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I have been invited to do a short show at a school next week for 6 and 7 year olds. I did one last year which went down pretty well.

I have an adequate repertoire but have recently got in to sponge ball magic and wondered if this is useable in these circumstances.

I will be standing in front of around 35 children who will be seated on the floor.

TT vanishes, magic colouring book, Egg Can, Foo can plus some other bits and pieces are all clearly visible effects. I am concerned that sponge balls may be a bit difficult to follow from the back row.

Does anyone have any experience of doing sponge magic to an audience of this sort of size?

No experience as such, but I don't think it will be a problem - 35 kids is five rows of seven - if there're only five rows the back row will still be fairly close.

Think about what wearing a contrasting colour to your sponge balls, or using a backdrop of somekind. Doesn't have to be anything posh, just something to make the sponge balls stand out a little more maybe.

What routine are you doing with spongeballs?

And why balls, in the first place? Cubes or rabbits won't roll away.

Peter Marucci wrote:What routine are you doing with spongeballs?

And why balls, in the first place? Cubes or rabbits won't roll away.

Good point, probably don't have time to work on that now.

I was just going to do a vanish and a two in the hand one in the pocket routine

Colour changing sponge balls is easy to do and visual. Are you using the bigger type? These would be more visual but an audience of 35 should be able to see them regardless.
Signed card to balloon always works well with a kiddie audience I have found and I got a lot of mileage and laughter out of something as simple as slush powder.

All I have at the moment Freddie is the Sponge Ball Toolkit!

Depends on how you have them all seated.....I did my sponge ball routine in my set this past weekend with 97 kids and it still went over great. Little kids can be packed quite tight together and in a small space. Picture the size of a school classroom with about 30 kids in desks and space and the front, back, sides of the room as well and even open rows between the desks. Without desks you could easily condense that into twice as many kids and have them on the floor......and would have no trouble at all seeing clearly from the back of the class.

regards sponge routines all of the audience dosn't need to see whats happening they'll gauge there reaction off of the specs on stage, works for coin work too.
one idea that you may want to incoporate it to do a colour changing sponge cube routine and end by stretching the sponge into a long one, like a sponge snake.
furniture places that make there own and habidasheries often have long off cuts that you can get cheep or free to make up your cubes and snake.
if i just say false transfer and sleave will that be enough to get you on the right track.

iv'e got away with pipe laging foam at a push but that takes a bit more story working to pull off.

I have seen George Schindler perform a sponge ball routine at a wedding in front of close to 350 people. The crowd loved it. Goshman use to do his sponge balls at conventions to very large crowds. Of course being Goshman he could have pretty much just sat there and the crowd would go wild.

I seriously don't think you would have a problem.

do the exact sponge ball routine myself. two balls appear in specs hand, then three then one in hand one in pocket. Always goes down well.

Yep as said before this one works best as the kids can see the specs reaction aswell as the magic

Ask the spec to turn the hand upright and to open slowly. If they open quick the balls may spring out, plus sometimes the shock makes them jump a little bit. (show them by opening your empty hand slowly). Then when they get three balls make something of it so that everyone knows that an extra ball has appeared, for example 'THREE balls, you trying to out do me kiddo'.

have fun

I much appreciate all of the responses here.

Sponge balls are in next weeks routine!

Thanks