Put on a magic show

A good magic show for kids is ten to fifteen minutes and four to six tricks. That is plenty. The hardest skill in magic is stopping while the room still wants more, so plan a short show and perform it properly.

The running order

Part	How long	What goes here
Opener	30 sec	Quick, visual, no helper. Something that happens before they've settled.
Hello	30 sec	Your magician name and your catchphrase. Thirty seconds, no trick.
Helper trick	2 min	Bring someone up. A card trick is perfect here.
Everyone trick	2 min	Something the whole room does at once, in their heads or their hands.
Wow trick	2 min	The most visual thing you've got. People at the back must see it.
Closer	3 min	Your strongest. The one you've practised most.
Bow and goodbye	20 sec	Magic word, one second of silence, bow, "Thank you!" Then stop.

Build your own show

Four shows you can take off the shelf

The Kitchen Wizard · ages 5 to 7 · about 8 minutes

Five tricks, nothing to practise for more than five minutes, and most of it happens in a bowl of water.

✏️ The Rubber Pencil — level 1, 1 minute to learn
👍 Thumb Off — level 1, 5 minutes to learn
➡️ The Arrow Flip — level 1, 2 minutes to learn
⚫ Pepper Scatter — level 1, 2 minutes to learn
🫗 The Water Vanish — level 1, 2 minutes to learn

The Mind Reader · ages 8 to 10 · about 12 minutes

Nobody touches a single secret move. It's all maths, and it all works by itself.

🕳️ The Hole in Your Hand — level 1, 1 minute to learn
3️⃣ The Answer Is Always 3 — level 1, 2 minutes to learn
🃏 The Magic Mind Reader — level 1, 5 minutes to learn
🎲 The X-Ray Dice — level 1, 3 minutes to learn
🐘 The Grey Elephant Prediction — level 1, 3 minutes to learn
🐝 The Spelling Bee — level 2, 15 minutes to learn

The Grand Illusionist · ages 10 to 12 · about 15 minutes

A real vanish, a prediction in a sealed envelope, and a finish you walk through.

🎗️ The Jumping Rubber Band — level 2, 15 minutes to learn
🪙 The Coin Fold — level 2, 15 minutes to learn
🅰️ The Ace Finder — level 1, 5 minutes to learn
🔮 The Magic Number 1089 — level 1, 5 minutes to learn
🚪 Walk Through a Paper — level 2, 15 minutes to learn

The Spooky Show · ages 7 to 11 · about 12 minutes

Lights low, and no candles anywhere near it. A torch makes a better spotlight anyway.

👻 The Ghost Pencil — level 1, 5 minutes to learn
👍 Thumb Off — level 1, 5 minutes to learn
🪄 Secret Message Ink — level 1, 10 minutes to learn
🫗 The Water Vanish — level 1, 2 minutes to learn
🫧 The Glowing Potion — level 1, 2 minutes to learn

What to say at the start

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to the greatest show in this living room! I'm ______, and today you'll see things that can't be explained. Ready? Let's begin!

What to say at the end

Thank you for being an amazing audience. Remember, magic is everywhere, if you know where to look. Good night!

Then bow, and go. A bow tells the audience it is time to clap, which is a kindness to them. Don't do one more, and don't explain the first one.

The show checklist

A table with a cloth on it
Your props set out in the order you need them
A shoebox to hide the props you haven't used yet
One spare trick you know cold, in your pocket
A wand (a pencil wrapped in black and white tape counts)
Water to drink
A grown-up to turn the lights down, if a trick needs the dark

Magic at a birthday party

For a sixty-minute party, use magic in two fifteen-minute blocks rather than one long one: a ten-minute show first (by the birthday child, or by a grown-up), then a magic academy where every guest learns the same three tricks to take home. The Rubber Pencil, the Hole in Your Hand and the Linking Paper Clips all take under five minutes and work on a whole room at once.

Party favour: a paper strip, two paperclips and a printed instruction card (every trick page has a Print button). Invitation line: “You're invited to the Magic Academy. Wands optional, wonder required.”

Magic in a talent show

Choose tricks that play big. People at the back cannot see a playing card, so a paper ring beats a card trick on a stage.
Keep it under three minutes. Two or three tricks is a talent-show act.
Practise once with the real microphone, if there is one, because holding a microphone takes a hand away.

Before the show

Run the whole thing twice, in order, with the props laid out the way they will be on the night. Most of what goes wrong in a magic show is not a trick failing: it is a prop in the wrong pocket. The seven lessons in Magic School cover the rest — patter, misdirection, helpers, and what to say when a trick falls apart.