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I have been a magic fan since I as soon as I saw paul daniels on tv in the 70's, I think there should be another show like it.

I have been asked to do a kids show, I wrote down how many tricks I have and can do - ten in total before I get to the card stuff, I surprized myself when I wrote them all down.

Can someone give me any ideas on how to structure the show, I'm looking at 20 mins, I used to do a small cooper routine 12 years ago when I was in the army with a lot less tricks mostly just the gags around the few tricks I had, but now I have not performed as such in just as many years.

is there a good dvd or book I should get to help me??

Well, first of all - welcome back to the wonderful world of magic, hope you stick with it....it'll change your life forever mate....and you're going to be doing kids parties already too eh? Wow, you're a braver man than I am!

Don't let the little devils put you off though, they might be pretty sharp compared to the average pub or restuartant spectator, but fortunately they are equally as gullable when it comes to weaving together a routine.

Depending on their age range, you won't have to bog yourself down with too many psuedo-science explanations or presenting your effects as "experiments" instead of just tricks. Also, you probably won't have to come up with anything too overlly elaborate to throw of any skeptical audience members - their kids, they are usally too innocent to have become skeptical yet. So use that to your advantage as well.

You can feel free to incorporate all sorts of silly stories about magical nonsense which will appeal to the younger audience. I remember when the Harry Potter craze had kicked off, and I had to do a 1 hour kids show at a wedding reception (essentially it was just keeping them busy whilst the adults got a chance to start getting pis**d) Anyway, I used the opportunity to describe to them how I used to attend Hogwarts etc. It all helps to add some filler in order to get through the routine more fluidly.

If it's been a while since you have done any magic, or if you just want to keep it simple, I can recommend "Mark Wilsons Complete Course in Magic". A very versitile book, crammed with useful material. Lot's of ideas and it's not too advanced either, so you should have no trouble getting 20 mins of material from that book.

Good luck with your show mate. Let us all know how it went.

Hello. I start off my kids show routine with cut n restored rope and double cut. Then I move to professors nightmare (with a kids theme of course). Then I do some silk vanishes and blendos. Move on to cups and balls followed by a sponge ball routine and finish off with the 3-way coloring book and crayons. This easily fills up 30 minutes.

I havent had much luck with cards while doing a kids show, other than sticking around afterwards for the adults and making some extra cash and a couple of free drinks.

Good luck hope this helps.

Big D

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