Magic
Tricks for Kids
All kids
love to watch magic, and some like to perform it too!
We have
below two easy card tricks with which to
astound your younger children - and older kids can learn to perform these
with panache too! They have been sent in by a subscriber - many thanks!
And we have
also compiled a selection of wonderful links which will keep any budding
magicians busy for a good long time!
Learn to
Shuffle!
First all good magicians will need to learn how to shuffle a pack of cards
- and this will take a lot of practice!
Card
Tricks
Cut the Kings
This trick begins with a stacked deck! Separate the Aces and Kings from an
ordinary poker deck. Place the 4 Aces on top of the other cards. Place the
Kings on top of the Aces. Kings are now uppermost in the deck.
Find a volunteer and say something like: "You look like you can deal
out a mean hand of cards! Please take this pack and deal out two piles,
alternating cards."
Let them deal about half of the deck and then say:
"You may stop anytime you wish". Take the undealt deck of
cards and place them aside.
Say to your volunteer: "Now, please pick up one of those two piles
and deal it into two smaller piles. Do the same with the other pile so
that we will end up with 4 piles of cards."
At this point there will be a king on the top of every deck.
"Turn up the top of any pile. Oh....that's a king. Turn
over another - another king! Coincidence. Yet another and
another."
Once the volunteer has turned up all 4 kings discard
them.
"Anyone here a poker player? What beats four kings?
Why.....four ACES, right"
Make some magical passes of your hand over the four
piles. Turn up the top card of each pile to reveal ACES.
Take a bow!
Magnetic Cards
First you must learn how to "Riffle Shuffle". Shuffle the
cards at the corners so that you alternate, laying down a card from the
left pile, then right, then left - etc.
The working of this trick is easy once you've practiced the riffle
shuffle. I have found that if you riffle shuffle with a FEW mistakes
(and I mean a FEW - do shuffle carefully) the trick
will still work.
You'll need to stack the deck on this trick.
Separate the cards by colour. Place all of the red cards on top of
the deck and the blacks on the bottom.
Hand the deck to a spectator. Ask her/him to deal out (dealing properly) 4
equal piles. Now, have the spectator point to any two piles for you to
shuffle together. Use the riffle shuffle. You now have 1 larger pile and 2
smaller piles.
Then riffle shuffle the remaining 2 small piles. Remark at how carefully
and thoroughly these cards have been shuffled. You now have 2 piles of
cards the same size. Announce that you
will shuffle these cards YET AGAIN. Ask the audience if they think these
cards are well shuffled.
Now, here is an important part. Cut off about the top 1/3 of the
deck and place it to your right. From the larger pile on your left
cut off another third and place this in the middle. You now have 3 piles,
roughly equal thirds.
Pick up the centre pile and remove a red card and a black card. Announce
that these cards will act as magnets. Rub the red card on the left pile of
cards and the black on the right pile. [I
prefer to slap the cards onto the piles, the kids jump and pay closer
attention]. Pick up the red pile (the left), fan the cards and hold
them out for all to see. Pick up the black pile (the right pile),
fan them and hold them for all to see.
When doing this trick for kids under 10 you can really ham it up. Firstly,
they are impressed that you can shuffle using the riffle shuffle because
the average kid isn't ready to shuffle at all. Secondly they can't
understand just how you did that! They may want you to repeat the trick.
You can't unless you have a second stacked
deck waiting!
More magic tricks for kids coming soon!
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