A week of magic: seven tricks, one a night

Here is a week of magic for a child of about 6 to 9: seven tricks from the Peabody Magic Shop, one a night, starting with one that takes a minute to learn and ending with a fifteen-minute closer. Each night's trick takes at least as long to learn as the night before, and the card tricks in the middle build on each other, so by Sunday your child has enough for a small show.

I chose them with one rule: every trick is Apprentice or Conjurer level, fits ages 6 to 9 by the shop's own ages, has no step for a grown-up and nothing small enough to need the shop's choking line, and takes no less time to learn than the night before. Within that, I put the self-working ones first, then one with a helper, then one that needs a mirror and a little practice, and the shop's own show closer last.

The week

What you need for the whole week: a wooden pencil, a deck of cards, a sheet of paper and a marker, and a rubber band. That is all.

Night 1: the Rubber Pencil

The Rubber Pencil takes one minute to learn and works the first try. Hold up an ordinary pencil, say a magic word, and it wobbles and bends like rubber; then hand it straight over, and it's solid wood. Your eyes smear a fast wobble into a curve, and that's the whole secret.

Its Magic School lesson is patter, the words you say: a hook, a build-up, and one whole second of silence at the magic moment. The page suggests a mirror to find the speed where it looks bendiest, and stopping suddenly, because the jump from floppy to solid is the trick.

Night 2: the Answer Is Always 3

The Answer Is Always 3 needs nothing at all. Somebody thinks of any number, does a few sums in their head, and you tell them the answer without asking a single question. The steps cancel their number out, and the page's "why it works" box explains how in a child's words.

Its page calls it the trick for a car, a queue or a dinner table, so try it at dinner.

Night 3: the Crystal Ball Prediction

The Crystal Ball Prediction is the first card trick, and the shop calls it the best first card trick it has. You write a card on paper before anybody touches the deck; somebody cuts wherever they like; the card they cut to is the one you wrote. The secret starts with a peek at one card, which matters tomorrow.

Night 4: the Magic Mind Reader

The Magic Mind Reader is the week's helper trick. Your friend picks any card, shows everybody, buries it and cuts the deck, and you find it. It runs on a key card, and it is worth learning properly: the page says the same secret is how Do As I Do and the Rising Card work too.

Magic School's helpers lesson goes with it: ask, don't grab, and use their name. "Can I have a helper? What's your name?"

Night 5: the Rising Card

The Rising Card builds straight on last night: the key card's cut is one way to get the chosen card into place. Then you hold the deck up, wave a hand over it, and their card climbs out of the middle all by itself.

This is the first trick of the week with a move to practise. It only works from the front, so it is the night for the mirror: practise until the rise is smooth and your face is looking at the card, not at your hand.

Night 6: the Jumping Rubber Band

The Jumping Rubber Band is the first Conjurer trick, fifteen minutes of practice. A band sits round your first two fingers; you close your hand, open it, and the band has jumped to your last two fingers, and you can send it back. The page's tips: keep the back of your fist towards the audience, and open your hand fast.

Keep a spare band. The page's way out, if one shoots across the room, is to chase it and say it was more nervous than usual today.

Night 7: the Spelling Bee

The Spelling Bee is the closer, and it is on the shop's list of show closers. You hold thirteen cards and spell A-C-E, moving a card for each letter, and the next card is the Ace; then T-W-O, and so on all the way to King. The work is done before the show, stacking the cards in a secret order, and the page says to check the stack once before every show.

Its page also says that nothing you do afterwards will beat it. So that is the end of the week. A show is four to six tricks, so on Sunday your child picks their favourites from the seven and finishes on the King.

Keeping track: the practice dots and the log

Every trick page has three buttons: "Still practising", "I can do it" and "I showed somebody!". On a day your child taps the last one, a dot lights up on the shop's front page, in a row of seven for the last seven days, with a count underneath. No streak is stored, so a missed night costs nothing, and the dots and badges stay on the device rather than in an account.

For a fridge, the printables have a practice log with a column for each day of the week and one for "Showed somebody?". It comes with six of the shop's Apprentice tricks filled in, the Rubber Pencil among them, and blank rows for the rest. The line at the top is the shop's practice rule: practise until it's boring for you, because that is when it becomes amazing for them.

After the week

Pick me a trick asks four three-box questions and hands over one more. Today's Stack on the kid home has a Trick of the day, an Apprentice or Conjurer trick that fits a child's grade. And the magic show page turns the week into a running order.

Questions grown-ups ask

What if we miss a night?

Do it the next night. The week is an order, not a schedule, and the practice dots are built so a missed day costs nothing. Some children will want two nights on the Jumping Rubber Band, and that is fine.

Can a five-year-old do this week?

Most of it. The Rubber Pencil, the Crystal Ball Prediction and the Magic Mind Reader all fit from age 5. The other four start at 6, so a five-year-old can do nights 1, 3 and 4 and come back for the rest.

Should my child show every trick to the same people?

Each trick once, to each audience. The Magician's Code asks for that, because the second time, they know where to look. A different person each night, a grandparent or a brother or sister, keeps every trick fresh for Sunday.

Peabody (peabody.kids) is free through the end of 2026, and the Magic Shop needs no sign-up. On the nights a trick is done quickly, the library has a story to finish on.