You write something on a piece of paper and put it face down on the table before anybody has touched the cards. Somebody cuts the deck wherever they like and looks at the card they cut to. You turn the paper over: you wrote their card.
🌟 Level 1: Apprentice
⏱ 3 minutes to learn
🃏 Cards
🎒 Ages 5+
Works by itself, or one simple move. It works the first try.
What you need
The secret
Get ready, before anybody is watching
Glance at the bottom card as you pick the deck up. One glance is enough; never tilt the deck to look.
The Spelling Bee card trick. You spell out every card from Ace to King, moving one card for each letter, and the right card turns up every single time. It looks impossible and it works entirely by itself.
How do you do a card trick?
Most beginner card tricks use a secret "key card" that you know, or a special order the cards are in before you start. Your friend picks a card, the secret quietly leads you to it, and then you reveal it in the most dramatic way you can think of.
The Crystal Ball Prediction for kids: the whole trick
You write something on a piece of paper and put it face down on the table before anybody has touched the cards. Somebody cuts the deck wherever they like and looks at the card they cut to. You turn the paper over: you wrote their card. It's a level 1 apprentice trick for ages 5 to 10 (grades K–4th), takes 3 minutes to learn, and needs 3 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
You peeked at the bottom card of the deck and wrote that. When they cut, you put the bottom half on top of the half they lifted, so your card lands exactly where they cut.
What you need
A deck of cards
A sheet of paper
A marker
Get ready, before anybody is watching
Glance at the bottom card as you pick the deck up. One glance is enough; never tilt the deck to look.
How to do it
Pick up the deck and sneak a look at the bottom card.
Write that card on the paper with the marker and put it face down.
Put the deck on the table and ask somebody to cut it anywhere.
Pick up the bottom half and lay it across the half they lifted.
Chat for a moment, then lift the top half and show the card they cut to.
Turn the paper over. You wrote it before they even touched the deck.
Magic words to say
“I had a dream about this last night. I wrote it down so nobody could say I made it up afterwards. Cut the cards wherever you want. Anywhere. It won't help.”
Pro tips
The crossed deck is the whole trick, and it works because nobody remembers which half was on top. Talk about something else for a few seconds before you lift it.
This is the best first card trick in the shop: nothing to practise and a prediction in writing, which always plays bigger than a guess.
Write the card in big letters so the back row can read it.
If something goes wrong
If they lift the wrong half, say "and the card you cut to was..." and show the one you know. The cross makes either half a fair answer.
Safety notes
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?
🔮 Prediction. You knew all along, or you read their mind. 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:Your magician name. Every magician has a stage name and a style. Perform it and it counts towards the Card Keeper badge.
Questions about the crystal ball prediction
What's the best card trick for kids?
The Spelling Bee card trick. You spell out every card from Ace to King, moving one card for each letter, and the right card turns up every single time. It looks impossible and it works entirely by itself.
How do you do a card trick?
Most beginner card tricks use a secret "key card" that you know, or a special order the cards are in before you start. Your friend picks a card, the secret quietly leads you to it, and then you reveal it in the most dramatic way you can think of.