A rising number of kids are giving each other tattoos at Kiwi schools.

The trend is called “stick and poke” and requires nothing more than a needle and a pen.

While laser tattoo removal specialists have been used to treating homemade tatts on older Kiwis for years, teenage visitors have been increasing.

"For the last 18 months we have been getting several inquiries a week, the tattoos are usually quite little," Auckland Tattoo Removals' Vicki Macleod told Seven Sharp.

She described the kinds of tattoos school kids are giving to each other.

"They tend to be on their arms, hands and sometimes on their ankles," she said. "Kids like them to be visible.

"They get things like hearts, stars, stick figures and smiley faces - pretty basic, crude drawings usually."

Removing the basic tattoos is easier than dealing with professionally done ones, but still takes time.

"The way it's done it's not as deep down in the skin, but it still takes several sessions over a few months to get rid of a stick and poke," Ms Macleod says.