talkmagic.co.uk

I've agreed to do a show for a friend's son's third birthday party.

I've never played to an audience that young before, and I'm well aware that a lot of the kids' magic I do will go right over their heads.

Does anyone have any experience with this age group? What do you find works best for them?

Thanks again,

Pete

Colour changes, tt vanishes and basicaly anything that is nice and simple.

Big, flashy movements and lots of colours. Sponge balls, silks, that kind of thing.

keep it really visual, simple isnt so important as the visual aspect.

I remember hearing somewhere, probably from Sankey, that even some simple things... if kids see it and subconciously know that it cant be done.. they will just not get it.

TT vanish and productions - silks, salts, torn and restored paper etc etc

D'lite show - play for ages with this one, use your ears, nose and eyes.. sneeze the light out then swallow it, things like that

torn and restored crayon

coin to egg / card to egg


Mate.. if you havent yet got it.. I think Sankey's Non stop party magic has some great things that you can do for kids.. also his Supernatural DVD ( I haevnt got this yet but I think there were a few that might be visual enough for kids


Back to TT stuff.. Hundred dollar miracles by *guess who* Jay Sankey has some GREAT visual things..

an uncoloured childrens picture, which a second later is perfectly coloured.


Final word.. visual visual visual.. simplicity doesnt really matter.. visual is what you go for..

Good Luck!!

everything they said plus lots of sweets, pm me for some make at home production items and some other ideas.

While I haven't ever performed for this age group, I'll tell you this: Remember, they have VERY short attention spans. In my opionion this means you should not be staying with one trick for very long.

For example, if you are doing a torn and restored trick be sure to restore it pretty soon after you tear it rather than talking alot in between. They will get disctracted by the time you get to the actual magic.

Just thought I would throw that out there for you to think about.

AcrylicAce

Remember: kids are shameless. They have no problem yelling out when they've seen something!

Further, kids are at a different angle than you're probably used to performing at. First time I had kids around me in a streetesque performance, they saw right through my cups and balls routine because I'd been practicing it for audiences over 3 feet tall... Lessons learned...

Ciao,
Rob

Two that have worked for me:

Egg bag

Sympathetic coins (aka coin matrix) done on the carpet - Bobo's suggestion

Barry

Three year olds? Well, they aren't real impressed by magic. In fact, if you begin to fly around the room, they will be entertained, but they won't be impressed. In a three year old's world, somebody flying is simply a matter of course...Magic is real.

So, don't try to do magic for the sake of magic, because you'll fall flat.

As has been pointed out, big and flashy is the way to go. Have fun with them, because fun is all that impresses a three year old. Not magic, though, because at that age magic is real - which is why if you did start flying around the room, it would be a matter of course and not one of magic.

What's entertaining to a three year old? Anything bright and fun. Want to really get them going? Put a diaper on your head. That will be the height of comedy to a three year old. Think I'm kidding? Well, one of the highest paid kids magicians in the states (makes in excess of a quarter of a million dollars a year doing nothing but kids shows aimed at the three to five year old crowd) does exactly that. And, he keeps that diaper on his head for most of the show.

The Magician's Coloring Book is a good one for this age. Not because you magically color the pages (which they like) but because it's a coloring book and that is something that they really understand. Like the fact that a diaper doesn't go on your head.

They get a big kick out of slapstick. If you're blowing up a balloon and you let go of it and it snaps back and hits you in the eye - that's funny, that's entertainment. Mispronouncing words is funny and entertaining to them: "What's your name?" "Jamie" "Jimmy? Well, that's odd, you don't look like a jimmy!" "NO, JAMIE." "Jammies? Well, I'm not wearing my jammies, but I do when I go to bed!" They will scream and howl at such an exchange.

So, don't think in terms of "magic" as per se, but in terms of what is entertaining to a three year old.

Mike.

The best advice is don't do it unless you really need the money. As a general rule 3 year olds are not good audiences for magicians. Only 50% of them will understand the show in the first place.

On the other hand a woman once booked me to do a show for two year olds despite my protests to her that it would be a very bad idea. The strange thing was to my amazement it worked out well. Of course all the two year olds weren't interested at all but there were a few 3 year olds and even two or three 4 year olds there so I got away with it.

Generally speaking however if the bulk of the kids are 3 years or under I would refuse the booking.

I have been asked to do some magic for 9-10 year olds and have decided to go for visual things rather than cards or anything 'psychic'.
The d-lites are something that always impresses a kid, particularly if it's done to the right music. I don't really want to get into the habit of performing for children, but I will be using colour changing silks, vanishing coke bottle, wilting flowers, vanishing flute and dove pan that produces sweets.
Michael Jay's advice is sterling. Kids like silly humour and sometimes references to things that are currently popular with them.

Thanks everyone. I'm very adept at being silly, so that side of things isn't a problem. And the shows I normally do for children is vastly different to the stuff I do for adults - it's largely comedy, and I work each rotine so that the children themselves make the magic happen. The problem is that the youngest children I've performed for to date have been five or six. And they obviously have a very different grasp on reality to three year olds.

I'm doing this show as a favour for a friend, but I'm also well aware that there will be other parents there who might want to take my business card at the end of the party.

As things stand, I'm looking at a 20-minute set involving lots of silk magic, a short miser's dream routine with sponge bananas instead of coins, D-lites, a colouring book and a dove pan. That's basically my usual kids act with all the more complex stuff removed. After that, I'll probably organise party games for another 20-30 minutes - stuff like musical statues, flap the fish and traffic lights.

Hopefully none of that will be too advanced for this age group.

Whatcha think?

Thanks again,

Pete

Dress up as Bob the Builder and they'll love everything you do!

following on from what michael jay said about mispronouncing names, some of the best advice given to me before my first kids show was miscalling the colours of balloons. If using balloons, of course.

Me: "ok, what colour doggy do you want?"
Kid: "A red one!"
so I take out a blue one,
Me: "ok, a red one"
Every kid in the hall: "THATS A BLUE ONE!!!"
Me: "no its not, this is a blue one" as I pulled out a red one.

And so on. I was surprised at the mileage you can get from such simple silliness.

Getting names wrong, even my own, also went down well.

I'd suggest some sponge ball tricks, possible even the rabbit one (forget it's name). The good thing about that is you can squish the balls into tiny kids hands and what three-year-old doesn't love bunnies?!