Audience-Tested Children’s Magic

A few months back, reader Greg Itliong requested that I wrote articles about children’s magic.  The truth is, this blog contains already several articles on the subject of kids’ magic. One has only to search the archive to find them.

I presume Greg is a beginning magician wanting to break into the field of entertaining children with his own brand of Philippine magic.

To my mind, if you are a magician in the Philippines aspiring  to get into children’s magic, the first thing you must do is to build a  show that kids will appreciate.  There are thousands of magic tricks but not all of them appeal to children. The choice, therefore, of suitable  materials is not only important. It is crucial for a beginning magician in the Philippines who wants to be a children’s entertainer.

Magic shops in the Philippines have large inventories of  tricks suitable for children (or at least they were created with the children in mind).

However not all of them possess equal qualities.  Some don’t have inherent appeals to children. Others are not suitable for young minds (danger tricks, for example). Some are incomprehensible to them (like mentalism). Yet others are difficult to adopt for children audiences (say, multiple selections of playing cards). And lots of others have not yet been audience-tested for magic in the Philippines setting.

One good list of audience-tested children’s magic tricks can be found in Amateur Magician’s Handbook written by my favorite author and teacher, Henry Hay. Here’s the list for your consideration:

Afghan Bands, Ball of Wool, Breakaway Fan, Cards up the Sleeve, Chinese  Wands, Ching Ling Foo Water Can, Cups and Balls, Dancing Handkerchief, Sliding Die Box, Diminishing Cards, Egg Bag, Flower Productions, Comedy Funnel, Goldfish Bowls, Hat Loading, Inexhaustible Bottle, Kiling Klang, Knot That Unties Itself, Linking Rings, Lota, Miser’s Dream, Multiplying Billiard Balls, Nest of Boxes,  Passe Passe Bottle, various productions, Rice Bowls, Ring on Stick, rope tricks, silk tricks, Sponge Balls, Sun and Moon,  Thimble tricks, Thumb Tie, Torn and Restored  Paper, Turban Trick.

Notice some of the tricks bear names that you may not recognize. That’s because the book was published in 1950.

Ching Ling Foo Water Can, for example, is known today for it’s shorter name, Foo Can. Kling Klang, on the other hand, is an obscure trick. I doubt any magician in the Philippines performs it today.  Henry Hay describes the trick as “an egg in the glass changes places with a silk in the performer’s hands.” Still, I don’t have any idea what it is.

Notice too, that many of  the tricks in the list are no longer performed regularly today.  The reason could be that many magicians in the Philippines love the new and the newfangled.

My advice to beginners is this: resist the temptation to lap up the latest tricks.  Many are untested.  Go to the list instead.  Over the years, they have proven themselves as sure-fire, audience pleasers.

Pick the ones you like.  Build routines, then an act,  then a show out of them.   You will be rewarded with a program that few Philippine magicians are doing in their shows.

Now, whatever will be your choice of tricks , remember these should contribute fun first, then amazement second to your show.

They should leave the children laughing, rolling on the floor with mirth, shouting the magic words, participating in the show, and having a good time.

If you can do that, you have accomplished your self-imposed mission as a children’s entertainer.  The parents will be pleased.  And you will be invited back to the next party.

Stay magical,

Leodini

www.sirleodini.com