🪽 The Levitating Card

The Levitating Card for kids: the whole trick

You hold a single card flat on your open palm. You tip your hand and the card stays put. Then your hand comes away altogether and the card hangs in the air in front of you before dropping into your other hand. It's a level 1 apprentice trick for ages 6 to 11 (grades 1st–5th), takes 5 minutes to learn, and needs one thing you already have. Flick, the shop's rabbit, reads every step aloud with a picture, so a child can follow it alone.

The secret

Your middle finger is bent back behind the card, holding it against your palm. Turning your hand to the right angle hides the finger completely from the front.

What you need

• A deck of cards

How to do it

1. Lay one card flat on your open palm, fingers together.
2. Bend your middle finger back behind the card and press it to your palm.
3. Turn your hand upright. The card does not fall.
4. Move your hand away from the card a little, as if it is floating free.
5. Let the card drop into your other hand and pass it straight out to be looked at.

Magic words to say

“Watch. No strings, no glue, nothing up my sleeve, and before you ask, no, I can't do it with anything heavier. I've tried it with a sandwich and it was a disaster.”

Pro tips

• Learn the angle in a mirror. There is exactly one direction your hand can face, and once you know it you never think about it again.
• Handing the card out at the end is what finishes it. A floating thing that can be examined afterwards is twice the trick.
• Do it once and move on. It is a lovely ten seconds and it does not improve with repeating.

If something goes wrong

If the card slips, catch it in your other hand and say "still learning". Then do the Rising Card, which uses the same hidden finger and is easier.

Safety notes

• Only from the front.
• Practise in a mirror.
• 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?

🪽 Levitation. Something floats. 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 Card Keeper badge.

Questions about the levitating card

How do magicians make things float?

On a big stage, floating uses hidden supports, careful lighting and angles that stop you seeing what's holding the weight. Close up, it's usually a finger or a thumb you can't see from the front. That's why a floating trick works from one direction and gives itself away from the side.

What is the easiest magic trick?

The Rubber Pencil. Hold a pencil loosely near one end and wiggle it up and down, and it looks bendy, like rubber. You can learn it in under a minute, and it works the very first try.

More from The Card Cabinet

• 🃏 The Key Card Trick (level 1, 5 minutes)
• 🔢 The 21 Card Trick (level 1, 10 minutes)
• 🅰️ The Four Aces Trick (level 1, 5 minutes)
• 🐝 The Spelling Card Trick (level 2, 15 minutes)
• All 80 magic tricks for kids, the easy ones by age, and how to put on a magic show