It started off so innocently. Two months ago, during an after-party following my nephew’s 5th birthday, I performed an improptu illusion with some Uno cards. I made his card drop down the deck and all the way through the glass tabletop, onto some books underneath. Blew some minds, yay for me.
I hadn’t seen him since, but while babysitting for his parents’ garage sale last weekend, he wanted to see it again. I had to throw a few rounds of Uno dealing myself extra cards to gather my supplies, but I was able to pull it off twice.
I know he’s just going to keep asking for more tricks whenever I see him. I need more than one sneaky turn in my repetoire. He’s eventually going to take a different card than the one I’m feeding him. What do I do?
Dextrous slight of hand is probably not in my wheelhouse, but I could try. I can handle elaborate preparation or keeping a three of clubs on my person at all times, that sort of thing.
Plant a card on the top of a deck (just look at it surreptiously, or shuffle the cards and move the card at the bottom that you can see to the top as the final move). Put the deck down and write the name of that card on a piece of paper, fold it up, and give it to someone to hold. Now tell the person you have predicted the card they have selected, and make a point of saying you’re not going to touch the deck of cards, they’ll be picking the card. Tell them to pick a number between 1 and 10. Tell them they should count off that number of cards from the top of the deck and turn over the nth card. Demonstrate by pulling that number of cards off the deck and stacking them next to it, turning over the nth card. Flip it back over on the top of the side stack and put the stack back on top of the deck. Repeat that they’ll be selecting the card and you won’t be touching the cards (even though you just did). The nth card is now the one that was on top before. When they pull off n cards and turn over the last one have them open up the paper that will show the name of the card they think they selected.
I’ve found that acting a little bumbling and forgetful while doing this distracts them from figuring out how you did it, and makes them think you’ll get it wrong, though this shouldn’t be needed with a 5 year old.
If he’s five you can still get away with the pretty lame “is this you card trick”. Just memorize the top card on the deck, have him put his card on top of that, and then cut the cards a few times in a way that won’t split them up. His card will be the one on top of the one you memorized.
Magic Emmy is kind of awesome, a kid doing magic tricks. Watch this video over and over until you figure out how to do the trick. IT BLOWS KIDS’ MINDS!
If he hasn’t run into them before he will probably find Mobius strips fascinating and with a little bullshiting you might get him to think they are magical. Not only that, tell him if he’s good you’ll teach him how to amaze his friends with one (even a five year old should be able to comprehend a 1/2 twist in a strip of paper).
Just say no. Their appetite for entertainment is limitless, you can’t be expected to learn new tricks every time you see him. I used to make humorous posters and then my coworkers started making snide remarks because they wanted to see them more often, like once a week. It’s not my responsibility to entertain them.
First time you see him: “Try this: stick out your tongue and touch your nose!” Of course you touch your nose with your finger, but don’t tell him that until next time.
Second time: “Make a hole with your thumb and forefinger [like the circle part of the “OK” hand gesture]. Now poke your head through it!” You do this one by poking your head with the forefinger on your other hand, only poking it by sticking your finger through the hole.
If he’s never seen it before, your nephew will be rightly astounded with the old Pulling Your Index Finger Trick. (And no I’m not talking about *that *Pulling the Finger trick, we’re talking 5-year olds here.)
No no no. Unless you show him the secret. The last thing you want is the 5 year old puncturing his ear drum trying to imitate you. And at 5 I’d think he might well do that. And his hands are probably too little for him to do it successfully.
Palm a quarter. Pick up a penny and play heads-or-tails two or three times. Basically, pick it up and throw it into your free hand and keep your hand closed until he guesses. (Be sure to show him both sides of the penny. First, he’ll know it’s not a trick penny; and second, he’ll clearly see it’s a penny.) Play head-or-tails 'one more time. Only this time, don’t throw the penny. Throw the quarter from your palm. His attention will be on the hand where the quarter is. Open your hand, and he’ll see that the penny has changed into a quarter. While he’s amazed, slip the penny into your pocket so you can show him your empty throwing hand if he wants to see it.
You can see if you can change the quarter back into a penny. Palm a ‘jumbo penny’ (that you conveniently have in your back pocket, where you can get to it while he’s trying to figure out how you changed a penny into a quarter). Pick up the quarter and do heads-or-tails, throwing the jumbo penny. The kid will be amazed. You can pretend to be puzzled. ‘Hm. It did change back into a penny. But it’s supposed to be smaller…’
Another handy one is the ‘rainbow rod’ or ‘hot rod’ or ‘magic stick’. I like the ones, about 4" long, with the coloured tape; but other people like the black ones with little gems in them.
Find a magic shop or maybe online you can find one. Buy a deck of shaved cards. Even I can do simple tricks with those. They’ll come with instructions.
B. Buy 2 standard decks of cards with the same back. You’ll need a suit/sport coat with 2 hip pockets and 2 inside pockets. In each pocket put one suit arranged A-K and remember if the A is facing you or away from you. And remember which suit is in which pocket. With the other deck, have the boy pick a card, remember it, and put it back in the deck. Then have him put the deck back in the box and sit on the box. While he’s doing that you fish around in your pocket, count out to his card and when he’s done with the cards, you pull out the card he picked and ask him if it’s his card.
III. From a standard deck of cards, lay out 3 cards face up in a horizontal row. Then lay another 3 cards face up on top of those cards. You want to be able to tell what both cards in the column are. Repeat until you’ve got 3 columns of 7 cards each, all face up and able to be read. Tell your nephew not to touch any cards, but pick one, don’t tell you what it is, but to remember it. Then tell him to tell you which column his card is in. Pick up the cards without shuffling them but make sure the column his card is in is between the other 2 columns. Lay these cards out the same way dealing off the top and when you’re done, ask him which column his card is in. Again, restack the cards without shuffling with the column his card is in in the middle. Lay the cards out a third time. If I remember this correctly, his card will be the middle card in the middle column. Or, if you want to present it differently, the 11th card from the top of the deck.
Buy 52 decks of cards with identical backs. Put together a deck of 52 9s of clubs. Have him pick a card, memorize it, and put it back in the deck without letting you see it. Shuffle a couple of times, do some magical razzamatazz, and either cut to HIS card, draw it off the top of the deck, or show him it’s the bottom card on the deck.
Speaking as a magician, I’ve had this happen before. Kids’ appetite for magical entertainment is almost insatiable.
If magic doesn’t interest you, then it is up to you to set the kid(s) you have performed for in the past straight and make sure they know you are not a magician so they don’t keep bugging you about it.
If magic does interest you, find a magic shop and look at some beginner effects to add to your repertoire. When you perform for kids, only do one or two of your best effects and leave it at that. That way you will always look like a miracle worker. As the magician, it is up to you to set the rules for when, how and what you will perform. Little kids will ask you to do just about anything their little underdeveloped minds can think of, including vanishing entire chairs, tables, etc. Remember that is is you who has to set the mood and environment for them so that they will enjoy what you do.
Find yourself a local magic shop. They’re invaluable for teaching you techniques and tricks. They’ll also have plenty of books on card/coin/object tricks for close-up magic.
And of course they’ll have many special card decks, and the, ahem, tricky things you’ll need to fool everyone.
I started doing magic at age 20 or so. As a bartender, there’s nothing better to confuse drunks and pick up babes! It’s win-win! Until you have to perform at all your nieces and nephews birthday parties. I have a dozen!
I take folks lit cigarettes and make them disappear all the time. Freaks them the hell out. I’m not as cheesy or slow as this guy, but you get the idea…
