Magic tricks with household items
Magic tricks by what you already have
8 magic tricks with no props at all
| Trick | What they see | Level | Ages | You need | To learn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Thumb Off Trick | Restoration | 1 Apprentice | 5 to 8 | nothing | 5 minutes |
| The Stretching Finger | Transformation | 1 Apprentice | 5 to 9 | nothing | 3 minutes |
| Eleven Fingers | Production | 1 Apprentice | 5 to 9 | nothing | 3 minutes |
| Think of a Number | Prediction | 1 Apprentice | 6 to 11 | nothing | 2 minutes |
| The Grey Elephant in Denmark | Prediction | 1 Apprentice | 7 to 12 | nothing | 3 minutes |
| The Secret Partner Code | Prediction | 2 Conjurer | 7 to 12 | nothing | 15 minutes |
| The Nine Times Fingers | Prediction | 1 Apprentice | 7 to 11 | nothing | 5 minutes |
| The Knuckle Calendar | Prediction | 1 Apprentice | 6 to 10 | nothing | 5 minutes |
The quickest ones to learn
- The Rubber Pencil Trick. 1 minute, ages 5 to 9. You need pencil.
- The Hole in Your Hand Illusion. 1 minute, ages 5 to 9. You need paper.
- The Forehead Coin Trick. 2 minutes, ages 5 to 10. You need coin.
- Think of a Number. 2 minutes, ages 6 to 11. You need nothing.
- The Pepper and Soap Trick. 2 minutes, ages 5 to 9. You need bowl, water, pepper, dish soap.
- The Arrow Flip Trick. 2 minutes, ages 5 to 9. You need glass, water, paper, marker.
What a grown-up has to do
Most of these need nothing from a grown-up at all. Where one is needed it is named on the page and Flick says so out loud before the step.
| Trick | You need | A grown-up does |
|---|---|---|
| The Ghost Pencil Trick | pencil, short pencil, hair tie | a bit of setting up |
| The Spooky Floating Cup | cup, scissors | a hot or bright-light step |
| The Broken Toothpick Restored | napkin, toothpick, scissors | a hot or bright-light step |
| The Coin Through a Small Hole | paper, dime, quarter, scissors | a hot or bright-light step |
| The Glowing Water Trick | glass, water, tonic water, UV light | a hot or bright-light step |
| Invisible Ink | white paper, baking soda, water, cotton swab, grape juice, paintbrush | a bit of setting up |
| The Balloon Static Wand | balloon, paper strip | a hot or bright-light step |
| The Cut and Restored String | string, scissors | a hot or bright-light step |
Safety
Every step that uses something hot or a bright light is a grown-up's step, whatever the child's age, and Flick says so out loud before it. There is no fire, no flame and nothing sharp in a child's hand anywhere in the shop: scissors cut paper, card and string only, and a cutting step says to ask a grown-up. No trick asks a child to put anything in a mouth, a nose or an ear. Tricks with coins, dice, paperclips or pom-poms carry the AAP's choking note for brothers and sisters under 4, and none of them is offered below kindergarten. The kitchen-science tricks use only food-safe things, and a potion is always for looking at, not for drinking.
The Magic Shop is free, with no ads and no sign-up. What your child has, has learned and has performed stays on their own device and is never sent anywhere, so there is nothing to lose and no account to make.
More: easy magic tricks, card tricks, coin tricks and science magic tricks.
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Checked against how Peabody works on 28 October 2026. Written with help from AI, from Peabody's own code and library. Peabody is a learning app, not an assessment: if you're worried about your child's learning, talk to their teacher. How Peabody's pages are made.