You fold a strip of paper into a zigzag and clip two separate paperclips onto it. Everyone can see the clips are nowhere near each other. You pull the ends of the paper and the clips leap into the air, joined together.
🌟 Level 1: Apprentice
⏱ 2 minutes to learn
📄 Paper & string
🎒 Ages 5+
Works by itself, or one simple move. It works the first try.
👶 Small parts! Keep them away from little brothers and sisters, and never put one in your mouth.👶 Paperclips are small and swallowable: keep them away from little ones under 4.
Almost nothing. A deck of cards, a coin, a pencil, a rubber band, a paper cup and some paper will get you through dozens of tricks. A wand is fun and completely optional.
How many magic tricks are there?
Thousands. But almost every one of them is built from just eight ideas: making something vanish, making something appear, changing it, moving it, floating it, passing it through something solid, mending it, or knowing the answer in advance. Once you can spot the eight, you can see how any trick is put together.
You fold a strip of paper into a zigzag and clip two separate paperclips onto it. Everyone can see the clips are nowhere near each other. You pull the ends of the paper and the clips leap into the air, joined together. It's a level 1 apprentice trick for ages 5 to 10 (grades K–4th), takes 2 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 folds and the clips are arranged so that as the paper pulls straight it drags one clip through the other. Nobody touches them: the paper does all of it.
What you need
A strip of paper about as long as a dollar bill
Paperclips
How to do it
Fold the paper strip into an S shape, in three equal parts.
Clip the first and second layers together on one side with a paperclip.
Clip the second and third layers together on the other side with the next one.
Hold the paper strip up and let everybody see that two paperclips are far apart.
Grab both ends and pull them apart, quickly and straight.
The clips jump off, linked. Catch them and hand them over.
Magic words to say
“These two have never met. They're about to. Paperclips are terribly friendly once you introduce them properly. Ready? One… two… three!”
Pro tips
Pull over a table so the clips don't fly behind the sofa.
Give them away afterwards. A linked pair of paperclips is the best party favour there is.
Try it with three clips and a longer strip for a little chain.
If something goes wrong
If the clips come off separately, one of them went on the wrong pair of layers. Show everybody the folds, say "wrong introduction", and set it up again in front of them.
Safety notes
Small parts! Keep them away from little brothers and sisters, and never put one in your mouth.
Paperclips are small and swallowable: keep them away from little ones under 4.
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?
🔀 Transposition. Something jumps from one place to another. 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:The big finish. End on your best one, then stop. Perform it and it counts towards the Paper Wizard badge.
Questions about the linking paper clips
What do I need to start doing magic?
Almost nothing. A deck of cards, a coin, a pencil, a rubber band, a paper cup and some paper will get you through dozens of tricks. A wand is fun and completely optional.
How many magic tricks are there?
Thousands. But almost every one of them is built from just eight ideas: making something vanish, making something appear, changing it, moving it, floating it, passing it through something solid, mending it, or knowing the answer in advance. Once you can spot the eight, you can see how any trick is put together.