Disappearing magic tricks for kids

What a vanish is

A vanish is the trick everybody thinks of first: something is there, and then it is not. The secret is nearly always that it went somewhere you were not looking, into a fold, a fist, a sleeve, or a glass of water that hides it by bending the light.

Vanishes look best slowly. Show the thing clearly, say the magic word, wait a second, then open your hand. The easiest here hides a coin in a glass of water; the hardest is a real sleight of hand that takes a few days in front of a mirror.

By level, 3 Apprentice (works the first try), 3 Conjurer (a little practice) and 1 Wizard (days of practice). They come off 3 shelves of the shop, most from The Coin Counter (5) and The Everyday Shelf (1). What you need most often: a coin (6), a cup or glass (2), a pencil (1). None has a step only a grown-up can do, and 6 tricks carry the choking note for brothers and sisters under 4. The quickest to learn is The Forehead Coin (2 minutes); the longest is The Vanishing Coin (3 to 5 days).

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