You show a long piece of string, cut it in half in the middle, and tie the ends together. Then you pull the knot off and the string is one long piece again.
🎩 Level 3: Wizard
⏱ 2 to 4 days to learn
📄 Paper & string
🎒 Ages 8+
A real secret move, or a longer routine. Practise over days.
✂️ Cutting! Ask a grown-up to help, and cut only paper, card or string.
What you need
The secret
Get ready, before anybody is watching
Cut a short piece of string and tie it into a small loop. Hide it in your left fist before you pick up the long one.
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 long does it take to learn a magic trick?
An easy trick takes five or ten minutes. A trick with a secret move takes a few days of practice. Here's the rule magicians use: practise until you can do it ten times in a row without looking at your hands, and then perform it.
The Cut and Restored String for kids: the whole trick
You show a long piece of string, cut it in half in the middle, and tie the ends together. Then you pull the knot off and the string is one long piece again. It's a level 3 wizard trick for ages 8 to 13 (grades 3rd–7th), takes 2 to 4 days 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, and one step is marked for a grown-up.
The secret
A short loop of string is hidden in your fist. You bring that loop up instead of the middle of the long string, and it is the little loop you cut. The long string was never touched.
What you need
A piece of string or yarn
Kid scissors
Get ready, before anybody is watching
Cut a short piece of string and tie it into a small loop. Hide it in your left fist before you pick up the long one.
How to do it
Hide the little loop of two string in your left fist before you start.
Show the long two string and let somebody feel both ends.
Lay the middle of two string into your left fist, and bring the hidden loop up instead.
Grown-up step: Ask a grown-up to hold the scissors with you, and cut the loop.
Tie the two cut ends together in a knot, where everyone can see.
Slide the knot along and pull it off. The long two string is whole.
Magic words to say
“One piece of string. Have a good feel of it, both ends. Now I'm going to do something unforgivable to it, and then I'm going to apologise, and string, unlike most things, accepts apologies.”
Pro tips
Learn the loop swap before you ever pick up scissors. It is the only move, and everything else is handing things to people.
Give the string out at the end. A restoration nobody can examine is only half a trick.
Keep a spare loop in your pocket so you can do it twice if they ask.
If something goes wrong
If the swap shows, cut the string properly, tie the knot, and say "and that's how you mend string". A knot is an honest ending and quite a good joke.
Safety notes
Cutting! Ask a grown-up to help, and cut only paper, card or string.
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?
🩹 Restoration. Something broken is whole again. 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:Practise like a pro. Ready means ten times in a row without looking at your hands. Perform it and it counts towards the Paper Wizard badge.
Questions about the cut and restored string
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 long does it take to learn a magic trick?
An easy trick takes five or ten minutes. A trick with a secret move takes a few days of practice. Here's the rule magicians use: practise until you can do it ten times in a row without looking at your hands, and then perform it.