You wrap a coin up in a square of paper and let everybody feel it in there. You tear the packet into little pieces and drop them on the table. The coin has gone.
✨ Level 2: Conjurer
⏱ 15 minutes to learn
🪙 Coins
🎒 Ages 7+
A bit of setting up, or ten to twenty minutes of practice.
👶 Small parts! Keep them away from little brothers and sisters, and never put one in your mouth.👶 Coins are a choking risk for little ones under 4: keep them off the floor and out of small hands.
The easiest way is the Coin Fold: you wrap a coin in paper, let everyone feel that it's still in there, and while you fold, the coin quietly slides out into your hand. Then you tear the paper up and it's gone.
What is sleight of hand?
Sleight of hand means secret moves made with your fingers, like holding a coin in a hand that looks completely empty. "Sleight" is an old word for skill or cleverness. It takes real practice, and it's one of the best feelings in magic.
How do magicians make things disappear?
The thing doesn't really go anywhere. It gets hidden in a hand, a fold of paper, a sleeve or a pocket, or it was never where you thought it was. A magician might pretend to take a coin with one hand while it quietly stays in the other.
You wrap a coin up in a square of paper and let everybody feel it in there. You tear the packet into little pieces and drop them on the table. The coin has gone. It's a level 2 conjurer trick for ages 7 to 12 (grades 2nd–6th), takes 15 minutes to learn, and needs 2 things you already have. Flick, the shop's rabbit, reads every step aloud with a picture, so a child can follow it alone.
The secret
The way you fold the paper leaves one edge open. When you turn the packet over, the coin slides quietly out into your curled fingers while everyone is still looking at the paper.
What you need
A coin
A square of paper about four inches across
How to do it
Put the coin right in the middle of the square of paper.
Fold the bottom edge up over the coin, stopping half an inch short of the top.
Fold the left and right sides round to the back.
Fold the top flap back as well. It looks sealed, but the top edge is open.
Let your friend squeeze the packet and feel the coin still inside it.
Turn the packet so the open edge points down, and let the coin slide into your fingers.
Tear the paper up loudly, show both hands empty, and drop the pieces.
Magic words to say
“This is magic paper. It's hungry, and what it likes best is money. Can you feel the coin? Still there? Good. Watch this.”
Pro tips
Tear the paper loudly. Noise pulls eyes, and while they're on the paper your other hand can do anything it likes.
Put the hand with the coin in your pocket a few seconds later, while you're talking about something else. Never straight away.
Practise in a mirror until the real fold and the secret fold look exactly the same.
If something goes wrong
If the coin drops out early, pick it up and say the paper spat it out because it wasn't hungry after all. Then fold it again, properly, and go.
Safety notes
Small parts! Keep them away from little brothers and sisters, and never put one in your mouth.
Coins are a choking risk for little ones under 4: keep them off the floor and out of small hands.
Practise in a mirror.
Only from the front.
No fire, no flames and nothing sharp in a child's hand anywhere in the Magic Shop. Nothing ever goes in a mouth, a nose or an ear.
What kind of trick is this?
💨 Vanish. Something disappears. Almost every trick ever invented is one of eight kinds, and knowing which one you're watching is how magicians work out how a new trick is done.
The skill it teaches:Misdirection. People look where you look. Perform it and it counts towards the Coin Conjurer badge.
Questions about the coin fold
How do you make a coin disappear?
The easiest way is the Coin Fold: you wrap a coin in paper, let everyone feel that it's still in there, and while you fold, the coin quietly slides out into your hand. Then you tear the paper up and it's gone.
What is sleight of hand?
Sleight of hand means secret moves made with your fingers, like holding a coin in a hand that looks completely empty. "Sleight" is an old word for skill or cleverness. It takes real practice, and it's one of the best feelings in magic.
How do magicians make things disappear?
The thing doesn't really go anywhere. It gets hidden in a hand, a fold of paper, a sleeve or a pocket, or it was never where you thought it was. A magician might pretend to take a coin with one hand while it quietly stays in the other.