Kidsmagic

Magic tricks utilizing everyday items and just your hands is, to my way of thinking, more baffling than employing fancy canisters and such. I immediately suspect that the unusual item is specially made for a specific purpose. The trick depicted in this video genuinely uses only the four coins presented, and a tiny bit of sleight-of-hand. The magician displays four coins and proceeds to place one in each hand. The remaining two coins are to be placed on the fingernails of each closed hand, but an audience member is requested to help with this, to keep the magician 'honest'. So with a coin in each hand, and another coin on top of each hand the magic is about to happen. Keeping the hands wide apart, the magician grabs with each hand and immediately opens them. In one hand, there is only one coin, while the other hand holds the remaining three. Watch the entire video to discover the working of this easy trick.

One of the very first magic tricks I learned from my father involved a coin and a matchbox. I watched him intensely as he took a matchbox from his pocket and emptied the matches onto a table. He then proceeded to close up the matchbox and place it to one side. A coin was taken, and promptly made to disappear -I had no idea where it could possibly have gone. Showing both hands to be empty, he reached for the matchbox and slid the drawer open. There, to my amazement, was the coin inside the matchbox he had shown empty just moments before. In this video, I've reconstructed the magic trick he showed me, and also revealed the method used in this baffling display.

Most of us have a reasonable grasp of the ability to spell adequately. The exercise depicted in the video is not designed to illustrate any spelling skills, but to invite you to contemplate the working. After shuffling 13 playing cards, the magician proceeds to spell the values from Ace right up to King. One card is counted off for each letter announced, and the next card is revealed in sequence. The intriguing part is that the stack of 13 cards is reduced by one after each spelling, and yet the continuity is not disrupted. Only 13 cards are used, and may be examined in detail.

The simplicity of using only three playing cards instead of a complete deck is, I believe, quite appealing. I hope you enjoy the accompanying video, designed for viewing pleasure. It is a variation on a very old magic trick used by con-men called the "Three Card Monte", and even older as the "Shells and Pea". Three cards are placed face down on the table. The magician shifts them around, and a spectator is invited to choose the Ace. No matter how closely the spectator watches, he/she is wrong. This is repeated a couple of times, and every time the spectator chooses the wrong card.

Here's a card trick with a difference. Normally a chosen card is discovered, but this one disappears without a trace. From an unprepared deck of cards (these may even be borrowed), one card is freely chosen. A clear jug of water is then introduced, as well as a hankerchief or cloth of some description. The card is placed underneath the cloth and is suspended above the jug of water. An audience member is invited to hold the card through the cloth. On command, the card is released and is heard to enter the water under cover of the cloth. However, when the cloth is removed the card is nowhere to be seen. The card may then be recovered from an alternative location. The video shows how this trick can be accomplished, once more proving that magic tricks are easy when the secret is known.

This is a favourite, not only of mine, but of many young magicians I've come to know. A great number of magicians want to learn of a card trick with a difference. I believe this one ticks all the boxes. A card box is opened out to show that it's completely empty. It is now folded back into the shape of a pack of cards. The magician makes a magic motion, and immediately pours a full deck of cards from the empty box. The deck, being completely normal, can now be used for traditional applications.

Try this easy magic trick. (All you need is a cloth bag and six balls, all different colours.) A member of the audience selects one coloured ball from a choice of five. All five coloured balls are placed in a bag, and jumbled. The audience member has four chances to withdraw his chosen colour, but fails every time. Only the magician can withdraw the ball first selected. It won't be noticed that the five colours have changed from those originally shown. The audience's attention is focused on just one colour, which remains throughout the trick.

Prepare and perform your own magic trick, using just paper, scissors and some glue. Once prepared, you can show three separate demonstrations from simple loops of paper. You can now become a magician without spending a dollar. Make it yourself and present your magic without it costing you anything. This trick has been around for maybe 100 years, but can still manage to baffle and confound an audience.

There's no shortage of card tricks to be had, I think you'll agree. Every magician I know has at least a small array of card tricks in his/her repertoire. This particular trick makes use of the traditional deck of cards (borrowed if preferred). The magician hands the shuffled deck to a spectator who is requested to divide the deck into three roughly equal piles. Without touching the deck, the magician names the top card of one pile. This he picks up to verify his claim. The same is repeated for the other two piles. Each time the top card is named before it is picked up. At the conclusion, the audience is asked for the three cards that were predicted to appear. One by one, the cards named are shown to the audience. An impromptu effect that is performed with a standard unprepared deck of cards.

I guess we've all seen ghost movies where objects appear to pass through spectres in an eerie fashion. Camera tricks and creative technology of course. But when you witness a similar event in the same room, without any obvious trickery, it tends to make for a 'Say, what?' moment. In this video, a silk hankerchief is wrapped around a walking cane and held with one corner in either hand. Without any awkward moves, the silk simply melts through the cane in an astonishing manner. This is repeated in slow motion to give the spectator an even chance of discovering the mystery. I'm happy that this is the closest I've come to observing an actual ghost.

Reminding one of the Russian Babushka Nesting Dolls, here is a video of what you could call a Chinese equivalent. A coin is marked for future recognition, and placed under a cover. The magician reaches under a hankerchief and withdraws a red Chinese pill-box. Inside this pill-box is another, and another, and another. When the last pill-box is opened, the marked coin is found inside. The coin is, of course, missing from under the cover where it was originally placed. All items can be minutely examined by the audience.

I attended a Magic Conference many years ago, and showed a simple trick I learned from my father. I was quite young at the time, and was astounded by the reaction from the seasoned practitioners looking on. It seems that they were approaching the riddle by searching for some complicated explanation. It was, in fact, "what you see is what you get", but they insisted there must be more to it. As you will see by the disclosure, it's a case of "the hand is quicker than the eye". This is a concept they wouldn't accept. "The hand cannot be quicker than the eye", they posed. "It's misdirection of some kind." Just goes to prove that sometimes the simplest answer is the best answer. They refused to accept my explanation, so I walked away resigned and just a tiny bit smug.

Magic tricks performed with easily identifiable objects can be especially confounding. It's one thing to be entertained by a magician with fancy boxes, etc. but who's to say they aren't prepared in some way? On the other hand, when the items being used are familiar and not easily tampered with, to me the effect is far more mystifying. This video shows the magician placing a white spot sticker on one side of a standard ruler. The spot is then coloured with a blue highlighter pen. A second white spot is then coloured likewise, and caused to vanish. This spot is found on the reverse side of the ruler. However, by passing a pink highlighter pen over one blue spot, it changes to a pink spot. Confusion reigns as the spots refuse to remain constant.

It's one thing for an object to be damaged by accident. It's a case of "That's a blow, but what can you do?" But when a magician attempts to damage an object on purpose, well that's just annoying. Of course, the obvious conclusion to reach is that he has control and everything will turn out just fine. This magic trick illustrates such an illusion wherein the magician displays a hankerchief (which may be examined). He takes the centre of the hankerchief and with a pair of scissors purposely cuts the centre right out of the hankerchief. After appropriate magic theatre, it is shown that the hankerchief is completely whole once more. The secret is revealed in the video, so anyone keen to try will be well informed.

Poker chips are synonymous with gambling, casinos and cheating. The video exhibits a good dose of cheating, using poker chips as a focus. There are three poker chips - two red and one black. Time and again, the magician causes the black chip to vanish. Each time it re-appears between the two red chips. Finally, the two red chips are taken, leaving the black one alone. It promptly disappears.

Sometimes a magician will use an element of danger to impress an audience. In this presentation, a large, solid nail is shown. The magician wraps a tissue around his/her index finger, and proceeds to push the nail through the tissue-wrapped finger. The occurrence can be viewed from all angles, before the nail is removed and passed for inspection.

Magic tricks using unprepared everyday objects, that all can examine, have a particular intrigue. Whether it be a borrowed deck of cards, a hankerchief loaned by an audience member, or any well-known, easily recognized object the effect of the trick is somehow enhanced. I've presented a video that utilizes simple elastic hairbands that can be inspected at any time. It seems that when a hairband is placed on any finger/s, it can instantly jump to the alternate finger/s of the same hand. It uses a very easy principle that can be mastered in no time at all, to present a puzzling display to your on-lookers. The short demonstration is followed by a revelation of the working, to have you astounding your friends.

The most famous magician, Houdini, excelled at performing amazing escapes. In the same vein, this vide depicts a playing card being constrained in a seemingly inescapable manner. Ignoring all the principles that should apply, the card does in fact escape from its captivity, to be found free of any restriction.

A magic trick performed with a twist at the end is always greeted with surprise. Here's a card trick with such an ending. One single card is shown, and is covered for an instant with one hand. The hand is removed to display the card has changed to a different value. The normal response is for the audience to demand to see the reverse side of the card, but when their request is met it is shown to be something quite unexpected. This is known as a 'sucker effect', where-in the magician leads the audience to believe they've worked out the secret. In the end of course, the magician reveals that their assumption is wrong. Watch the video to the end to discover how this trick is done. It's easy to make your own and have fun fooling your friends.

For your viewing pleasure, I've presented this video. It's become one of favourite effects, so I hope you enjoy it as well. Three rings, red on both sides, change one by one to three multi-coloured rings on both sides. A colourful, intriguing event that causes delight with any audience.

This video showcases a magic trick that has been around for a good 20 years, probably longer. Although it has been performed extensively by professional magicians, it has also been made available in a smaller version for children to handle. A colouring book is shown to have all blank pages. Suddenly, there is a black and white drawing on each page. The magician then proceeds to bring colour to the drawings, decorating them in a bright array of many shades.

There are some magicians, both young and not so young, who tend to write-off a particular trick because they consider it to be too simple. Quite often they unintentionally do themselves a disservice by discarding the obvious. With a little theatrics, a simple concept can be spruced up to appear more acceptable to an audience. Here we have an easy move with two paper cups, one passing through another, which in its normal setting is not very impressive. However, with the addition of a sticker or two and some misdirection, it can become a shade more intriguing. The magician shows two paper cups and attaches a sticker to one of them. The cup with the sticker is placed inside the second cup and struck forcibly with the hand. Immediately, one cup drops to the table top and is shown to be the cup with the sticker. It seems to have passed right through the second cup. The video includes instructions on how to perform this trick. Easy fun for idle moments.

Smoke and mirrors have, in the past, been used by magicians (and perhaps politicians) to create an illusion of some event that isn't real. The video presented here is a small example of what can be achieved with the help of our average mercury-coated accessory. The magician displays a small vanity mirror and a coin. Placing the coin in front of mirror with his finger, a reflection is naturally produced presenting the illusion of two fingers and two coins. Withdrawing the coin from the effect of the mirror, it is seen that the magician has in fact two coins, one under each finger. The illusion is that the reflection has become a real object. Cloning the easy way.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we were able to produce something from nothing? In this video, I'm demonstrating an exercise in fantasy, to represent our longing to materalise the things we desire. Two handsome flower boxes are produced from a paper bag, previously shown to be empty. Other items are also attained, as the magician desires. The paper bag can then be inspected by the audience.

You're sitting at a table with your friends or family. Imagine the interest and intrigue that would be created, if one of the group produced a couple of coins for a demonstration. That person might as well be you. Here's the illusion:- two coins are presented, and may be examined. You take one of the coins in one hand and place it underneath the table top. With the other hand, you take the remaining coin and hold it above the table top. Bringing this coin down to touch the table, you make a slight rubbing motion and a 'clink' is heard from underneath the table top. You withdraw your hand from underneath, and display both coins in the one hand. The other hand is completely empty. Only two coins are used. The secret is explained in this video, so with a minimum of practice any-one can astound the spectators at your next gathering.