What's good magic for little kids?

[Ben Long]

I've just started volunteering at Children's Hospital in New Orleans. I go from room to room doing a mini show for patients. The problem is, most of the patients are in the four to ten range, and card tricks don't work too well on them.

I've basically been relying on two routines--one sponge ball routine and this one coin routine.

Basically, I need a few more routines that are good for kids and that don't require a table. Any suggestions would be great (and please don't say D'lites).

 

[Johnlawl]

Well, card tricks won't probably be good for kids.

So this might help you.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oNMHkSJiDcw

Oh yeah, that trick where a scarf turns into a wand.

And you could buy a svengali deck with pictures of catoons instead of the regular ones.

 

[Sean_Raf]

Rope magic is pretty visual and entertaining
Sponge Bunnies is a good one for the parents too.

Ideally, simple to understand and visual is going to be best.

There's people around here who perform for kids all the time, so it won't be long before you get a proper decent answer if you haven't already by the time I've posted this rubbish one.

 

[RichmanMatthew]

Coins Across
Cardtoon
Color Monte
Super Sharpie
Rope Magic

 

[cbols23]

Coin one.

http://sandersfx.com/fiberoptics_extended.html


http://sandersfx.com/

Depends how old they are.

 

[Lazarus]

I agree that the Richard Sanders rope routine or Daryl's Rope Routine would be good. Remember, depending on what the kids are in the hospital for, they may not be able to hold sponge bunnies or other props - especially if they have an IV in their arm, etc.

I can't see coins being good at all, and card tricks often require knowing the names of the cards. Now if you did a trick with Old Maid cards or something similar, you might have something that would work. You may even try some simple origami. If the hospital let's you do so, you can leave your creation behind to sit on the table in the child's room.

I think this is a great post from someone who is actually performing magic, as opposed to all the flourishing threads and gimmick discussions. Neither is better than the other, but this one to me is more interesting.

 

[Ben Long]

Yeah, the problem is that in a lot of cases, the kids are stuck lying down in their beds, or they are in casts, so I have to be careful about where I perform for them (it does admittedly make my angles easier to manage, though).

The other problem is that the hospital has a lot of rules that cover sanitation (obviously) so I have to be careful what I hand out for inspection.

Also, there really aren't any tables in the rooms, so that rules out a lot of kiddie magic tricks (which is fine by me).

I hadn't even thought about rope magic, but now that you mention it, that's a great idea. It has a fun visual quality that the kids should love. Also, it requires no table. I'll definitely check out that Sanders DVD.

 

[mistasocka]

I Got a good one!

Sponge balls are always fun but I would really recomend the Pom-Pom pole that is one cool trick that even older people would love to watch.

 

[Ben Long]

Well, there's also the problem of having to carry all of my equipment around with me, so it would be better if I had just a few versatile items on my person, like cards, coins, and rope.

 

[Sleight_of_Hand]

thumb tip magic is good

i went to India a few weeks back for a wedding and i was asked to entertain people.... as I live in Australia... I was really bad at speaking the local language... so i did thumbtip magic and sponge magic... it really helps the language barrier problem as its visual.

 

[captainslaughter]

The Snap change or any kind of color change i work with a daycare so i know
they love that stuff

 

[neco]

two thumbs up!!!

first of all what your doing is good you should keep it up... well i think what you need are tricks that are visual enough for them to see....

 

[iq92]

Mayne's Popfist Other than that, you could do the kind of magic that clowns do during parties. There's usually a tab on magic sites that sells magic for kid's parties/for kids.

 

[humormagi]

Magic for little kids

I'm curious as to why you say, "please don't mention D'Lites"?

For little kids, it's perfect. I will play around with it, light in mouth...out my ear and stupid stuff like that and get them playing catch with the light. They love it.

Professor's Nightmare is always a hit with kids. Or use colored rope and call them hemp snakes, I use a story about the Papa, Momma and little one and they come to a river and the little one is too short to go across so the papa changes them to all the same. They get across the river and change back.

Do a two in the hand, one in the pocket with small toy items and after a couple times one of them changes to something else.

Penny/dime is good for the ones old enough to recognize money.

 

[RichmanMatthew]

I forgot the best of them all, BALLOONS.

 

[toadwiked]

Silks and sponge balls are fun and a coin vanish do well. I have a Five year old and she loves color changing coins.

 

[Sergey]

I loved card tricks since I was like 5 so I don't really understand them not enjoying those type of tricks but IMO your best bet as been stated before rope magic, or just anything visual.

 

[Ben Long]

There are some great suggestions here! I may try out a few rope tricks and see how the kids respond to them. It's really more a matter of my work space, like I explained earlier. I'm standing up, without a table, performing for kids who, in a lot of cases, are stationary.

I'll let you all know how it works out.

 

[RichmanMatthew]

Rope has probably been mentioned in just about every post in this thread.

If you are going to go with rope, get, "Daryl's Enclyclopedia of Rope Magic, Volumes 1-3".

 

[Walgreens]

As far as not having a table, look around for a jeweler's mat which is sturdy and has felt on top like a close up pad only this is sturdy enough like a small table. I found one at a place called the Flower Factory which is like a huge craft store for 4 dollars and looks every bit as good as a 20 dollar close up pad.

As far as tricks: I am an elementary teacher and here are a few my 4th graders love.
vanishing deck, hot rod, color monte, a new trick called Free Will just came out which my elementary kids love, a change bag might be neat, probably can't do wiregrams with fire in the hospital...ha ha., um....ring rising up the rubber band trick, paper clips linking off of the dollar bill trick, budha money mystery. Any type of packet tricks that hit hard and fast. Hyrum the haunted hank. My kids love all of these and they are easy to carry around. Just a few ideas.