It is the story of every birthday party. Your usually happy and outgoing child suddenly becomes shy and squeezes into a corner if he is asked to sing or dance for the crowd. Being self-conscious in public is a normal feeling that even adults have trouble dealing with. But public speaking and performance are an essential part of confidence building and there’s one sure shot trick to tackle this challenge- magic!
Teach your child these simple five-minute magic tricks that will bring out their enthusiastic side in public.
1.The Sticking Pencil
You need:
- Two pencils
- A wrist watch
The illusion:
Your child lifts up a pencil and holds it around her hands. Then she opens her hands but the pencil doesn’t fall. It sticks to her hand like a magnet.
How to do it?
Slip one end of a pencil behind your child’s wrist watch’s back strap in such a way that the other end of the pencil reaches the middle of the palm. At the time of performing the trick, your child holds the second pencil and discreetly pushes one end of this pencil behind the first pencil so that the first pencil holds the second one in place in a perpendicular way. Since this is happening on the palm side and your child will only be showing the other side of the hand, it will appear as if the pencil is sticking to the hand.
2.Vanishing Water
You need:
- A wide-mouthed non-transparent glass
- A baby diaper
- A jug of water
The illusion:
Your child pours some water into an empty glass and utters some magic spells. Then she turns the glass upside down and voila! The water disappears!
How to do it?
This is more to do with science than magic. If you cut open a baby diaper, you will see a substance called sodium polyacrylate. This material can convert liquid into thin crystals. Place this material into the glass from before secretly then ask your child to pour water. In a few minutes, while your child says a few magic words, the material will absorb the water. Your child can keep a finger inside the glass to keep the crystals in and put it upside down. The water will have vanished!
3.Banana Slayer
You need:
- One medium ripe banana
- A thin and long needle
The illusion:
Your child picks out a banana from a bowl of bananas and other assorted fruit and shows that it not peeled yet. He or she says a magic spell and when the banana is opened, it will be cut neatly inside.
How to do it?
Use the needle to make gentle incisions into the banana without disturbing its outer layer. Since the needle’s edge is thin and sharp, the holes or cuts will not be visible from the outside.
4.Magic Box
Magicians pulling rabbits out of the hat, what a classic trick that is! Never fails to impress. But did you know this fun trick can be adapted to suit your little magician? Here’s how.
You need:
- Small cardboard box
- A small sheet of cardboard
- Clear tape
- Scissors
- Gift wrapping paper
- Glue
- Black marble paper
How to do it?
Measure the bottom of the box and cut the same size as the cardboard sheet. Cut marble sheets of the size of the cardboard box’s sides and stick on the box. Do the same for the extra piece of cardboard taken from the sheet. Now, glue this piece on one side and keep it down snugly on the cardboard box so it looks like this is the bottom of the box. Since one side is open, you can stuff ribbons or ties below this secret compartment and then close it with the false cardboard bottom. When your child shows the box to the audience, they will not know that the bottom is actually just a piece of cardboard that can give way to a storage space. They will be stunned when your child pulls out things like ribbons and flowers from a seemingly empty box!
5.The Missing Card Trick
No magic show is complete without a card trick. Teach your child this easy card trick that others will find hard to decipher unless they know the secret.
You need:
- One deck of cards
The illusion:
The little magician stands in front of a table with two decks of cards, both spread face down. He or she invites a person to pick a card from the first deck and keep it in the second deck after seeing the card but not showing it to anyone. Your child then shuffles the cards and is able to pick the card the person chose leaving everyone wondering how it was done.
How to do it?
There is a little bit of preparation needed with this one. First, your child should divide the cards into two sets- black and white. Spread the black set of cards above and the white set below. The audience member won't know that the two sets are divided by colour so when they pick a black card from the first set and keep it among the second set of white cards, all your child needs to do is pick out the only black card among the white card set. Brilliant, isn’t it?
Magic tricks aren’t just about the fun element. They develop a good hand-eye coordination, alert presence and people skills. And obviously, they make the young magician well-liked among his or her circle. The next time there is a talent show at school or in your society, forget the same old song and dance and encourage your child to steal the show with these simple activity tricks. Want more interesting ideas? Check out PartyOne, the party experts.