I started a Magic and Cardistry Club at School. What should I teach/do?

[JoJoThePro]

Hi guys,

I recently started a magic club at my high school, and I am not sure what to teach or do at the club. I started teaching a few basic coin tricks, and kid tricks, like removing thumb, french drop, etc, but I am running out of things to teach and do at the club. The members do not have any decks, which is limiting and I am trying to find a way to get them all decks during this Covid thing, but I am not sure what to do at the club anymore.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

 

[RealityOne]

So you have two problems... material and materials.

For material to teach, I'd recommend getting Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic. There are a lot of effects with coins, bills, rope and even slips of paper. I'm not sure of everyone's economic situation, but it would be an easy purchase for everyone at around $20. Also, Scarne on Card Tricks is a great resource with around 150 relative easy card effects for around $12.

Another alternative would for people to sign up at lybrary.com which gives you access to the Learned Pig Project which are legal copies of a variety of public domain legal books. There are also other public domain books out there like the Jinx, T. Nelson Downs' The Art of Magic, Rotterburg's New Era Card Tricks, etc. My sense is to give them resources for them to learn effects and perform them for others.

For materials, see if you can pick up 12 decks at Costco for around $15. Give everyone a red deck and a blue deck for $1.25 per deck.

One other idea - I'm sure some folks on the forums would be glad to perform or give a talk / lecture over Zoom or Discord to the group on magic.

 

[JoJoThePro]

So you have two problems... material and materials.

For material to teach, I'd recommend getting Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic. There are a lot of effects with coins, bills, rope and even slips of paper. I'm not sure of everyone's economic situation, but it would be an easy purchase for everyone at around $20. Also, Scarne on Card Tricks is a great resource with around 150 relative easy card effects for around $12.

Another alternative would for people to sign up at lybrary.com which gives you access to the Learned Pig Project which are legal copies of a variety of public domain legal books. There are also other public domain books out there like the Jinx, T. Nelson Downs' The Art of Magic, Rotterburg's New Era Card Tricks, etc. My sense is to give them resources for them to learn effects and perform them for others.

For materials, see if you can pick up 12 decks at Costco for around $15. Give everyone a red deck and a blue deck for $1.25 per deck.

One other idea - I'm sure some folks on the forums would be glad to perform or give a talk / lecture over Zoom or Discord to the group on magic.

Thank You! I'll look into those ideas

 

[Luis Vega]

Hi guys,

I recently started a magic club at my high school, and I am not sure what to teach or do at the club. I started teaching a few basic coin tricks, and kid tricks, like removing thumb, french drop, etc, but I am running out of things to teach and do at the club. The members do not have any decks, which is limiting and I am trying to find a way to get them all decks during this Covid thing, but I am not sure what to do at the club anymore.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

WOW!!! very good! I am proud of you doing this! Maybe you can organize to get together and gather money and pay for a virtual magic show to get motivated!!

 

[EndersGame]

Get the students to take their own decks. Almost everyone has a deck of cards at home. When I ran an informal magic club, I found that most of the kids brought decks from home. You could also try approaching some playing card manufacturers and retailers to ask if they'd be willing to support your club by sending some ding-and-dent or other decks. I gave away decks like this as prizes, and that was a good incentive for kids to learn tricks, and perform them to the club.

I've personally had a lot of experience teaching kids card magic at high school. I put together some articles as a result of this, which you may find useful:

How to Get Started in Card Magic
Why Children Should Try Card Magic
Why You Should Try Self-Working Card Tricks
Popular Self-Working Card Tricks for Complete Beginners
10 Important Tips for New Magicians: Do's and Don'ts

In terms of other resources, I highly recommend Roberto Giobbi's inexpensive 150 page ebook Roberto Giobbi's Introduction to Card Magic, which includes half a dozen simpler self-workers. I've written a detailed review of it here

 

[JoJoThePro]

Get the students to take their own decks. Almost everyone has a deck of cards at home. When I ran an informal magic club, I found that most of the kids brought decks from home. You could also try approaching some playing card manufacturers and retailers to ask if they'd be willing to support your club by sending some ding-and-dent or other decks. I gave away decks like this as prizes, and that was a good incentive for kids to learn tricks, and perform them to the club.

I've personally had a lot of experience teaching kids card magic at high school. I put together some articles as a result of this, which you may find useful:

How to Get Started in Card Magic
Why Children Should Try Card Magic
Why You Should Try Self-Working Card Tricks
Popular Self-Working Card Tricks for Complete Beginners
10 Important Tips for New Magicians: Do's and Don'ts

In terms of other resources, I highly recommend Roberto Giobbi's inexpensive 150 page ebook Roberto Giobbi's Introduction to Card Magic, which includes half a dozen simpler self-workers. I've written a detailed review of it here

Thanks for the suggestion. My largest goal right now is also to get everyone decks, but it is very difficult, since everything is virtual. I think I will contact my school's club administrator and try to get everyone a deck, which will definitely provide a lot more material and possibilities with the club.