Magic Shop

Grown-ups

🏫 Top 10 magic tricks for the classroom

Ours, all ten: every trick on this list is from Peabody's Magic Shop, free, with picture steps read aloud by Flick.

These are the shop's maths tricks, for a teacher with five minutes: each one needs a board, paper or nothing at all, works every time, and has real maths behind it that a class meets as a trick before anybody names it. The topic and a rough year group are beside each one.

Perform it first, let the class try to break it, then show why it can't be broken. The why-it-works box on each trick's page is written in a child's words, and the grown-ups' page has the whole table.

How it is ranked: The tricks on the teachers' maths table (lib/magic/school.ts), in the table's order. Checked against the shop on .

The 10

  1. 1. The Magic Number 1089The Mind Reader's CornerPlace value, and reversing a three-digit number. Years 4 to 6.
  2. 2. The Secret Number CardsThe Mind Reader's CornerBinary: every number built from 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32. Years 4 to 6.
  3. 3. The Lightning CalendarThe Mind Reader's CornerThe nine times table, and the middle of a square. Years 3 to 5.
  4. 4. The Heads or Tails Mind ReaderThe Coin CounterOdd and even, and what one change does to a count. Years 2 to 4.
  5. 5. The Birthday Mind ReaderThe Mind Reader's CornerMultiplying through brackets, and a constant left over. Years 5 to 7.
  6. 6. The Answer Is Always 3The Mind Reader's CornerDoing and undoing: inverse operations. Years 2 to 4.
  7. 7. The X-Ray DiceThe Mind Reader's CornerOpposite faces of a die always add to seven. Years 2 to 4.
  8. 8. The Calculator PredictionThe Mind Reader's CornerFactors, and why 12345679 × 63 does that. Years 5 to 7.
  9. 9. The Countdown CardThe Card CabinetCounting on and back to the same place. Years 2 to 4.
  10. 10. The Magic ClockThe Mind Reader's CornerCounting round a dial: arithmetic that wraps. Years 3 to 5.

↑ All the Top 10s · The guide for parents and teachers · Pick me a trick · The Magic Shop

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