AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

That is hillarious! Kyle was actually at the convention with me where Silly Billy lectured last year! Yeah, he knows of him. Probbably owns his book too. But I agree with what Kyle says about the fact that he is kinda just re publishing everything that David Ginn published.

Although I find it incredibly entertaining to watch David Kaye perform for kids and he is a REALLY nice guy.

This is one of the more ridiculous things I've seen posted here. What are you guys basing this claim on?

Kaye has published one book and one DVD, as well as a bunch of magazine columns... Ginn has released a boatload of books, videos, lecture notes, etc. Surprisingly, there isn't really that much overlap in what Kaye and Ginn have said, despite the fact that they are both children's magicians. The content that does is overlap is basically the kidshow equivalent of "common sense."

As far as kidshow theory goes, the curious thing is that they've both published about the same amount of material. The big difference is that Ginn publishes a lot more routines, tricks, jokes, etc. Once you've laid out the basics of kidshow theory, there isn't really that much more to say.

Ginn and Kaye are two very different animals. Kaye is more of a high-end (VERY high-end) birthday party specialist... Ginn is a school show specialist. The only real similarity in what they do is that both perform for kids, but in very different contexts.

In what way is Kaye "publishing everything that Ginn published"?

I just don't see it.

Enlighten me.


With respect to Kyle's comments about needle-through-arm and razor-blades-from-mouth, the person to ask about that would actually be Ginn since, of the two, he's the proponent of doing "dangerous" effects for kids. Would he do those two? Maybe not... but he has used Disecto, Visible Sawing in Half, French Arm Chopper, et al.

Guys check out all these really cool kids card tricks I WILL be getting several of these!

http://www.magicnook.com/magicbob/KIDS00a_TOC.htm

I saw those a while back, and they looked pretty good, didn't buy them though. Also, David Kaye sells some famous packet tricks on his site that were updated for kids.

But to answer the OP, when I worked in camp last summer, all I did for the most part was card tricks (in a close-up scenario, not on stage). They didn't really have the attention span for some of the more complex story tricks, but simple visual magic worked great on them.

I actually perform for kids from ages 5-12 at a school I occasionally go to once or twice a year and all they have ever asked me do is my card effects.

Now granted the last time I performed at that school was last June and all I had at the time was card effects (I am a huge cardician and 99% of my stuff is card magic) and they kept on asking me to do stuff like A Dream Of Aces my ACR (which was pretty bad when I first started)
Mercury Aces Fastest Card Trick In The World Here Then There (David Blaine's card transpo)
and a bunch of other ones but they did occasionally ask me to do my sponge ball routine but I hated it because everybody could figure it out.

But to sum up maybe not all kids don't like card magic or maybe the kids at that school are rare kids who do like card magic but anyways I'm rambling now so I'd better stop this post now.

gambling demonstrations work great with kids

I can imagine all the patter about casino visits and poker games. Clearly something those kids can relate too.

Airtight by jay sankey is an amazing effect for all ages. i have performed it for 4 and 5 year olds and they love it! it also is a favorite in my adult shows as well.instead of having them sign there name on the card i have them draw a smiley face. its easier for them and doesnt take 20 minutes for them to finish. this effect plays big to the kids as well as the adults. i believe it is the most visual non card magic card trick out there. kids really "get it" as magic.

Kids love the card-toon

No doubt!!

I did Card-toon in the restaurant for YEARS!! Kids LOVE it!!

Ted

I recently did a kids show for a bunch of kids that were about 11/12 years old and they loved Svengali, Floating matchstick over Card, and Mindfreak. I mixed in several other 'prop' tricks like the Magic coloring book and vanishing crayons. They want me to come back and do another show their next year.

I'm actually considering on adding a rising card into my show (for older kids). I'm in the middle of working out a (hopefully) fun and entertaining presentation for it.

I love rising card tricks!! One of my favorite is Martin Lewis' cardiographic. I'm not sure that this would be so good for an audience of younger children though. I've done it at family shows and it goes over great, but I'm not sure it has (the way I present it) enough interactions per minute to do well with younger kids.

Lately I've been trying to present stuff that has at least 5 interactions per minute for younger audiences. I must say that I think it's improving my results. Remember, it's not about the trick, it's about the journey. None of this stuff is my idea, it's all staight from David Kaye, but I will say that over the years it has been EXTREMELY helpful.

If you can do a rising card that gets the kids involved about once every 10 seconds I'd say it would be a hit. Good luck!

Ted

Any kid who's ever done an art project (99,9% of them) will know that drawings can't move. So if you draw the "deck" and make the card rise in cardiographic when they call out for it, you can definitely entertain younger kids with it.

I actually prefer Animated deck.. You can show both side of the cards which gives the appearance that you end clean