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I've agreed to do a gig for my manager in a couple of weeks, his daughter turns 8

I have been completely honest with him in that I only have 5 gigs under my belt and they have all been for 3/4 year olds

I am now however very worried that some of the material might be too young for this audience, I will have to drop Colouring Book for example, I am worried about using D-Lites as well, now there is every chance I am being over cautious, but at the same time, I'm guessing there is a World of difference between your average 4-year-old and 8-year-old

So anyone with experience of children's gigs, or of children themselves, in fact, any input appreciated!

Eight Years is still a good age to perform to. Don't forget she was only 7 a few days before. They still want to be entertained and they are still appreciative of anything that vanishes and appears. The colouring book should still get a good response as well if you perform it at the right time and in the right situation. I find that Children lose their magical innocence at around aged 10 but again it depends on how you put it across and how your character comes across. I also keep in mind that I am also performing for the adults there as well, as they are the ones that hold the purse strings for any further bookings.

I think it would be harder with the younger ones, I can't imagine a 3 year old having an appreciation of magic but I'm sure others will tell me if thats wrong. I think you will have a much better time entertaining the eight year olds. I'm not a fan of the colouring book so can't really comment on that one. How about working in some tricks that appeal to all ages like torn and restored newspaper and my all time favourite, the cups and balls. Good Luck.

Regards Karma

My son is nine.

Are you coming on Wednesday night? We can chat then.

D'Lites will be fine!

jomarchan wrote:Eight Years is still a good age to perform to. Don't forget she was only 7 a few days before. They still want to be entertained and they are still appreciative of anything that vanishes and appears. The colouring book should still get a good response as well if you perform it at the right time and in the right situation. I find that Children lose their magical innocence at around aged 10 but again it depends on how you put it across and how your character comes across. I also keep in mind that I am also performing for the adults there as well, as they are the ones that hold the purse strings for any further bookings.

Massively helpful as always Mark, thanks. I am probably over thinking this gig as my usual character of the "slightly clownish idiot" should probably stay right? 8 year olds still find that sort of stuff amusing I'm guessing?

Karma wrote:I think it would be harder with the younger ones, I can't imagine a 3 year old having an appreciation of magic but I'm sure others will tell me if thats wrong. I think you will have a much better time entertaining the eight year olds. I'm not a fan of the colouring book so can't really comment on that one. How about working in some tricks that appeal to all ages like torn and restored newspaper and my all time favourite, the cups and balls. Good Luck.

Regards Karma

The 3/4 year olds enjoy the clowning around and silliness, stuff like pretending they are shouting too loud and falling back til I nearly fall over. The magic is a sideline really, although the D-Lites always tranfix them!

Cups and balls is a lovely idea, and the routine I work with isn't too long so this gig might be a nice feeler for it, torn and restored newspaper might make an appearance as well!

Cheers

Ste Porterfield wrote:My son is nine.

Are you coming on Wednesday night? We can chat then.

D'Lites will be fine!

Yes, I will be there Wednesday, we can discuss stuff then, cheers Ste

Alfred Borden wrote:my usual character of the "slightly clownish idiot" should probably stay right? 8 year olds still find that sort of stuff amusing I'm guessing?

I would say to keep it in Dean. Again the Buzz word is entertaining so just make what you do entertaining. Eight year olds love fire magic also so it would be good to use an effect with flash paper. Silk Magic is a great way to go as well. Laflin Magic are a great source for future reference. I would recommend buying a Palmo and taking a look at their DVD The Palmo. It truely is a reputation maker for all ages.

Practical Magic do a silk Routine called The Birthday Candles using d'lites but it only uses 7 candles. You could always adapt it though by making the Eighth candle appear somewhere......
I think you will be surprised at what you can get away with in front of a 7 - 8 year old audience Dean so don't panic. A 10 - 11 year old audience?....well that is starting to become a whole different ball game....

Best of Luck again

jomarchan wrote:

Alfred Borden wrote:my usual character of the "slightly clownish idiot" should probably stay right? 8 year olds still find that sort of stuff amusing I'm guessing?

I would say to keep it in Dean. Again the Buzz word is entertaining so just make what you do entertaining. Eight year olds love fire magic also so it would be good to use an effect with flash paper. Silk Magic is a great way to go as well. Laflin Magic are a great source for future reference. I would recommend buying a Palmo and taking a look at their DVD The Palmo. It truely is a reputation maker for all ages.

Practical Magic do a silk Routine called The Birthday Candles using d'lites but it only uses 7 candles. You could always adapt it though by making the Eighth candle appear somewhere......
I think you will be surprised at what you can get away with in front of a 7 - 8 year old audience Dean so don't panic. A 10 - 11 year old audience?....well that is starting to become a whole different ball game....

Best of Luck again

Ahhhh, interesting, have been thinking about Flash Paper for a while now...and the Palmo looks like a reasonably priced addition to my collection

Thanks again - and keep it coming!

Bright red sponge balls are always sure faves: I remember one time doing a shortened sponge ball routine (and indeed the one I always do, as having multiple phases are all very well, but nothing will delight the most when the most magical moment is having one ball vanish from your hand and asking whether they still have theirs - ambiguously even suggesting theirs has disappeared too - and it producing itself from their own hand and sometimes springing out onto the floor), and asking whether they were right or left handed, then looking towards their parent in the realisation that they hadn't actually worked that out yet! I recall the child was probably about five. I'd be disconcerted if by the age of eight they still hadn't worked it out yet. Or they could be ambidextrous and be wowed to take up magic themselves!

I don't think you will ever regret buying a palmo. It should pretty much last a lifetime
I fell in love with it after seeing colour changing silks by Duane Laflin. Its on you tube somewhere now. I then purchased all sorts of silks from Laflin in America and practised hard to perfect things. There is a lot of religious stuff on their site which is not really me but there is also a lot of reputation making stuff on there also. Either way Dean I would really consider purchasing a few silk routines and play around with them.

Best wishes

jomarchan wrote:I don't think you will ever regret buying a palmo. It should pretty much last a lifetime
I fell in love with it after seeing colour changing silks by Duane Laflin. Its on you tube somewhere now. I then purchased all sorts of silks from Laflin in America and practised hard to perfect things. There is a lot of religious stuff on their site which is not really me but there is also a lot of reputation making stuff on there also. Either way Dean I would really consider purchasing a few silk routines and play around with them.

Best wishes

Thanks again, think I will purchase one when in London on Wednesday

I'm guessing I will have to drop my routine where I use a big wand that has a mouse head coming out of one end and tail from the other? (Panto type "ITS THERE! THE OTHER END!! routine) - guessing will insult your average 7/8 year old?

You may be right about the wand and mouse thing but in August I did a BIrthday party for a 9 year old and 30 of her friends. I included a routine called Mouse on the run with my own adaption to it
It was a comedy routine and used a 'mouse'
It went down really well. The point was that it entertained them and made them laugh.
By the way, I have just got back from a small function in the Midlands tonight and I performed a paint my flower silk routine to an audience whose age was from 5 to 85. It went down really well which is why I hope you explore the use of silks when you add to your set. Don't be afraid to try anything Dean, you clearly have a talent for Magic.

Best wishes

jomarchan wrote:You may be right about the wand and mouse thing but in August I did a BIrthday party for a 9 year old and 30 of her friends. I included a routine called Mouse on the run with my own adaption to it
It was a comedy routine and used a 'mouse'
It went down really well. The point was that it entertained them and made them laugh.
By the way, I have just got back from a small function in the Midlands tonight and I performed a paint my flower silk routine to an audience whose age was from 5 to 85. It went down really well which is why I hope you explore the use of silks when you add to your set. Don't be afraid to try anything Dean, you clearly have a talent for Magic.

Best wishes

I respect your opinions and views which is why I be will exploring silks more

I may just shorten the Mouse/wand routine depending on reactions - its just such a nice prop, I enjoy handling it

As for having a talent for magic, very kind of you to say that, not so sure but I do love the reactions, just performed signed card to pocket to a colleague, his reaction "thats impossible!"

Certainly helps becoming better at something when one passionate about it

Thanks again for taking the time to comment in thread (you'll be doing the gig at this rate )

Keep the silliness. I use virtually the same show for eight year olds as I do for 4 year olds. I will even do Run Rabbit Run without blinking an eyelid. It is only when they get to nine years old that I start to concern myself with altering the material. There is absolutely no reason to eliminate either the colouring book or the Dlite thing. If it worked for the younger kids it will work for the older ones. You must remember that they are still children. Even ten year olds are still children and although there is some adjustment required it really isn't that much because the psychology is still the same. They are STILL kids whether they are 4 years old or 8 years old or even 10 years old.

I would strongly suggest you purchase Open Sesame by Wilfrid Tyler and Eric Lewis. You will probably find the book very dated in places since it was written in 1947. However, you don't get the book for the tricks. You get it for the priceless opening chapter by Eric Lewis which will give you the theory on entertaining children. Once you read that chapter it will tell all you need to know about the way children think and the best way to entertain them.

Incidentally don't use fire magic at a children's show under ANY circumstances and I don't care what age they are.

Mark is of course right even on his comment about fire magic. I just prefer to leave mine in occasionally.