Printable magic trick cards

✏️ The Rubber Pencil

Apprentice · 1 minute · ages 5 to 9

You need: pencil

1. Hold the pencil loosely, a third of the way along, between your thumb and first finger.
2. Point it away from you, flat, like it's lying on a shelf.
3. Move your whole hand up and down a few inches, quick but gentle.
4. Let the pencil rock in your fingers as your hand moves.

…and 1 more on peabody.kids/magic/rubber-pencil-trick

Say: “This pencil came out of a drawer at the Peabody Magic Shop, so it isn't ordinary wood. Watch what happens when I say… Wobble-ah-kazam!”

🪽 The Floating Pencil

Apprentice · 5 minutes · ages 5 to 9

You need: pencil

1. Make a fist with your left hand, knuckles towards your audience, palm towards you.
2. Stand the pencil up inside your fist so the top sticks out.
3. Take hold of your left wrist with your right hand, to keep it steady.
4. Secretly stretch your right pointer finger up behind your fist and hold the pencil there.

…and 2 more on peabody.kids/magic/floating-pencil-trick

Say: “Some pencils are frightened of falling. If I'm very calm, and very still, and very kind to it… steady… steady… there. It trusts me.”

👻 The Ghost Pencil

Apprentice · 5 minutes · ages 5 to 10

You need: pencil, short pencil, hair tie

1. Keep your palm turned towards you so nobody sees the short pencil under the band.
2. Rub your hands together and tell everyone you're charging them up.
3. Slide the pencil across your palm, under the tip of the hidden one.
4. Turn your hand slowly over, palm down.

…and 2 more on peabody.kids/magic/magnetic-hand-pencil-trick

Say: “Ghosts love pencils. It's how they write their spooky letters. Ghost, if you're in here, hold on tight… and don't let go until I say.”

🎗️ The Jumping Rubber Band

Conjurer · 15 minutes · ages 6 to 11

You need: rubber band

1. Put the rubber band round the bottom of your pointer and middle fingers.
2. Show your palm, then the back of your hand.
3. Pull the rubber band towards you with your other hand, stretching it wide open.
4. Close your hand into a fist and tuck all four fingertips inside the stretched band.

…and 2 more on peabody.kids/magic/jumping-rubber-band-trick

Say: “This is a nervous rubber band. It never stays where you put it. One magic word and it leaps. Ready? Boing!”

👍 Thumb Off

Apprentice · 5 minutes · ages 5 to 8

You need: nothing but your hands

1. Hold your left hand flat, palm towards you, and bend your left thumb down.
2. Bend your right thumb down in exactly the same way.
3. Push your right thumb up against the left one so the two tips make one thumb.
4. Lay your right pointer finger across the join to cover it up.

…and 2 more on peabody.kids/magic/thumb-off-trick

Say: “Ow! … Only joking. My thumb comes off for easy cleaning. Most people's don't. Would you like to hold it?”

🧂 The Salt Shaker Balance

Apprentice · 5 minutes · ages 5 to 10

You need: salt shaker, salt

1. Sprinkle a little the salt on the table in front of you.
2. Tip the salt shaker onto its bottom edge, right into the salt.
3. Wiggle it gently until it finds a spot where it wants to stay.
4. Let go, slowly, one finger at a time.

…and 1 more on peabody.kids/magic/salt-shaker-balance-trick

Say: “Salt shakers are secretly brilliant at gymnastics. Most of them never get the chance to show anyone. Balance!”

🎗️ The Haunted Rubber Band

Conjurer · 10 minutes · ages 6 to 11

You need: rubber band

1. Hook two rubber bands over your first two fingers, with the back of your hand to them.
2. Zigzag the second band over all four fingertips, like a little cage.
3. Show both sides.
4. Close your hand into a fist, and as you do, slide all four fingertips inside the first band.

…and 1 more on peabody.kids/magic/haunted-rubber-band-trick

Say: “This band is haunted. I locked it down with a cage, see? Nothing in, nothing out. But it doesn't like being told what to do. Watch where it goes when I say boo.”

🥤 The Spooky Floating Cup

Apprentice · 5 minutes · ages 5 to 10

You need: cup, scissors

1. Ask a grown-up to cut a thumb-sized hole in the cup, near the bottom on one side.
2. Hold the cup with the hole at the back and your thumb pushed into it.
3. Put your other hand flat on the front of the cup, so it looks squeezed between two palms.
4. Spread your fingers wide and move your hands apart.

…and 1 more on peabody.kids/magic/spooky-floating-cup-trick

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.”

🥄 The Bending Spoon

Apprentice · 3 minutes · ages 5 to 10

You need: spoon

1. Hold the spoon upright on the table, both hands wrapped round the neck.
2. Press down and groan a bit, as if it is hard work.
3. As you press, let the spoon slide down through your hands and tip the bowl forward.
4. Stop, look pleased, and let them see the bent handle.

…and 1 more on peabody.kids/magic/bending-spoon-trick

Say: “Metal is only hard if you believe it is. I don't, particularly. Watch. Don't tell whoever washes up.”

🪵 The Broken Toothpick Restored

Conjurer · 15 minutes · ages 7 to 11

You need: napkin, toothpick, scissors

1. Ask a grown-up to snip the sharp ends off both two toothpicks, and to work one into the hem of the napkin.
2. Lay the napkin flat and put the loose two toothpicks in the middle, where everyone can see it.
3. Fold the napkin over it twice, keeping the hem corner under your fingers.
4. Hold the hem through the cloth and ask somebody to snap it.

…and 1 more on peabody.kids/magic/broken-toothpick-restored-trick

Say: “Go on, break it. Properly, I don't mind. Did everybody hear that? Good, because I'm going to need you all as witnesses in a moment.”

🥤 Easy Cups and Balls

Wizard · 3 to 5 days · ages 7 to 12

You need: cup, pom-poms

1. Set the three three cups mouth-down in a row, the loaded one in the middle.
2. Put one four pom-poms on top of the middle cup and stack the other two on it.
3. Lift the stack and show the ball has gone through.
4. Do it again with the second four pom-poms, the same way, in the same order.

…and 2 more on peabody.kids/magic/easy-cups-and-balls-trick

Say: “Three cups, three balls. Keep your eyes on the middle one. Actually, keep your eyes on all of them. Actually, you know what, it won't help.”

✏️ The Vanishing Pencil

Apprentice · 5 minutes · ages 5 to 9

You need: pencil

1. Sit at a table with your friend across from you, and hold the pencil up like a wand.
2. Say: on three, this pencil will disappear.
3. Lift it right up beside your head every time, then bring it down and tap: two!
4. On the next lift, leave the pencil tucked behind your ear, and keep looking at the table.

…and 3 more on peabody.kids/magic/vanishing-pencil-trick

Say: “This is a very shy pencil. It doesn't like being counted. One… two… three! Oh. Oh no. Where did it go?”

🖍️ The Crayon Mind Reader

Apprentice · 5 minutes · ages 5 to 9

You need: crayons

1. Put the crayons on the table and turn your back to your friend.
2. Hold your hands behind you and say: put any crayon in my hands, and hide the box.
3. Turn round to face them, with the crayon still behind your back.
4. Behind your back, secretly scrape a little of the crayon with your thumbnail.

…and 2 more on peabody.kids/magic/crayon-mind-reader-trick

Say: “Every colour makes a different feeling in your fingers. Warm ones tingle. Cold ones prickle. This one is… tingling… it's pink!”

☝️ The Stretching Finger

Apprentice · 3 minutes · ages 5 to 9

You need: nothing but your hands

1. Hold up one hand with the pointer finger bent, so only the top part sticks up.
2. Wrap your other hand round it, so the fist hides the bent part of your finger.
3. Pinch the fingertip and pretend to pull hard.
4. Slide the fist up slowly while you straighten your finger inside it.

…and 1 more on peabody.kids/magic/stretching-finger-trick

Say: “My fingers are made of chewing gum. Watch. If I pull… really… hard… it stretches! Better put it back before it snaps.”

🖐️ Eleven Fingers

Apprentice · 3 minutes · ages 5 to 9

You need: nothing but your hands

1. Say: I have eleven fingers.
2. Say: no, you counted wrong.
3. Touch the fingers of one hand, counting backwards: ten, nine, eight, seven, six.
4. Hold up your other hand and say: and five on this hand.

…and 1 more on peabody.kids/magic/eleven-fingers-trick

Say: “Most people have ten fingers. I'm a magician, so I got one extra. Don't believe me? I'll prove it.”

🏁 Race to 100

Conjurer · 10 minutes · ages 7 to 12

You need: paper, pencil

1. Tell your friend the rule: each turn, you add any number from 1 to 10 to the total.
2. Whoever says exactly 100 wins.
3. Offer to go first, as if you are being kind.
4. Whatever your friend adds, you add the number that makes 11 with it.

…and 3 more on peabody.kids/magic/race-to-100-trick

Say: “I've been practising adding. Not fast adding: lucky adding. You can choose any numbers you like, and I'll still get to 100 first.”