I'm talking with a magician right now and she's got a gig for a kids party for a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds in August and the only things she has are:
ropes
three decks of normal cards
Kids Kards
Out Of This World deck
magic colouring book
and a raven
so as you can see she doesn't have a whole lot of stuff that would constitute a show and I don't want her to make a fool of herself so what would be some nice easy magic that would be great for kids? She doesn't have a lot of money to pay for some stuff like that Card Duck or the Hippity Hop Rabbits so it would need to be somewhat cheap and not hard to do, I really would like her to succeed in her first show so please would somebody answer this? Hope to hear from somebody soon.

Sincerely,

KingOfNynex2003

why couldn't she make a show out of this?

It all depends on the presentation.


with 3 decks of cards, you could do the 52-card-pick-up joke 3 TIMES!!!
Most kids at that age would find that hilarious.
If done in a humourous way, even most adults would find that funny.


With ropes, all she needs is some patter about learning to tie her shoes. All kids (and even some adults) can relate to that.

I don't know what an Out of this World deck is. I'm assuming it's a Toss-Out deck. This might need some adult help to pull it off. Or at least I can't think of anything right now that would be 100% kids. I would be worried about throwing out the deck and hitting some kid in the head because he doesn't know how to catch. Or the kids would forget their cards. However, with adult help, she might be able to pull this off.

By the way, I once did a 45 minute kids show with 22 balloons. It should have only been 20 balloons, but 2 broke when inflating.

p.s.

I don't think "she" is a friend.

so, good luck with your show.

No it really is her I can't do kids shows because I'm terrified of balloons. Also I don't have enough kids magic anyways. This is that Out Of This World effect:

http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=659 it's not a tossed out deck.

She does perform Fiber Optics but I don't know if you would be able to entertain 4 and 5 year old kids with a 7-10 minute long rope routine, but you never know right? Also that stuff is all she has learned at all, she just started learning magic a few months ago. Also, do you think that Fizz Master by Paul Harris and GUM by Jeff Prace would be good effects to perform for kids? I've had some great reactions with those effects when performing them for kids. Here's a link to GUM:

http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=2054

both of them have got me some great reactions from both kids and adults. At first I was actually thinking of telling her to pick up Strip by Jose' LacQuest because it uses a breath strip container, but the best effect in it uses cards, you think it would be one of those rare card effects you could perform for kids? Here's the link to it: http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=2049

Also I bought this effect called the Annihilation Deck by Cameron Francis, here it is: http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=S12277 and basically one of the bonus effects teaches this really cool card at any number effect and I haven't tried it on kids yet but basically you have a spectator select a card from a red deck of cards and you have a blue deck of cards which you don't touch throughout the entire routine and when they deal down to their number they freely selected it's a perfect match. I'm still debating if that would wow the kids or not but you never know, but the traditional Annihilation Deck is more to my liking and would appeal to kids more than that one I described. Hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,
KingOfNynex2003

Well for 4 & 5 yr olds what she has is over their heads. She is going to BOMB!! like a nuclear weapon. That's the problem with someone thinking as long as they can do some tricks they can be a kid's magician. Tell her to pass this one on to a real magician not a hobbyist Her reputation will be at ZERO after this show.

Your terrified... of balloons?

Its called globophobia

Something happened to me when I was really young and ever since I've been terrified of balloons and no matter what I do I can't get rid of that fear.

I know you're just trying to help and want people to succeed but do you always have to be this harsh? Out of all this time I just see you like to put down people who aren't as experienced as you and tell them they're going to suck and their career is going to be zero after doing a show, and she got this job after she did a walk around show for Variety's Boat For Hope.

Paddy might be harsh but he does know what hes talking about. Doing kids magic is WAY different than doing magic for an older audience. You have to really get them to connect to the trick, they can't be that long, you have to get the kids to participate, you have to vary between high and low points, and you have to do things that would be easy to remember. The reason that most people don't do card tricks for kids is because its often difficult for them to remember their card.

A lot of the effects that you have mentioned that you think will be good for kids (ie Gum) may work for walk around magic but wouldn't really work well for a kids (no dissing GUM... I LOVE IT). However if you take the time you can make it work. Instead of the standard "would you like my last piece of gum? oh wait a minute now its full" you could do a story. Talk about how you absolutely LOVE gum and you HATE when it runs out. You wish that your box of gum would magically re-fill itself every time you were down to one last piece. Show that you only have one last piece, ask the kids if they can say a magic word to make it re-fill itself, and then show the pack is full. Depending on how many kids there are (and if you clear it with the parents earlier) you could then do a switch and pass out gum to everyone.

Coming up with a kids show takes a while... I've been working on mine for the past several months. In fact I actually have my first gig on Friday and will find out what worked and what didn't.

Here is an example of my kids show (20 min kids show divided by age group)


Kids Show (K-2nd) 20 min

• Vanishing Hanky trick
o Start off with no wand, then broken wand, then add magic word (“Boogiewoogiewoogie”)
• Magic Coloring Book
• Hippity Hop Rabbits
• Vanishing Ketchup
• Rope Magic
• Vanishing Bandanna

Kid Show (3rd-5th) 20 min

• D’lites
o Song – Popcorn by Hot Butter
• Sponge Routine
• Linking Ring
• Invisible Deck
• Vanishing Ketchup
• Rope Magic
• Vanishing Bandanna

I've rehearsed this, timed it out (factoring in patter and audience interaction), and rehearsed it some more

Has she already accepted the gig? I wouldn't have especially if you don't have a kids act just yet. Also 4-5 year olds are going to be some of the toughest audiences to do magic for. At that age you just can NOT do card tricks.

Hope that helped a bit

~Zenn

I wouldnt call what you're doing helping, knex... but enableing someone that clearly has no idea what she is doing.
She can buy all the kids effects out there, and that still wouldnt prepare her for the show... not even close.
You dont take jobs you're not prepared for or set up for. You dont just take any and every job offered up. Everyone knows walkaround and kids show are totally different. If she was a sensible, mature, profesional shed know better. She should back out now, come up with a reason to turn it down. Otherwise, she will make a fool of herself and ruin that kids party.
Paddy gave you the best advice... Tell her to Pass.

Unfortunately you aren't getting the point. Close up/walkaround effects can't make up a children's show. Please re-read everything that me and David posted.

Thanks for using the google machine on the computer thing. Appreciate it.

Actually I knew a kid in high school who had that so I already knew the name.