Well I have used doves for the last seven years and I have never had a issue with using them. If they are trained well they will not go flying around the house. All it takes is good training and audience control.

But as far as what I use for my kids shows:
Coloring book
change bag
comedy egg bag
die box
dove bag
dove cylinder
dove vanishing bag
whats next
tissue tear hat
silk boxes
slush powder
lightning gel
sponge balls
Silvia the skunk (puppet)

I use a large amount of animals. So I have other effects that I use when I use some of my other animals.

The other animals I use are:
Doves
Columbian red tail boa
Rats
Iguana
Rabbit
I have used in the past spiders and bats during kids shows for schools.

But that is the main stuff I use for my kids shows. So I hope that helps

Vonbodan

i forgt to include the magic coloring book,mouth coils, and dove pan for candy production

I just received the circus wagon and I am getting a mini rabbit for it. Is there any advise that I should know about before during this? I know that they are low key pets but I haven't been around them much.
Thanks.

I have this Jumbo stage size Color changing silks effect. It's really realy nice. Very visual and colorful. Kids and adults love it. Id look into it.

Anything with silks, really.

Silk streamers, in general, have ALOT more impact than 9" silks when you're producing/vanishing them with a TT. Works wonders, especially pulling a silk streamer out of your mouth immediately after pulling a 9" silk out of your mouth. Gets a great reaction, especially when you ham it up a bit. Do that and a mouth coil, and you're set.

Sponge balls are also great - I do a ten to fifteen minute sponge ball routine, for goodness sakes - I use a fair few sponge balls. I have to use a bag - that many can't fit into my pockets. The kids (and the parents) love it.

I generally carry the Professor's Nightmare rope trick on me, as well, because it's easy and baffles kids.

20th Century Silks
Blendo silks,/Crystal Silk Tube
Sucker Die Box
Soft Soap
Dove Pan
Magic Coloring Book/Vanishing Crayons
Cut and Restored rope (cut 3 times and knots pop off_Duane Laflin)
Linking Ropes
Wizards Hat
Torn and Restored Newspaper or No Tear Restoration
Lasso'd Card Trick
Milk Water Separation
Magic Lollipops (Duane Laflin)
Some color changing silks utilizing dye tubes
Hippity Hop Rabbits
Strat-0-Sphere
Paper Hat Tears
Change bag, Mismade Teddy Bear
And depending on the age, a couple of card tricks, usually reserved for the over 10 crowd. I don't use all the effects just depends on the audience and age.

Some of the things I use are:

-- a nice Sponge Ball routine (including having one ball multiply into 2 or 3 in a child's hand), ending with Ball to Jumbo Square

-- What's Next?

-- an interactive Cut and Restored Rope (and sometimes Professor's Nightmare)

-- Strat-O-Spheres (very visual, very colorful. Children and adults love it!)

-- Monkey Bar (from Trixie Bond)

-- Linking Ropes (Duane Laflin)

-- Teddy Bear Painting (Silk) Set (Duane Laflin)

They like colors, they like to be involved in the action, and they like it when the magician "messes up", too.


As far as animals -- I use stuffed (plush) animals instead of live animals. It all started with the apartment I lived in a few years ago -- we weren't allowed to have pets, so I bought some stuffed bunnies and used them in my show instead. Now that we're in a house and could have "pets" if we wanted to, I still used my stuffed animals -- they're easy to work with, never make a mess, don't have to be fed, don't get sick, they're absolutely adorable, and the children love them! (One of their favorites is the "Mind-Reading Bunny", a variation of the "Whispering Queen" card trick.)

Can I purchase What's Next? from Penguin? It seems that they don't have them in stock. Do they usually have that?

Its a pain in the butt, some of the best kid show tricks are not sold at penguin like chick pan, egg can, miser's dream, cake in a hat, and a lot of livestock tricks. Mabey its because no companeys make the product sceep enough, but than the question would be "Why dosent MM copy it?" but than again, their are tricks like sphear that penguin sells...

I think there are some definite keepers for any kids show, but even that is debatable. But anyway for MY kid's show I PERFORM:

-twisting arm illusion
-d'lite*
-sponge balls*
-cut and restored rope
-vanishing hank*
-magic <a style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=23&k=coloring%20book" onmouseover="window.status='coloring book'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">coloring book</a>
-change bag routine*
-chinese sticks
-dots next
-20th century underwear
-balloon dog
-vanishing ketchup bottle to glass of water
-drink in the news
-balloon animals

(those are effects only, your presentation shouldn't come from the box the effect came in)

*effects ever children's entertainer could/should use

Well, there's lots of suggestions for tricks to use. Use what you want. Here's some non-magical items worth taking:

Puppets
A table or surface to put things on and something to keep tricks in. I have a box on wheels that turns into a table.
First-aid kit.
Penknife and gaffer tape (emergency repairs)
Dressing up stuff.
Spinning plates or other juggling stuff.
Comedy wands
Sound system: Amp, mic, cd/minidisc player
Games
Business cards

PB&J illusion all the way. I get better responses with that trick than with anything else I've ever done. The other thing that kids love is a spring animal. I use the Waccaroon from Marvin's Magic, and the thing is so ugly it's cute. Kinda like a sock monkey. A good routine with that thing and a rabbit wringer usually gets me killer reactions. But in terms of other stuff, rope, TT, silk, spongeballs, etc.

I've read through most of the posts on this subject, and everyone has had some excellent ideas, so I won't add to the list of tricks, but I will give some advice that has served me well over the past couple of years:

I once asked a magician buddy of mine (Brad Gordon) what his advice to kid's performers would be, and he responded by saying:

"It's two things: be funny and make a mess." I agree 100%. From that, I've kind of developed five rules for my show...

1. Funny is more important than magic
2. Use tape as a "do not cross" line (also mentioned in another post)
3. Start the show by traing the kids how to behave (that's a long discussion)
4. Make a mess - confetti, candy, stuff all over the floor
5. Use volunteers (I usually dress mine up) -

Some other tips:
1. bribe the kids with balloon animals (if you're a good audience I'll make balloon animals). Every now and then, during a show, I'll say to a kid... "somebody doesn't want a balloon animal..." That usually quiets the hecklers.

2. Make sure that you have a place to throw all of your props (out of sight) once the trick is over.

3. Use balloons and colorful items.

Check out this picture on my website... http://www.stonecoldmagic.com/showpics.html
you'll see that I dressed up the volunteer (rule #5) as an artist for the coloring book trick. I actually "borrowed" this idea from a magician who performed at my birthday in the third grade. Because I remembered it for all these years, I assume that most other kids would feel the same way.

Hopefully this will be valuable information to you. It has served me well over the years. Let me know if you want me to expound on any of these.

Jeff Stone

Magic Box = Barbed Wire Cage

Your right! Here's mine.