You hold a plain cup between your hands and lift them away from each other. The cup hangs in the air between your palms, turns, and settles back down when you take hold of it again.
🌟 Level 1: Apprentice
⏱ 5 minutes to learn
✏️ Everyday
🎒 Ages 5+
Works by itself, or one simple move. It works the first try.
✂️ 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
Make the hole before the show, never in front of anyone, and keep that side of the cup turned away all evening.
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 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.
You hold a plain cup between your hands and lift them away from each other. The cup hangs in the air between your palms, turns, and settles back down when you take hold of it again. It's a level 1 apprentice trick for ages 5 to 10 (grades K–4th), takes 5 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, and one step is marked for a grown-up.
The secret
There is a small hole in the back of the cup, out of sight. Your thumb goes in it. Your fingers spread wide, the cup looks held by nothing, and your thumb is doing all the work.
What you need
A paper or plastic cup
Kid scissors
Get ready, before anybody is watching
Make the hole before the show, never in front of anyone, and keep that side of the cup turned away all evening.
How to do it
Grown-up step: Ask a grown-up to cut a thumb-sized hole in the cup, near the bottom on one side.
Hold the cup with the hole at the back and your thumb pushed into it.
Put your other hand flat on the front of the cup, so it looks squeezed between two palms.
Spread your fingers wide and move your hands apart. The cup floats.
Turn slowly so they see all the way round, then take the cup back in both hands.
Magic words to say
“Careful. This cup has been in the cupboard since last Halloween and it has forgotten how to be a cup. Hands off the table, everyone. It only floats when nobody is holding it.”
Pro tips
Stand facing them and stay facing them. This is a front-only trick and there is no fixing that.
Practise in a mirror with your fingers spread. Wide fingers are what sells it: a hand that looks relaxed cannot be gripping anything.
Finish by putting the cup down on the table with the hole turned away, and leave it there.
If something goes wrong
If the cup slips, catch it and say "not ready". Then do it again. A floating thing that drops once is funnier, not worse.
Safety notes
Cutting! Ask a grown-up to help, and cut only paper, card or string.
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:Working with helpers. A helper should walk away feeling brilliant. Perform it and it counts towards the Showstopper badge.
Questions about the spooky floating cup
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 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.