Appearing magic tricks for kids

What a production is

A production is a vanish backwards: something appears out of nowhere. A coin from behind somebody's head, a secret message on a blank sheet, a card that turns up where it cannot be. The thing was always there, hidden, and the trick is choosing the moment to show it.

Productions make good openers and closers because they end on something the audience can hold. Keep the hidden thing still and out of sight until the moment, and never look at where it is hiding.

By level, 4 Apprentice (works the first try) and 1 Wizard (days of practice). They come off 5 shelves of the shop, most from The Everyday Shelf (1) and The Card Cabinet (1). What you need most often: a coin (1), cards (1), paper (1), and 1 trick needs nothing at all. None has a step only a grown-up can do, and 1 trick carries the choking note for brothers and sisters under 4. The quickest to learn is Eleven Fingers (3 minutes); the longest is The Coin From Behind Your Ear (2 to 4 days).

Every trick there is falls into one of eight kinds. How magicians do a production is in our post on the eight secrets behind every magic trick.