You put one coin on each palm and slap both hands face down on the table. You ask which hand has which coin. Then you lift your right hand: it's empty, and both coins are under your left.
🎩 Level 3: Wizard
⏱ 3 to 5 days to learn
🪙 Coins
🎒 Ages 10+
A real secret move, or a longer routine. Practise over days.
👶 Small parts! Keep them away from little brothers and sisters, and never put one in your mouth.👶 Coins are a choking risk for little ones under 4: keep them off the floor and out of small hands.
What you need
The secret
Get ready, before anybody is watching
Practise the throw alone on a carpet or a towel, a few minutes every evening, until the coin lands under your left hand every time.
Sleight of hand means secret moves made with your fingers, like holding a coin in a hand that looks completely empty. "Sleight" is an old word for skill or cleverness. It takes real practice, and it's one of the best feelings in magic.
How long does it take to learn a magic trick?
An easy trick takes five or ten minutes. A trick with a secret move takes a few days of practice. Here's the rule magicians use: practise until you can do it ten times in a row without looking at your hands, and then perform it.
You put one coin on each palm and slap both hands face down on the table. You ask which hand has which coin. Then you lift your right hand: it's empty, and both coins are under your left. It's a level 3 wizard trick for ages 10 to 13 (grades 5th–7th), takes 3 to 5 days to learn, and needs one thing you already have. Flick, the shop's rabbit, reads every step aloud with a picture, so a child can follow it alone.
The secret
As your hands flip over, your right hand throws its coin across under your left hand. The flip is so quick that nobody sees the coin fly.
What you need
A quarter, or any big coin
Get ready, before anybody is watching
Practise the throw alone on a carpet or a towel, a few minutes every evening, until the coin lands under your left hand every time.
How to do it
Sit at a table and lay both hands palm up, a little apart.
Put two quarters on your palms, one each: the left near your fingers, the right near your thumb.
Say: watch both coins. I'll turn my hands over at the same time.
Flip both hands over fast and slap them down on the table together.
As they flip, the right hand's coin flies under your left hand. Nobody sees it go.
Ask: which hand has which coin? Let them guess.
Lift your right hand slowly. Nothing there.
Lift your left hand. Both coins are there!
Magic words to say
“These two coins are best friends. They hate being apart. Even when I keep them in different hands… they find each other.”
Pro tips
Use big coins: they are easier to throw and easier for people to see.
Your two hands must turn at exactly the same speed, or the right one looks busy.
Practise on something soft first, so a missed throw doesn't roll away.
If something goes wrong
If the coin misses and lands on the table, say "it jumped too early, it was that keen" and pick it up. Then do Which Hand? instead.
Safety notes
Small parts! Keep them away from little brothers and sisters, and never put one in your mouth.
Coins are a choking risk for little ones under 4: keep them off the floor and out of small hands.
Sit at a table.
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?
🔀 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:Practise like a pro. Ready means ten times in a row without looking at your hands. Perform it and it counts towards the Coin Conjurer badge.
Questions about the two-coin jump
What is sleight of hand?
Sleight of hand means secret moves made with your fingers, like holding a coin in a hand that looks completely empty. "Sleight" is an old word for skill or cleverness. It takes real practice, and it's one of the best feelings in magic.
How long does it take to learn a magic trick?
An easy trick takes five or ten minutes. A trick with a secret move takes a few days of practice. Here's the rule magicians use: practise until you can do it ten times in a row without looking at your hands, and then perform it.