Party Tricks

Top 20 Kids Magic Tricks That Will Leave Your Children Astounded

Learn Magic, Party Tricks

Keeping your children entertained is a constant struggle. Accomplishing this without the help of television, phones, or other electronics is even harder. You encourage them to read, to go outside, and to explore the world around them, but that only ever seems to take 30 minutes, Suddenly, you’ve got a lot of time to fill, and nothing to fill it with.

Sure, you could put in a movie, and you definitely have resorted to that, but you also know it’s time to add to your children’s activity repertoire. Believe it or not, kids magic tricks is a great place to start.

Kids love magic. They get reeled in and mesmerized, and they don’t spend all of their time trying to figure out how it’s done. Kids also believe in it. They love watching it and learning it, which means each trick can hold hours of entertainment. We have kids magic tricks for you here.

You can perform for them, and watch their eyes light up with wonder, and then you can help them learn how to pass that wonder onto other children.

Top 20 Kids Magic Tricks

But first you need the right kids magic tricks. You need tricks that are mesmerizing and astounding, but also simple enough for your little ones to understand and recreate. You also need tricks that you can easily learn and perform. You’ve got a pretty busy schedule yourself, and you don’t have time to learn how to defy death or gravity, you just want to pull a few quarters out of a few ears and keep your kids happy when the weather is bad.

That is an easily attainable goal when you have these 20 kids magic tricks are your disposal. You can learn them, perform them, and teach them easily, and before you know it, you’ll have a troupe of miniature magicians who can delight in showing off their skills.

Here’s how to do it.

Bending a Spoon

You probably remember watching this trick as a kid. You couldn’t believe your own eyes. Your kids will feel exactly the same way, and all you need is a simple spoon from your kitchen drawer.

To perform it, you simply hold a spoon with both of your hands around the handle. You then rest the bowl of the spoon, curved side down, on the table. Then press down on the bowl of the spoon as you allow the handle to slide inside of your closed hand until it reaches the bottom of your palm.

From your kids’ vantage point, it will look as though the spoon is bending. This simple trick is easy to perform and easy to teach, although it will probably take your little ones some practice to make it look convincing. Once everyone is convinced the spoon is bent, you lift it up off the table in both hands, and reveal that it is actually straight.

The Rope Trick  

This rope trick is an easy and fun one that you’ve probably seen performed dozens of times. By placing an ordinary piece of rope in your hands, you say a few magic words, and presto change-o, a knot appears in the rope. Your kids will have as much fun watching this one as they will running around and performing it for everyone they meet. Plus, all you need is a length of rope. 

Vanishing Water 

This trick is more science than trick, so not only can you teach your kids about the performance of it, you can also give them a miniature science lesson. All you need is a cup that isn’t see-through, a pitcher of water, and some sodium polyacrylate. These are moisture saving pellets that you can find at any hardware store, usually in the gardening department, or inside of a disposable diaper. The crystals absorb the water, which is what causes it to vanish. 

To being the trick, you’ll need to put about a tablespoon of sodium polyacrylate into your cup before anyone is watching. With the audience now watching, pour about a quarter cup of water from the pitcher into your cup. You’ll have to wait for the crystals to absorb the water to form a gel in the bottom of the cup. During this time you’ll have to give your kids a little song and dance about giving the magic time to work. 

Once the crystals have absorbed the water, you flip the cup over, and no water comes out. The water has vanished! To perfect this trick you’ll have to make sure that no one looks inside the cup at anytime during the trick. 

The Rising Arm 

This one is part magic trick part out of body experience, but it will give your kids a neat little thrill. You probably remember doing it as a kid, and here is a great excuse to try it again. All anyone has to do is stand in a doorway and press their hands and forearms into the sides of the doorframe. The harder and longer they press the more effect it has, but don’t let your little ones over-do it. Try having them stand there for a minute. Once the time is up, have them turn to the side. Their arms will rise up as if pulled by an invisible string. 

The Rubber Pencil  

This is a great kids magic trick to show and teach little kids because it’s super simple. All you have to do is hold the pencil at the tip of the eraser and shake it in just the right way. As it moves up and down it will appear, thanks to a nifty optical illusion, to bend. It might make it difficult for your kids to concentrate on their homework later, but at least you’ll keep them momentarily entertained. 

Make a Ketchup Packet Rise and Fall in Water 

This is a great kids magic trick to show and teach little kids because it’s super simple. All you have to do is hold the pencil at the tip of the eraser and shake it in just the right way. As it moves up and down it will appear, thanks to a nifty optical illusion, to bend. It might make it difficult for your kids to concentrate on their homework later, but at least you’ll keep them momentarily entertained. 

Walk through Paper 

Once you show your kids this trick, they will delight in sharing it with everyone they know. Essentially, you will bet your children that you can’t make a hole in a piece of paper that’s big enough to walk through. With just a little clever cutting, and your guide featured here, you’ll be able to do it in a snap, so make the bet a good one

Float a Card in Mid-Air 

This is one of the great kids magic tricks because all it takes is a card, some clear tape, and a length of black thread, and your kids’ jaws will hit the floor. You can follow the tutorial here, and before you know it, you’ll be floating cards, spinning decks, and changing minds. 

Putting a Pencil Through a Bag 

Here’s another trick that involves more science than magic. All you need is a sharp pencil, and a Ziploc bag that’s about three-quarters full of water. You simply pierce the bag with the pencil until it goes all the way through from one side to the other. Somehow, thanks to science, the water doesn’t spill out of the bag. You can learn more about it here, and you and your kids can have fun exploring the reasons why too. 

The Banana Buster 

This banana separating trick is fun and delicious. You present to your little audience a perfectly normal looking banana, and then you say a few magic words, perform a little ninja move, and then open the peel to reveal a sliced banana. Your kids will be impressed, and you’ll have a healthy snack ready to serve them. 

To perform the trick you just need to prep the banana ahead of time. All it takes is one ordinary banana and a pin. Insert the pin into the peel where you want the banana to separate, then rotate the pin from side to side until it slices through the banana. If you want to slice the banana in multiple places, just insert it and rotate it multiple times. 

Your little audience members won’t notice the tiny pinpricks, but they’ll think it’s pretty cool when the banana appears in pieces. 

Pass a Coin Through the Table 

Penetrating the impenetrable is such a cornerstone of magic, and it never ceases to impress people, especially kids. With this trick you just need to create enough distraction to pass the coin from one hand to the other, and then bam, it’s like it went right through the table. This helpful video can give you and your kids a few pointers. 

The Pepper Trick 

With just a little soap on your fingers, you can appear to separate water and pepper just by dipping your hands into the cup. To make the trick even more convincing you can also use a volunteer whose fingers do not make the water and pepper separate. Very clever and very easy. Perfect for a rainy afternoon that needs entertainment. Get the full directions here. 

Introductory Card Trick 

Every good magician needs a few good card tricks to pull from, and this one is perfect for beginners. You pull 3 cards from deck of cards and allow one of your little audience members to choose one of the 3 cards. Then you shuffle the 3 cards back into the deck and reveal the correct card. If you’ve ever wanted to learn a little sleight of hand this is the perfect trick to start with, and your kids make the perfect gullible audience. 

The Gravity Defying Ring

Making things appear to levitate is some world-class magician level stuff, but with a ring and a rubber band, you too can achieve this astounding effect. You simply place a ring on a piece of string and pull the ends. The ring will rise up in the air to the wonderment of your children. 

How are you doing that? They’ll wonder. Well, the string isn’t a string. It’s a rubber band, and as you pull the rubber band it stretches and lifts the ring upward. It’s a pretty nifty little trick that your kids will get lots of mileage out of. 

Crack an Apple with Your Bare Hands 

This is another trick that will encourage your kids to play with their food more than eat it, but showing them how to crack an apple in half with your bare hands is not something they will soon forget. Plus, it might make lunchtime prep easier for you if you don’t have to reach for a nice to cut apples into manageable pieces. 

This one is a trick of force and leverage. You can watch the tutorial here, and start cracking apples of your own in no time. 

Make a Cup Float in Mid Air 

Before you tell your kids the secret to this trick they might actually think you’re a real life magician. No. More than a magician. When they watch you levitate a Styrofoam cup in mid-air they just might be convinced you’re some kind of a wizard. 

You might not want to relinquish that power, but when you’re ready you can show them that you’ve simply stuck your thumb through the foam and used a little stage diversion to keep them distracted from the truth. Find out more here. 

Levitate off the Floor 

If your kids thought a floating cup was cool, then they’re going to love watching you levitate off the ground. You’ve probably seen this trick performed a million times and although you know it’s fake, you probably don’t know just how simple it is. All you have to do is stand on the tiptoes of the foot that is furthest from the view of your audience. Learn more about this simple trick here. 

Pen Through Bill 

This trick is just a little more advanced, and it’s great for older elementary kids who maybe weren’t impressed by the pencil through the bag of water. Although, come on, science is cool, right? 

At any rate, making it appear that you’ve punctured a hole through a precious dollar bill and then restoring it, is sure to make even a skeptical sixth grader smile. Here’s how you do it. 

The Sugar Cube Trick 

All you need is a sugar cube, a pencil, and a glass of water for this simple trick. You ask your kids to think of a number, and then write that number on the sugar cube using a pencil. It has to be in pencil in order to work. You place your thumb on top of the cube, pressing hard enough to let the number transfer to your thumb. Then you ask for a volunteer. You drop the sugar cube into the cup of water and hold your little ones’ hand over the cup. 

By pressing your thumb into their palm, the number written on the cube ends up on the palm. Your kids will have lots of fun practicing the skill it takes to press the number into a palm undetected, which means you’ll get to volunteer a lot. 

Crack an Egg 

This last trick is last because it could get messy. This little science experiment turned magic trick proves that eggs are pretty tough. In fact, they’re a lot tougher than you might think. When you try to break one in your hand by pressing all over, the pressure gest spread out, and the egg won’t crack. Challenge your kids (preferably over a sink) to see if they can crack a regular egg by squeezing it in their hands. You may all be surprised at the result. 

Teach Your Kids Through Magic 

Once you work these kid’s magic tricks into your parenting routine, you’ll have kids that are astounded, mesmerized, and eager to learn. What’s even better is that they’ll be learning about patience, perseverance, and even a little science, and they won’t even know they’re learning anything other than how to have a little fun. 

Floating Table Magic Trick is Still Unrevealed

Party Tricks, Stage Magic

 

a black Hat and Wand used in a magic show

In the age of the Internet, it seems like there are no secrets anymore. There is an answer to everything. There’s nothing you can’t Google, lookup, or find out in a matter of seconds. Information is all around you, and it seems limitless.

This is true for so many things, but when you step into the world of magic, you start to notice that the answers aren’t always easy, accurate, or reliable.

Illusions under Wraps

Yes, even at a time when it seems there are no more secrets, magicians have managed to keep some of their illusions under wraps. The magic community is still close off from the rest of the world in small, but distinguishable ways. You probably didn’t even realize this was possible, right?

After all, there have been numerous expose shows, blogs, and videos that uncover secrets at every turn.

But there is still some mystery in magic, and some magicians have been able to shield their tricks from the world if even just a little bit.

 The Floating Table Trick Remains 

Nothing exemplifies this more than the floating table magic trick. The magician message boards are perhaps the most helpful places, but even there the information is spotty and unreliable.

In fact, even finding a history of the floating table, much less its secrets, seems to be nearly impossible. There is very little information about the trick’s origin, or how long it has been performing for.

Part of this is understandable. Once a trick revealed it’s not as valuable to the world of magic, or to the person who creates it. If everyone knows the secrets of the floating table, then anyone can build one, anyone can perform the trick, and anyone can make money from it.

By limiting who privileged with the knowledge of how to perform the floating table magic trick, you limit who can benefit from it.

That would explain why the comment section on any of the videos that posted tend to be vicious and charged. Magicians definitely don’t want their secrets out there for everyone to copy.

Knowing the Magic Tricks

For you, this might be hard. Not because you want to run away to a life of performing magic tricks, but because you like answers. For you, a trick or illusion is only fun if you know how it’s done.

Not knowing just frustrates you. It eats away at you. When you see a trick like the floating table you need to know how it’s done for your own peace of mind.

Of course, withholding this information is part of the fun for magicians too. They have pulled one over on you, and you can’t even figure out how. You could ponder the floating table over and over again, and yet you won’t be able to truly know the answer unless it’s explained to you.

So, due to the lack of reliable information available about the floating table, you are left to speculate and gather information where you can. Let’s start by examining the type of trick it is.

 It’s Classified as a Levitation Trick

The floating table belongs to a group of magic tricks that are known as levitation tricks. The floating table is also known as the spirit table, and much is written about the way this trick was used by mediums and psychics during séances.

The modern-day floating table trick may get its inspiration from the floating séance tables of old, but it’s clear that the methods are different.

The spirit tables were often lifted off the ground with the help of planted participants who were working for the medium in order to hook potential customers.

Tricks Captured Audience’s Attention for Centuries

But still, in either case, a performer is using an illusion to defy gravity. It’s no accident that levitating or gravity-defying tricks have captured the audience’s attention for centuries. Gravity in itself is a kind of magic. You know that it’s always here, and always working, and you know it can be explained, and yet, it seems beyond explanation.

That’s why it’s easy for magicians to pretend to mess with gravity. It will always enthrall audiences.

 How the Trick Appears

This can achieve by levitating people, or objects, as with the floating table. The floating table trick as it known to magicians today involves taking a small side table, something that a lamp would probably sit on, and cover it with a magician’s cloth and a small wooden box.

Once these elements are in place, the magician is able to get the table to levitate several feet off the ground and move from side to side and up and down.

After watching the trick, many people assume that there must be wires that extend from the table to a fixed point, but many demonstrations from magicians defy this explanation. They move freely with the table, so the question becomes, where are the wires attached?

The Losander Table

A quick look at some of the magician message boards and you’ll notice a name start to pop up over and over again about the light table. Losander Amateur magicians ask others in their field about how to build a Losander table.

The table is the key to the trick. Many magicians ask if they can build their table because the original Losander table runs upwards of $1200.

Time and time again magicians ask others for ways to make their table to save money, but they told that buying the table is the best and only option.

The Art of Levitation

It’s clear that what you’re paying for is not the table. You are paying for the secret to the trick. On his website, Losander bills himself as the master of the art of levitation, and he claims that his Losander floating table is the best table levitation trick around. He created it over 20 years ago, and it has been captivating audiences and other magicians ever since.

Other famous magicians support this claim, and they ask that magicians honor the original and not seek a copycat table.

 Possible Explanations of the Floating Table

Sparse videos on YouTube with no working sound offer half of the picture when it comes to the floating table trick. By observing the one here, you’ll notice that a sort of metal arm inserted in the top of the table. This arm is hidden by the magician’s cloth that placed on top of it.

The metal arm tells some of the stories of the trick, but not all of it. There’s still the significance of the box that placed on top of the table. Is it to draw your attention away from what is happening? Is it to disguise where the metal arm inserted?

There are a few other videos you could examine, but most of them are after trying to sell you a product that will promise you answers. It’s clear that when it comes to the floating table trick, the answers not supposed to be free, or easy.

 The Magic is in the Performance 

Of course, by watching Losander perform the trick, you’ll notice what most practicing magicians know all too well. It’s not the trick that’s hard; it’s the performance. Losander makes you believe that he his levitating the table. He draws you in. You know there is a logical explanation for how he is achieving the effect, and yet, it defies logic. He makes you believe that the table is floating.

By paying money or infiltrating the magic community you could gain access to this secret knowledge. But you wouldn’t be able to make much use of it. Knowing the steps and secrets doesn’t make you a magician, and once you know the answerers, the magic is gone.

All Will Eventually Revealed 

The floating table trick won’t likely remain unrevealed for long.  If YouTube is any sign, people have spent years trying to expose the method, and they won’t rest until they do.

So you can take heart in knowing that the mystery will solve, or you can take heart in letting it stay, at least somewhat, a mystery. It may eat away at you, but when it does, watch a magician perform the trick and revel in their skill.

How To Always Win At Rock Paper Scissors

Party Tricks, Tutorial

Everyone has that lucky friend who always wins at Rock, Paper, Scissors.

But what if I told you that there might be more to their winning than simple luck?

In fact, consistently winning at Rock, Paper, Scissors only requires reading through a bit of strategy, and you’ll be ready to win every throw and challenge sent your way.

It’s all about strategy

rock paper scissorsIf your opponent loses to you on the first throw, you can predict their next move due to the human tendency towards conditional responses.

What’s that? That’s just a fancy way of saying that people are influenced by the choices they have previously made.

Pay attention to your opponent’s choices, and you can be the winner.

There are three parts to the strategy you should follow

And here it is: Throw one, winner rules and loser rules.

There is not a great way to guarantee that you will win throw one, so keep it simple: throw paper.

Unless your opponent is also trained in the art of winning Rock Paper Scissors, you have a better chance of winning because people choose to throw rock first more often than paper or scissors.

If you’ve won the first round, great. You’re on your way to victory.

What did you opponent throw on the first hand?

Whatever it was, choose the next item in the rotation of Rock -> Paper -> Scissors.

People typically move through these three choices in order and are also very unlikely to repeat their losing choice. So, if your opponent chose paper, they will probably throw scissors next.

So, you should choose rock. If they chose scissors, they will probably choose rock, so you should choose paper. Get it?

If you lost the first round, don’t panic.

There’s still hope. When someone wins, they’re more likely to pick the same thing again because they feel that it was a good choice.

Remember this about your opponent. If they won with scissors, you should pick rock to win the next throw, because chances are, they will pick scissors again. Remember this rule, and you’ll be on your way to winning in no time.

Follow these three rules for playing the game, and your chances of winning Rock, Paper, Scissors will be high enough for you to take over the role as the “Lucky Friend” without anyone ever realizing how you did it.

Check out this video for more

View more party magic tricks.

How Do Magicians Burn Paper Into Money?

Party Tricks, Performance, Revealed, Stage Magic

Magic is always more interesting when money is involved. And one of the greatest tricks involving money is the one where a magician will burn an ordinary piece of paper and transform it into money.

To do the trick yourself, all you need is a piece of paper, a candle, a match, and a table to perform the act on.

What does the trick look like?

It all starts with the magician showing you this ordinary white piece of paper.

Screen Shot 2015-06-06 at 9.33.27 AM

Then he shows you that he has nothing else in his hands.

After laying the piece of paper on the table, he picks up a box of matches and pulls one out.

He uses it to light a candle on the table next to him.

He crumples the paper up and sets it on fire with the flame of the candle.

Screen Shot 2015-06-06 at 9.35.27 AM

A big flash and it looks like the paper is gone.

Then he begins to unfold the paper, as he unfolds the paper it looks like the white piece of paper has turned into a hundred dollar bill.

Screen Shot 2015-06-06 at 9.36.29 AM

The crowd erupts with applause.

How is it done?

The key to this trick is the white paper and the matchbox.

The matchbox, at the beginning of the act, is sitting open on the table.

Before he begins the trick he places a crumpled hundred dollar bill into the back of the open matchbox.

Screen Shot 2015-06-06 at 9.50.48 AM

It is completely concealed because when the matchbox is open there is an empty space back there.

After get gets a match out to light, he closes the box.

The act of closing a box pushes the hundred dollar bill into his hand.

Screen Shot 2015-06-06 at 9.51.58 AM

Your attention is on him lighting the match. Once the candle is lit, he takes that white piece of paper and seemingly crumples it into a ball.

What he is actually doing is crumpling it around the hundred dollar bill.

Screen Shot 2015-06-06 at 9.53.11 AM

The white paper is no ordinary piece of paper.

It is a piece of spark paper, created to burn instantly and put off a flashy flame. When he sets it ablaze it does its job perfectly.

Screen Shot 2015-06-06 at 9.54.02 AM

It is burned away, so when he looks like he is unfolding the paper, he is really just revealing the hundred dollar bill hidden underneath.

Watch the entire trick and learn how it works

Every magician should start this trick with one of those do not try at home disclaimers, because who would not want to take a piece of paper and turn it into money?

This is a great trick and really popular among street performers.

It is more about drawing your attention away from what is really going on.

It seems so simple, yet it takes some pretty inventive techniques to pull off.

How Does Dynamo Twist An Iphone In Half?

Dynamo, Party Tricks, Revealed

Dynamo does a lot of cool tricks with an iPhone, and one of the most popular ones is the one where he twists the iPhone in half. He takes a regular phone, holds it in his hands, and then twists the bottom part right in front of the spectators.

Half of the iPhone is turned to the front side, and the other half is turned to the backside without breaking it. The audience loves this trick.

This is what it looks like when he twists it:

Seriously, it looks surreal when you see it live and up close.

Remember, he does this with someone else’s phone so that there can be no suspicion of him using a prepared prop phone.

He then twists it back into place, and hands it back to the owner.

So how is this done?

The trick is actually really simple to do, and a prop is involved. He obviously is not actually flipping the phone in half.

The secret is this:

From an identical model iPhone, he has the top half of the back cut off in preparation for this trick. Not the entire half, just half of the back of the lid.

He holds it in his left hand. Watch his left hand before he does the trick and you can see him getting it ready and concealing it.

After he takes the phone from the spectator, he adjusts it into place.

Screen Shot 2015-03-02 at 1.20.30 PM

He uses a small strip of double sided tape and sticks it on the front of the spectator’s phone. Nobody can see him doing it because they are standing in front of him.

Then, all he has to do is flip over the entire phone. The top half will be covered with his own prepared half that he taped on, and the bottom half will show the spectators screen.

To the audience, it looks like he is only twisting the bottom.

Then, to turn it back into place, he again makes a twisting motion but flips the entire phone again.

After that, all that’s left is concealing and removing the prop half that was taped. He slides it into his right hand as he presents the phone and then conceals it in his hand as he hands it back.

Watch Dynamo performing the trick and a full revealing video

TIP: Before you flip over the phone, make sure to turn on the spectators lock screen. That makes the trick even more impressive because they can see that it’s their own lock screen.