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Well, I had my children's show today: Just thought I'd share my experience with everyone. I was a bit nervous about my closer, but I was happily suprised by the audience for this one. I didn't do an extremely long set, but I think I did a pretty good job.

Basically, I was asked to come in and do a bit of magic for my nephew's class. They were reading about Houdini (wish I had that chance in grade school!), and my nephew asked if I could come in and do a bit of a show.

So, here's the rundown of what I did.

I started out with a more "example" approach. I liked this way, especially considering they were learning a bit about Houdini's magic, so it fit. I asked them if they had ever seen a magician, and knew what kind of things one could do. I liked this approach, as it immediately involved them in the magic. I built an entire sponge routine out of their answers, which went over really well. I do a traditional style sponge routine. Basically this is what I do:

Production
Vanish
Gag vanish from the spectator's hand (just grab it and quickly hide it behind your back) - this got a nice laugh. The spec's reaction was priceless. He actually felt cheated.
Multiplication - 1 ball to two in specs hands.

Then I went into the Sankey handling of a sponge routine. I like this because I can quickly pull a child up and involve them. It's a standard routine - but I add a few little bits of my own.

1 Ball in my hand - 1 in a spectators' - Vanish to the spec's hand.
2 Balls in the specs hand - a third ball is vanished - 3 in their hand
3 Balls in the specs hand - a fourth one vanishes - 4 in their hand

Then I say "But earlier, I promised to vanish a sponge from one of your hands". So, I took one ball and placed it in a hand. Count to three and tell them the girl is now holding nothing (she still has the ball in hand). She shakes her head to disagree. I whisper "play along.... NOTHING in her hand, folks!" She shakes her head and laughs. "On the count of three, she will open her hands and nothing will be there". 1.....2......3! She opens her hand to reveal a sponge in the shape of the word NOTHING.

I finish by taking the back and saying one of the greatest feats of magic is to make things change. "nothing sponge to regular sponge ball" Followed by a sponge ball to giant 6" sponge ball.

Next up - Daryl's Amazing Acrobatic Knot
Followed up with Stiff Rope (I've found that switching the ropes is never noticed - even by adults. The handling of the Daryl routine focuses on the red rope, so the appearance and thickness of the white rope is long forgotten before I ever get to it).

After the ropes, I thought it might be a good idea to go into the more "Houdini" style stuff. I might be random in the routining, here - but I thought the ropes were a good bridge to chains.

Simple chain escape to demonstrate the kind of thing Houdini did in his life. This went over well - and my assistant was a little TOO eager to wrap my wrists in chains!

As a final "education/effect", I offered to reenact Houdini's Metamorphosis with a deck of jumbo playing cards. I came up with this routine on my own - but I'm sure it's been done millions of times before me. I have an easier version that I used for the kids. I'm working on a more natural and "cleaner" version. Essentially a signed "houdini" card is wrapped with two rubber bands, tossed in a card box and instantly changes places with a signed assistant card.

To close it out - I went with paper balls over the head. To make it fair, I did it to the teacher. This was an obvious hit. Children screaming and laughing as the teacher (who was a former teacher of mine, many years ago) was absolutely floored.

I then got to do my little workshop with them. I was able to show them how to do the Princess Card trick. I was a little worried, but everyone understood it and all of the kids were able to "perform" it before I left. I supplied them with cards I made, as well as typed instructions for them to refer to when they got home.

All in all, a great experience. I'm sorry to ramble on and on about this - but it was just a great time. I'm a newbie when it comes to kids' shows. Granted, this was a quick one - but it still went over really well. They seemed to really enjoy the show, the lessons - and we even talked about Houdini. I just wanted to share my day with all of you. If you managed to stick with me through this, thank you (and congrats on being REALLY patient).

I went with paper balls over the head. To make it fair, I did it to the teacher.

Excellent move! Not only does that let the kids have a laugh at teacher's situation, it shows tha teacher has a sense of humour and has probably built up loads of street cred as well! It sounds like you have a great time which must have come through in what you did - anyone taking bets on one of those kids becoming very interested in magic and going on to great things as a result ?

I wish somebody did that when I was in primary

Sounds excellent Demetri, well done!

In all, a great review which conveys the feeling that a good time was had by all present. Good work!

Crickey what a class - Brillaint!!!

I never had anything like that at my school. Why dont you post a video of some of the moves?

Top work, D.