Kids' Magic Secrets: Simple Magic Tricks & Why They Work

Kids' Magic Secrets: Simple Magic Tricks & Why They Work

Using everyday items found in most homes, aspiring young magicians can dazzle friends and family with this best-selling kid's guide to performing magic tricks. With the help of this book, young magicians can magically make things appear and disappear, make rubber bands seem to go through fingers, and make ghostly names appear on water tumblers. There are eight fun categories of magic ranging from All Wet to Amazingly Mysterious. Of course, there's Pick-A-Card--Any Card! Each activity includes step- by- step directions complete with hundreds of delightful illustrations. Each trick is followed by an explanation of the scientific or mathematic principles that make it work. "Simple written directions and clear illustrations make it easy to understand each step." -- Boise Family Loris Bree  is a former speech and language therapist in a Minnesota public school system who specialized in working with children with disabilities.  She holds a Master's Degree in education.With her background in helping children, she brought out special  child-friendly books: the  Kid's Trip Diary , Kid's Magic Secrets,  Kid's Travel Fun Book and  K id's Squish Book .  Her partner,  Marlin Bree,  is a former magazine editor for the Minneapolis Tribune. They live in Shoreview,Minnesota. Kids' Magic Secrets Simple Magic Tricks & Why They Work By Loris Bree, Marlin Bree Marlor Press, Inc Copyright © 2007 Loris and Marlin Bree All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-892147-08-0 Contents Introduction, KITCHEN WIZARD, OFFICE MAGIC, PICK A CARD, ANY CARD, PAPER, PAPER, WHO'S GOT PAPER?, BODY OF MAGIC, ALL WET, SCARF IT UP, AMAZINGLY MYSTERIOUS, Index, CHAPTER 1 BANANA SURPRISE ZOW! YOU PEEL BACK A BANANA - AND IT'S ALREADY SLICED Your audience will see you peel an ordinary banana. When you pull back the peeling, the banana will already be sliced into chunks. Incredible. YOU WILL NEED 1. A ripe banana 2. A plate or bowl 3. A clean needle and thread 1 . On the day of your magical appearance but before your audience arrives you can prepare your banana. Stick the threaded needle into a spot on a ridge of the banana, near the top (Step 1). Bring the needle out at the next ridge but leave a three to five inch tail of thread hanging out from the first hole. 2 . Push the needle back into the second hole (Step 2) and bring it back out at the next ridge. Put the needle back into the third hole and bring it out at the next ridge. Continue to follow these steps until you bring the needle out at the first hole. 3 . Hold both ends of the thread in your hand and pull the thread until it comes out of the hole. You've just made a secret slice in the banana. Nobody can see the tiny needle hole 4 . Now make another invisible slice about an inch below the first hole. Repeat the steps. You can slice the entire banana or only make four or five slices. 5 . Put the needle and thread out of sight. Leave the banana and plate on the table or in a box with your other magic supplies. 6 . When it is time for your trick, tell your audience: "I really like my bananas sliced but my mother doesn't want me fooling around with knives. I think I've finally solved my problem. I use magic." 7 . Hold up the banana and say, "BANANA, BE SLICED." Then you wave your hand back and forth and up and down around the banana. If you want to, you can repeat, "BANANA, BE SLICED." 8 . Holding the banana over a plate or napkin, begin to peel the banana. As you peel the slices will fall on the plate. Wow. Look at their faces! 9 . Extra fun step: If you are very careful to only use a fine needle and fine thread, you can let someone from the audience look at the banana before you begin so they can see that it is not peeled or sliced. HOW THE TRICK WORKS This uses a mathematical or scientific concept called sectioning. It means to divide something into slices or parts. By putting a thread in at a banana seam, you divide the fruit, section by section. Tension on the thread cuts the section inside without peeling the banana. The result? To the audience, it's magic! COINS IN A BOTTLE YOU MAKE COINS FLIP INTO A BOTTLE WITHOUT TOUCHING THEM You show your audience some coins and a bottle. You put a card across the bottle, put the coins on top. You challenge them to get the coins into the bottle without touching them. They can't do it. Then you show them how. Stupendous! YOU WILL NEED 1. An empty bottle or jar. The bottle opening must be larger than the coins. 2. A square piece of cardboard , like a file card or a square cut from a cereal or tissue box. Cut your card so that it is square (3 x 3 inches is great) and larger than the bottle opening. 3. Two or three coins HOW THE TRICK WORKS 1 . You show the audience a bottle and some coins. You might even ask for coins from your audience. Tell them that you'd like two or three pennies or nickels. 2 . When you have your coins and the bottle, hold them up for the audience to see. T