when the person isn't looking! This will definitely surprise the person and will make him or her shriek with delight.

Do the sleeping tickle prank. If you really have no mercy and are at a sleepover or the person is taking a nap, wait until the person has drifted off to start lightly tickling the person's feet with your fingers or a feather. Keep doing this until the person wakes up, still confused about what's going on, and let the laughter ensue. Warning: the person is likely to be pretty annoyed, so make sure you didn't wake him or her out of a deep sleep!

Put the feet in a "foot lock." Instead of the headlock, get down by the person's feet and wrap your arms around them until the victim cannot get loose. You'll need one hand to hold down the feet and the other to do the tickling. You won't have very much time to get in this position, so quickly sit near the person's knees or calves to start getting control of them. You'll have to face away from the person, towards his or her feet.

Face your victim. Alternatively, you can sit in the same position, near the person's calves or knees, face the victim, and wrap one arm under both feet, while reaching behind you to tickle the person's feet. This will be a bit unmanageable, but the plus side will be that you'll get to see your victim squirm and shriek!

Tickle your victim while they are lying on their stomach. If your victim happens to be on their stomach because they are reading, resting, or tanning, then this is your perfect opportunity to tickle their feet. All you have to do is kneel over their legs, placing your knees and calves over the person's knees and calves, pinning their feet to the ground as you reach over and start tickling those feet.

Consider crossing your victim's ankles. Since the arches of the feet can be the most ticklish spots, if you can get in the right position, you can try to cross your victim's legs or feet so you have more access to those arches. This can only be done if you have a lot of control over your victim, but it can really help the tickling process.

Know when to stop. Though all is fair in love and tickling, some people really can't stand it. If your victim is laughing, that may not be because they are having a great time, but because they are actually just having a physical reaction to the tickling. If the person is yelling, telling you repeatedly to stop, hitting you, or crying out in what sounds like real pain, then you may want to stop before you hurt any feelings, or get hurt in return.

Tickling with Skill

Use a light touch. Whether you use your hands, a feather, or a brush, the best way to tickle a person is to use a light touch that causes a tingling sensation that makes people laugh. If you put in too much force, you'll just cause pain and won't be able to truly tickle the person. You can start with an extra light touch and tickle with a bit more force as the tickling ambush continues.

Tickle the ends and the pads of the toes. This is a sensitive spot for many people, so you can try to delicately tickle this part of the feet first. Just remember that the softer the feet, the easier it is to tickle a person. If the person has rough or calloused feet, then they won't feel the pain here.

Tickle underneath the joints of the toes. Though this may be a hard place to reach if your victim is writhing and kicking, if you get under here, one of the most sensitive parts of a person's feet, then you'll be able to do some real damage.

Tickle between the toes. Try tickling the pad of the feet with one hand and tickling between the toes with another. Or try using one hand to hold the toes apart and tickling in between them with your other hand.

Tickle the tops of the toes. This may be an unexpected place to tickle your victim — and all the better! This part of the feet is very sensitive to tickling as well.

Tickle the arch of the foot. This is another very sensitive area of the feet and is perfect for being tickled, whether you're using your fingers, a feather, or a brush. Remember to use a light touch to heighten the tickling sensation and to avoid causing any pain to your victim.

Find the person's sweet spot. Though these are the most common places to tickle, every person has his or her own sensitive spots, and your victim may be sensitive in a different part of the foot. Keep experimenting and trying different parts of the foot, to see what makes your victim shriek the most. Here are some other places to try:
- Just below the ankle
- The top of the person's foot, where the toes start
- The sides of the person's feet
- The top of the foot
- The middle of the sole
- Behind the heels

Start a tickle fight. Who says that you can tickle someone without getting it back? If you're out to tickle a person's feet, then chances are that the person will want to get you back. This may lead to a full-on tickle fight, where you're rolling around, trying to pin each other, and tickling each other's sides, feet, neck, and other sensitive areas of the body. If this happens to you, then you better reading up on tickle fights so you can make sure to come out the winner.
- If you think the person may come back and tickle you, then be prepared. Cover up your feet, or even your sides and neck, wearing as much clothing as you can. The person won't be able to tickle you if they can barely feel your body. But then again, if you want to have more fun, then ditch the tickle insurance and have at it!