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Just a curiosity type of question.....

Does anyone out their REALLY enjoy kids shows? I mean do they actually prefer them to others? I know some don't mind them, others do them as they are part of the package they offer, but does anyone really-truly-prefer them?

If Yes....then what is it that draws you to them? I enjoy them at times, dispise them at others and all said and done have fun with them...but can't say I truly enjoy them. Maybe if I could find something - beyond technique and audeince control issues, etc - that would change my view of them I would appreciate them more....any thoughts?

I love them. I find that I get a different reaction from kids. I also find that they are honest in the critique. Do a show well and you get a massive buzz. If the show is taken badly then you die big time. I also find that I have a bigger incentive to make the kids enjoy themselves. I don't want any dissapointed kids on their birthday etc. How many adult audiences are absolutely gutted if the show is not up to there standards.
Adult audiences are great but at the end ther is not the same excitement in the air. It's all too reserved. Did they like me or are they being polite?
Perhaps its the blind fear of doing kids shows that gives me the buzz

everything that man above said.
and the fact that when a trick goes well you get that smile from a kid that lights up there whole face and brightens your whole day.

They are my favourite kind of show. I would rather do a kid show than anything else.

I expect moodini is doing the wrong type of material.

You have to have a completely different approach when entertaining children. The magic is secondary. You are there to have FUN!

You can view a clip of me doing the egg bag for kids. There are two snags however. One is that the clip is so tiny you won't see much. However you will be able to hear everything that goes on and you should be able to follow it from the sound alone.

The second problem is that it may take a century or two for the clip to load. It wasn't filmed professionally-it was recorded on one of those cellphone things.

You can view it on the show section of www.marklewismagic.com

I was asked to do a kids show for the first time this year and it wasn't something I had ever thought about doing but the money was good and it was for a friend's niece.
I picked effects that had the most visual impact and had some comedy and involved the children. They loved it, the only thing is they kept following me around for ages whilst I was packing away. I felt like the pied piper or something.
I did think I'd be a little like Mr Partridge, the Punch & Judy man from Hi-De-Hi, but I enjoyed doing it far more than expected as the kids really enjoyed it and were truly amazed by the effects shown.
For the record, some of the things I did were:

Haunted Deck (with three kids picking a card each)
Coin Unique under a glass with the 1p reapperaing using flash paper (kids like flash paper!)
An effect with slush powder where I turned a bowl of water upside down
Three Cards Across
A ring off rope effect with the kids holding each end of the rope
Bitten coin
Rising voodoo doll effect
Colour changing silks

You get the general idea. I have done some more since then and you get used to the mindset of kids. They always ask me to teach them so I usually bring some rubber bands along, give each child one and teach them the jumping rubber band effect. God knows how many parents have had to put up with watching their child do it all night!
Still, they feel satisfied with that one cos it's easy to do and makes the kids feel good about themselves.

It's best not to patronise them too much as well and treat them as "little adults". They respect that more.

They have a tendency to want to look at or grab things so make sure you have the little buggers under control from the start.

Don't get me wrong.....I do them, enjoy myself most of the time, but just don't REALLY enjoy them. I certainly modify my routines to deal with kids, put in tons of kidding around, jokes, gags, etc....use very visual effects, limit the true card effects to almost non-existant. I do cups and balls, foam ball work, rope work, misers dream, and various things. The nature of my kids show is completely different than my adult shows....I just don't find that I enjoy it myself as much as I would like....as far as I can tell, the kids seem to enjoy themselves for the most part - occaisional kid that is overly loud and impatient - but it is more a case of myself not enjoying the style.

I was looking more for some thoughts on why people enjoy them, what is their motivation for them in doing them, etc....hoping maybe I can connect myself more with the performances if I could find a new way of percieving them from the entertainers perspective....not so much worried about the specs perspective as I know I can take care of that physically, just that when you don't seem to "get into the setting" it can show in the way you perform regardless of effects chosen and technical ability....

i understand u moodini.. I'm doing kid shows, and the only Problem is the age.. if they're to small they don't get the point of the trick if they're around 12 Years old and female... good save us.. U don't get to the point of the trick without getting disturbed..

In our local club i know somebody who just does kid shows...

I enjoy the shows, but i like to perform better for weddings, business meetings, etc.

Most of the childrens entertainers that I've seen to date have been very cheezy to watch and yes, I know that they're inteded for a younger audience but this is generally why I don't have an interest in Childrens magic. All of those wooden house fronts with vanishing wooden blocks inside and similar - I just find it a turn off

I did see Magic Dave lecture last year and I'll say that he's been the only exception so far. I thought that his material was original and he was hilarious.

I'm not criticising and have a great deal of respect for childrens magicians. It's just not my cup of tea.

It depends on your approach and what you do. I don't dress up like a clown and have talking puppets when I entertain kids but show them things as if magic was real and I come across as a real person who happens to have magic happening around them.
I suppose they can identify with Harry Potter and the like, so they tend to be less sceptical than adults. Kids don't care whether you can find their card or not, they already pretty much believe in magic so that's no big deal.
They like to see wonderful things happen that they can tell people they saw. I found the signed card in balloon (Derek Dingle) effect worked well with kids. There was a fair amount of dropped jaws and gasps when the signed card they believed was intact in the card case came flying out of a popped balloon.
It can be fun, depending on how you view it. Of course,the money is nice but the shows can make you better as an adult magician as grown ups are a doddle to control after you have been in charge of a room full of kids!

Here are the advantages of kid shows:

1. You have an audience that is well disposed towards magic and excited about seeing it. They are already sold before you start and are excitedly awaiting your arrival.
2. You can generally start with minutes of arriving particularly if the show is a birthday party. With adults you often have to hang around waiting and waiting for the show to get started.
3. You can work in the daytime and have your evenings free.
4. Frequency. There are more kid shows available than adult shows and I have always thought that it is a well kept secret that kids entertainers earn more in the long run than adult enterainers. The money is sometimes lower than it is for an adult show (although not always) but the sheer volume of shows more than makes up for it.
5. You don't have to travel too far and can work in your home locality without going out of town.

And finally the best reason of all to entertain kids is that once you have the knack of doing it they are the most enjoyable shows you can do. They are not for everyone of course but if you have what it takes it is probably the most fun you can have performing and you are very fortunate.

Hey everyone, I not new here but i don't post much. I'm a 4 year amateur magician. My experience consists of random bits of street magic, and about 6 kid's shows, all for children under 10 years old. I myself am 18, and I have to say that apart from the "pre-show terror", I really do love doing these kind of shows.

Obviously the biggest problem with entertaining children with magic is the extent to which a certain trick can afford to be complex. For example, card tricks will work, but never ask the kids to memorize anything more than a single card. I made that mistake in the beginning but luckily the parents watching, seeing their children not seem to react to a stunning revelation ( having forgotten one of the cards ) helped out by saying "Hey honey, wasn't that your card?"

But apart from this limitation, there are many reasons why this can really be good for your magician experience.

First, it's probably the best way to test pretty much anything relating to your performance and style. Working on a new persona, but trying it in front of peers seems like a lot of pressure ? Well since the kids consider you a sort of authority figure (at least most of them do) they will go along with what you try to present. Also it's a great way to let loose some of that humor you probably store in your mind as "too childish...must....resist...immature....jokes!!"

And all in all, this stuff builds confidence like crazy if your starting out performing fo'real like I am. And as a plus you can go and meet the parents, hand out buisness cards, maybe do a trick or two (with the buisness cards ?).....etc.

Having said that, and in all fairness, I can understand the frustration of a more experiences magician who regularly does venues such as weddings, buisness stuff....and has to entertain a bunch of kid's and get out all the lower level stuff......

so in my opinion, magicians just starting out will probably take this as an experience to really get started in performing magic, while more experienced magicians may find it more of a hassle than anything. Maybe some other members might want to comment on this ?

Julien

ps: among the best reactions I got were from "Liquid Metal" and card transpositions where about 5 kids had their hand covering a card on the table! Very fun

What I would like to know is how can some kids magicians get away with being so unprofessional....

Having two little angels (kids not magi) i am frequently subjected to the dross (not in general but specific) of our local childrens magicians....

They look like they have just downed a bottle of paint stripper, been sleeping in the car and have at least three major health complaints.... Its just so nukky looking and as if they live homeless and make a few quid entertaining the "kiddies"....

I have another one to endure this Sunday.... maybe I should take tips from him and drink a bottle myself first... its that agonsing....

Im not slating kids magi in general, just the fellows i have to watch every month or so..

F x

What make me larf is overweight kid's magicians eyeing up the mums throughout the "show" and making crude jokes that the kids don't get in the mistaken belief that it will endear them to said mums.

But enough about me.

Oh yeah (cringe) i forgot about that part..... they always start off with a pink long balloon ... inuendo, chortle chortle... and the kids going just make the poodle damn it..... ewwww...

(not a reference to your poodles by the way, which were not pink, although I did hear little Jean Eugene wimper because it wasnt...)

F x

I'd imagine that kid's shows could be brilliant fun. I've never actually done any because I don't think that the magic that I do would really work with them all that well, it's fine for family audiences but a full kids' show is different altogether.

Mr Wand, you're so right about the crude jokes, the worst that I've seen was a magician producing a couple of plums and then asking the mum's who'd like to hold his plums while he did his next trick. It wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't have looked like a obese warthog.