Ok so over the summer I will be doing magic at a day care center my friend works at (her mom owns the place). I was requested to come up with two, possible three 20 min shows for a group of Kinder-gardeners to 2nd graders and a group of 3rd to 5th graders. Additionally she wanted a short show for a group of 4 year olds. I came up today with each show's schedule and I wanted your input

K-2nd show # 1 (20ish min)

Sponge routine - 3 min
Magic Coloring Book - 3 min
Hippity Hop Rabbits - 5 min
Rope Routine - 5 min
Vanishing Bandanna - 3 min

K-2nd show # 2 (20ish min)

Paper Ball over Heads with TP - 5 min
Cups and Balls - 5 min+
Rope Magic - 3 min
Balloon Animal - 5 min (only if I am good by then, this is a HUGE maybe)
Miser's Dream - 5 min
Rocky the Raccoon - 3 min

3rd-5th show # 1 (20ish min)

Sponge Magic - 3 min
Rope Magic - 5 min
Cups and Balls - 5 min+
Paper Balls over Head with TP - 5 min
Vanishing Bandanna - 3 min

3rd-5th sow # 2 (20ish min)

Miser's Dream - 5 min
Rope Magic - 3 min
D'lite routine (to music) - 3 min+
Assorted Card effects (probably my personal Sam the Bellhop routine and either my biddle trick or maybe an invisible deck)- 5 min
"Ice Cream" magic (Dan Harlan's "Packs Small, Plays Big Kids Show DVD) - 5 min

4 year olds (10ish min)

Magic Coloring Book - 3 min
Hippity Hop Rabbits - 5 min
Rocky the Raccoon - 3 min
Vanishing Bandanna - 3 min

the order I have listed each effect is the order I plan on doing them in, if you think I should swap things around please let me know.

Thanks!

~Zenn

I forgot to add that I will be talking to my friend this weekend as to what dates I will be performing (so I can let you all know) I want to find out how many kids I will be performing for so that I can negotiate a price. I'm really looking forward to this, they have been incredibly nice to me and I can't wait to get out there and perform.

~Zenn

Hi Zenn. You may want to reconsider a few things from your lists:

1). 3 minutes of D'lights is waaaay too long. Especially for kids. It's going to get tedious to them in a short period of time. I'd try to whittle them down to about a minute or less.

2). Sam the Bellhop is not really a kid's routine. Not to mention, most younger kids don't even know what a bellhop is. If you absolutely have your heart set on doing a card routine for kids, consider doing Card on the Ceiling wherein ALL of the kids get to sign (or initial) the card. This will have a deeper impact than Sam will.

3). I see that most of these shows you have planned are between 10-20 mins in length. Judging by the lists of effects in each show, you clearly have too many effects listed per show. It is my belief if you perform all of these tricks in the time you have allotted, you will in fact be rushing a great deal of the effects, thereby overwhelming these kids with too much material to really enjoy the magic. Pacing is key in a successful magic show. Don't rush your effects just for the sake of having "X" amount of tricks per show. Slow down, have fun with your audience. Exaggerate your facial expressions. Do double takes, over play some of your own reactions to the magic that's taken place.....etc.... They're little kids, so don't be afraid to be a little bit silly at times. Kids love silly. Remember, YOU are the magic. Not your tricks. The tricks are merely tools.

I hope this gives you something to think about.

Best of luck,
Brian

Thanks Brian! Yeah now that I think about it D'lites for 3 minutes would be too long... mine hadn't arrived yet in the mail so this was my initial guess... after playing around with them I will def cut it down to the one minute range.

As for the card tricks, I will only be doping them for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders (from personal experience I've found that this is a good age to do card tricks for.) Additionally the Sam the Bellhop routine is my personal routine... it's more of a story telling deck (it is VERY similar to James Galea's version) I'm planning on modifying it for kids a bit. This one I think I will try out on some of my friends younger siblings to see how they react.

As for time, I was requested to do a 20 min show for each group. I guess when I was making this list I was trying to figure out which routines would give me 20 min of material... I forgot to factor in audience reaction, rookie mistake on my part! Would you mind possibly giving me an example on what you think a good kids show (for each age group) would be using the effects I've listed above?

Thank you very much for your help! I knew I needed some input lol

~Zenn

Zenn, Like Brian said, there is a lot of tricks for 20 minutes. have to remember the patter for each effect plus the patter for the transition between effects That is a big time filler so I would rehearse the acts and time them you'll find out you have to cut the number of effects. I use 3 in a 30 minute show.

Paddy

Thanks Paddy! Yeah I think I was more worried about making sure that I would have enough for an act... I forgot about patter and such... I may end up breaking up each act into two separate acts (giving me 4 for both groups). This actually would probably be better because I know that she wants me there as much as possible, and this would give me the ability to rotate the acts throughout the summer.

Is there anything here that you think I should cut all together?

~Zenn

I've been following this thread because it interests me.

I just had a question. Zenn, IF you do the balloon animal, what are you going to end up doing with the finished product?? If you hand it out, are you going to just pick one kid?? Or would you end up making several animals to give to several kids??

It seems to me like that might not be the best idea, because then the kids that don't get anything might be a bit upset.

If she wants you there as much as possible, maybe you should save the balloon animals and do that as an entire event one day, where you make one animal for every kid...instead of having it as one effect in a show.

Just thoughts...from a guy that doesn't really know what he's talking about, but is hoping to learn...

Well I was planning on doing what Dan Harlan did in his "Packs Small, Plays Big Kids Show" DVD (which has the ice cream effect I mentioned earlier btw) In it he did a birthday party, and he first did a comedic thing with the balloons (it was his tongue, a snake,couldn't inflate it, it inflated him, smacked him in the face, etc) and then eventually made a dog for a little girl. he then called the birthday girl up and made an octopus, using her to hold all of the balloons which was quite funny. He suggested that first off charge extra when you make balloons for a kids show but if you wanted to save time, make up a bunch prior to the show and pass them out at the end. Since right now I can only do the dog, I WAS planning on just making a bunch of them and passing them out at the end of the show. However now that I realize I have a bit too much going on, I might cut that all together. On the other hand if I do get better at balloon animals and can make other things (sword, flower, crown, etc) then I might save that for a separate day all together. It all depends on how good I get at making them before the show. Btw Gimp, where did you get your balloons and pump? I got mine at a grocery store so the balloons are a bit cheap (the pump seems good though) so I want to pickup some better ones.

http://www.tmyers.com/

Paddy suggested them to me based on his prior experiences with them.

For a first experience, I have to say I'm more than happy. Prices were good and the shipping was inexpensive. They came in like 2 days, too.

I went with Qualatex balloons, and after placing the order Paddy said they are one of the only brands he uses.

Zenn, everything else looks OK

Ok thanks... I'll post an updated list later this week

Hey Zenn, is this the Dan Harlan DVD you are referring to?

http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php ... n=wishlist

yeah thats the one... I really enjoyed it

Cool.

Added it to my wishlist. It might be the last thing I buy for a little while...well, that...and hippity hop rabbits.

hah I'm waiting on those as well