talkmagic.co.uk

Hi chaps and chapesses, just a quick post to canvas views and pick your brains.
I enjoy doing kids shows as well as magic for adults and I have two broad "sets", one for a larger audience (20 kids plus) and one for smaller audience.
I have been asked to do a birthday party gig for 10 kids (first paid gig ) and I wanted to run this past people to get an idea of whether they thought it would fly!
The audience is up to 10 boys aged around 7-8.

Setup:
Low table/coffee table, me sat behind and the audience in a semicircle/two rows in front of me. The table helps a bit with audience control and angles!
The birthday boy gets a wand to help me with the magic
Effects:
Simple sponge routine ending with all the balls in the hand of one of the front row children
Sponge bunnies
Growing sponge ball undone
Cups and balls with final loads being two of the bunnies and some chocolate for the birthday boy (possible a small super bouncy ball or something)
Liam Montier's effect with the travelling worry dolls
Linking rings
Card transpo ending with a blank card that has been personalised with a birthday message.
The whole thing lasts 20-30 minutes and has worked for younger kids (yes even the card transpo).

Am I doing too much? Is there too much sponge work?
Advice gratefully received!
I do have a possible show that revolves around magic/the force using PK effects to convince them I am a Jedi which I may do if requested however!

Why are you sitting behind a table? My advice is to ditch the table and stand in front of your audience. Beyond that, there is nothing wrong with your material.

TonyB wrote:Why are you sitting behind a table? My advice is to ditch the table and stand in front of your audience. Beyond that, there is nothing wrong with your material.

Mainly for the cups and balls and to help with prop control TBH, when I've performed for more kids it has been in a field/playing field so no table and I went with linking rings rather than cups and balls. I also have a humorous contact juggling routine that can be added if needed- I'm keen on modular routines that you can switch around and alter.
To be honest my main thought when performing for kids is "don't talk down to them".

Thanks for answering!

Looks like a strong set, personally I don't do card stuff for children under 10 but interesting you say the card stuff has worked for younger children

How do the linking rings go down?

Oh, and good luck, nothing like the buzz of a first paid gig

The card stuff I have done for younger kids I wouldn't really class as "card magic". They are single effects that happen to use cards.
I chose the transpo because it doesn't matter if they remember the card, it's obvious that "their card" has transformed because of the personalised card. I have also done Liam Montier's chip butty because again it uses cards but the magical effect doesn't rely on them remembering the card- and there is only one thing to follow!
Linking rings has gone down well but I do have a set with a k ring that can be fully viewed which helps with the younger kids.

For me, I think that's a little too much (and too much sponge work too) but I think if you do it as it is, you will find bits that make the routine better and pad out the presentation and eventually you'll find that you can do 30 minutes with just four or five routines. You have seven there.

Jing wrote:For me, I think that's a little too much (and too much sponge work too) but I think if you do it as it is, you will find bits that make the routine better and pad out the presentation and eventually you'll find that you can do 30 minutes with just four or five routines. You have seven there.

Cheers, I just like sponges