Kids have a shorter attention span and need fast and visual magic.
Also kids need more visual magic, than implied ones. I once did an effect in which 2 rubberbands linked together, which I would say was done visually enough ( and they could feel the link too) , and then they unlinked again. YET it did not get good reactions, which kinda surprised me, because that one gets amazing reactions from adults.
The need for "fast" or "visual" magic for kids is a common misconception. The effect needs to be something that accomplishes what they know to be impossible.
I have a situation where kids love me, they see I'm a magician and flock to me like crazy. I can keep them entertained with some small vanishes and spongeball gags and they will be laughing for a while. But I don't think I could make a show out of that.
This is exactly the issue with a mindset that kids need fast visual magic. That may work for table hopping where you are there for five minutes, but not for a 30 to 45 minute show. Kids need entertaining magic.
Kids are a completely different audience. I've found that they often lose interest in most normal card tricks (Unless you use cards with pictures or something on them), the tricks you have to do for them have so be somewhat fast and often very visual.
I agree normal cards aren't interesting and that special cards have more initial interest. However, it is what you do with them that is important. I've done a jumbo invisible deck routine for children using a beach ball and music that entertains them. I have another routine that hole punches their selected card and it matches another card in an envelope with the exact same hole punches that amaze them. In contrast, I've performed some routines with Pokemon cards that just fall flat.
The stereotype seems to be that you have to be funny or silly to keep their attention. You can be funny or silly, but there's a point to where it's contrived. Storytelling magic, for a show setting, is probably the best way to go. Especially since a good storytelling routine completely takes their focus away from whatever props you're working with; and them trying to figure it all out is dropped exponentially.
Like. Like. Like. Like. (repeated 100 times).
Be ENGAGING! Have you ever seen kids sit at rapt attention to hear a story read by a good story teller?
The same "short, visual and silly" mentality dominated children's television for many years. Look at Sesame Street episodes - all short and to the point. Then there was a change in the thinking of how kids learn. There is a great book by Martin Gardner called Theories of Multiple intelligences that argues that kids learn based on a variety of different intelligences (the intelligences are not what you would think). The Dora the Explorer show took those theories and tested it by incorporating those intelligences in the show. Notice how each show is a series of events tied together by a common plot and the "Map." Notice the different interaction of the audience as part of the show.
Good magic shows combine strong magic and strong entertainment. The problem with a lot of kids magic shows is that it is neither.
Oh! And talk to them as people. Don't talk down to them because they are kids. I have a daughter who gets very frustrated when people don't give her straight talk and out on 'kid gloves' when talking to her. There are kids out there who, mentally, are tiny adults.
Priceless.
And if you're not very engaging, or they sense that you're not 'genuine'. Whatever you're getting paid for your gig isn't nearly enough for what they are about to put you through.
Those who are not genuine or engaging typically perform one kids show and leave beaten, bloodied and tattered and say "never again." The problem is they blame the children rather than examining their own performances.
And if what you are performing is not relevant to their small lives, they won't care about your effect no matter what you do.
I think it is more a matter of being interesting to them rather than relevant. The use of the word "small lives" gives the sense of what Brett is talking about -- they don't think their lives are small. As a parent and someone who has worked a lot with kids, I can say that their view of the world is more expansive and more open to possibility than any adult.... until of course they become a teenager and they think that because they know a lot about what they know that they know everything.
Finally, since the question is how kids' magic is different from the one you'd perform for adults, I'd like to add this point (although it is not negative in any way, shape or form) that kids believe easily, if given sufficient proof. So, while they might ask you to show your hands empty thousands of times, if you show them that a coin travelled from one hand to another (and perform it sufficiently well) they are ready to believe that you surgically had a hole implanted in your hands.
Kids actually have a very strong baloney (for lack of a better age appropriate term) meter. I do think that young kids are more accepting of something not having a possible explanation than older kids. Heck, they know there is a lot about the world they don't understand. BUT, the focus should be on entertaining, not on the method.
There is no reason why kid's show would be different from an adult show.
In a way, there is some truth to this statement. A good magic show draws in the audience, keeps their attention by being entertaining, builds the impossibility of the effect through providing context and then has a clear understandable statement of impossibility. How you get each of those elements is what is different.
