My friend just engage me to perform for a children show (not birthday party). Age group from 5 to 10, I think. It would be a walk-about kind, not a stage show.

So what kind of tricks you recommend I do? As I have never done magic for kids before (ironically some of my friends always say I use magic to bluff little kids).

Thanks for any help!

Coins? Sponge balls, maybe? I think cards might be a little bit difficult for them to follow.

I would recommend the self tying shoelace, it's a really good way to get it started.

For cards, if you have to, you can do a few ambitious card routine. And maybe a 'do as i do' thing so they know what's happening.

And like what ciozz said, sponges, coins, cups and balls. Strings should be cool too.

Hope your performace goes well. =)

Sponge bunnies!
Rope tricks should go over well I think. Easy to understand. Colour changing anything... Heh.

All the best and hope you'll have fun!

Wow, bro you've secured yourself a Kids show. Thats great :) Well here's a few suggestion from me.

- Sponge Balls/Bunnies (A must for walk around :P) You can do colour changes of sponge balls. Shape changes as well, I've seen they have it in square shapes. Changing from small to big sponge balls is very interesting too. Oh ya colour changes of sponge balls can be experimented.

- Coin production and Vanishes.

- For cards probably you might want to do card production or even card metamorphosis. Morph from a regular deck to a mini deck. Thats very cute. You might want to check out Cardtoons Deck as well. Its a deck with a cartoon stickman on the back of the cards who will reveal chosen card from his tophat.

- Simple Rubberband tricks. CMH can work.

- Probably can explore on your uses of IT as well.

Hope I was able to give some gd ideas. Have fun ya. Share with me your experiences the next time. ^_^

You could try to get Bill Seven's Magic in 4 acts. He has planned out 4 shows for you. There's a kiddy one inside, with tips and all. Though it's a bit of a mini stage show. ^_^

But i feel it's a bit weird, performing walk-around for kids? Thy will crowd around in a flash. :lol: Anyway, since this is your first time, here are some tips from Bill Severn(whom performed his first magic show at 9 :blink: )

A few tips from Da Man:
1) Though kids love the fun and surprise of magic, they hate to be fooled in any way that makes them appear stupid. Therefor never assume a superior attitude or any hint that you are smarter because you are older.

2)A certain amount of shouting like "i know how that's done!!" adds to the fun of the show.

3) The first impression counts the most! So start with a cute and fun opener.

4)Tricks must be direct and simple in plot, easy to understand and follow.

5) Get them to learn a magic word like "Hocus-thingy" that they will use throughout the whole show.

Yep!

Aaron

I find that very true. If anything, we should be the ones who should appear stupid. ;)

20cents suggestion, cup and ball, cut and restore rope and coin from everywhere.

When is your performance?



If its just around the corner, perhaps you should forgo it as you may not be prepared enough to do kids shows.

Will there be helium balloons?

A simple and yet visual children trick can be done using an ITR. Imagine a balloon flying up and then coming straight down back to your hands.

Walk-about for kids??
I don't think it will be walk-about. You'll end up stuck in one place with the kids all drawn to you. Magic is like magnet for kids... :)

Just a suggestion. If you're doing card stuff, you can use those that have cartoon characters on them. To them, its much more interesting than the pure spade clubs etc.
A.

Hmmm, if you are doing card stuffs, try doing something that in interactive like color monte, there is a story ( kids love to hear stories), and twist to it.
lmake them count with you the loses and later ask them about the double or nothing, if you lose, you nedd to pay???? "14!"

And "pop" it became coco crunch!!Opps, i mean $14 dollar card.

Lefty

Hey thanks for all the suggestions...

I have decided to use
-Sponge Balls with a Sponge Bunny
-Basic Rubber Band tricks.
-My "finally-get-to-see-daylight-again" IT
-Basic coin vanishes/production
-simple card colour changes

Regarding Self-Tying Shoelaces, I am interested but not sure about the costs. Ropes is not my forte so I will forgo it.

Anyway, the performance is mid-sep so you all can keep your suggestions coming in.

Sounds like you are doing mostly appearances, disappearances, and the combination of the two- transpositions. By analyzing your act in this fashion you can see what you are missing: penetration, levitation/suspension, destroy/restore, transformation, escape, animation, mental magic, and so on.

So you might consider adding:

Penetration - ring on rope, linking rings, or ropes through body.

Levitation/suspension: floating card, anything using IT, Zombie.

Destroy/Restore: torn and restored newspaper or paper napkin or tissue paper to funny hat.

Transformation: color changing silk, silk to egg or lemon, paper currenty to credit card, etc.

Escape: thumb tie, siberian chain escape, Houdini wrist rope tie.

Animation: IT again, or the wonder mouse or squiggles.

Mental Magic: Go easy on kid's versions of this, but having balloons break as they shout out the colors, or a comedy prediction like Jim Gerrish's Hobby Horse Race, might do.

And don't forget balloon sculpture after the magic is done. You don't have to be fancy- just make a dog or a hat or a sword for every kid and you'll have a big after-show party going on.

Penetration for ring through rope is fine; linking rings is nice ...
But I sure wouldn't advise a rope through body or even worse *gasp* -- rope through neck. :o

As far as i feel, these tricks should be an absolutely a NO NO in children's show. Despite everything that you say to emphasize to them about not trying it at home, they still might..

Nobody wants anything bad to happen right?

A.

Actually, the version of Rope Through Body (I never mentioned Rope through Neck) that I use is the penetration of a single rope through my own waist, and the worst that can happen to any kid trying it is getting a rope burn. The traditional ropes through body with two ropes, if tried by kids at home, will give them a squeeze but not much more before they conclude it can't be done... unless you are suggesting they would actually try to hurt themselves by squeezing themselves to the point of injury.

If you analyze everything you do in a kid's show that a kid might endanger himself with at home, you'd have a pretty bland show. No magic wands, they might poke themselves in the eyes or start beating up another child with it; no balloons, they might choke to death inhaling a balloon while trying to blow one up; no tricks with rabbits, they might try it with their cat and get clawed to ribbons... and so on. You can do "what if's" to the point of absurdity.

I purposely didn't mention Rope Through Neck (you did) as a kid show trick, and there are others I wouldn't include because they might cause a real danger to kids who like to experiment, but let's not go overboard with worry about what they might do when they get home. Choose your tricks for entertainment value to kids and have fun doing it.

:mellow:
I agree with you actually.

However, though the rope through waist is relatively harmless, I've read in a book somewhere that advises against doing rope through body (any part) as a precautionary measure and i thought it as wise too.

Of course, analyzing anything to extreme is absurd, i was just trying to bring up this point that safety must always be considered. -_-

A.