Levitation tricks for kids: things that float

What a levitation is

Levitation is making something float: a pencil stuck to your palm, a cup hanging between your hands, a card rising out of the deck, a paperclip resting on water. A hidden finger, a balance point or surface tension does the holding.

These are among the most visual tricks in the shop, so they work for a whole room. Most only work from the front, so stand with everybody in front of you, never round a table, and practise the angle in a mirror.

By level, 10 Apprentice (works the first try). They come off 3 shelves of the shop, most from The Everyday Shelf (4) and The Potion Lab (4). What you need most often: kitchen things (4), a cup or glass (3), paper (3). 2 tricks have a step a grown-up does (something hot or a bright light), and 1 trick carries the choking note for brothers and sisters under 4. The quickest to learn is The Floating Pencil (5 minutes); the longest is The Floating Paperclip (5 minutes).

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