Besides a cut & restored routine and Professor's Nightmare (in all its various guises), what are the best rope routines for kid shows? What are the best routines which can use one or two kids as volunteers?

TED

I am famous for using linking ropes with kids, plays great.

In the DVD "The Wiz Kids Present: Rope Magic" available on my site or on The Wiz Kids' site ( http://www.wizkidzinc.com ), Jim Gerrish (former director of The Wiz Kids) describes a routine performed with one or more kids from the audience: "Do As I Do Ropes" (based on U.F. Grant's "Perfect Cut Rope") combined with "Dancing Rope Worms" (based on U.F. Grant's "Spectator Rope"). They work well together according to our own Café member John Long who said in his review: "Grant’s Perfect Cut and Spectator Rope were paired to make for a nice multi-phase effect. Also, certain modifications to Spectator Rope improve the misdirection and handling."

Many Ring on Rope effects can use audience participation -- check out Aldo Colombini's DVD. Also "NeckLacy" on eversway.com guides you through combining popular rope effects with many other effects for any type of audience.

Thanks for the info, guys!

magicians: do you use the un-gimmicked linking ropes or one of the gimmicked versions?

Spellbinder: I'll definitely check out the Wiz Kids rope magic DVD.

funsway: I'm looking into some of Colombini's rope stuff now... I wasn't aware of "Necklacy", so I'll look into that effect as well.

TED

Check out "Knot Funny." It's a rope routine that is a sure fire hit with the kids. Plenty of audience participation and plenty of mayhem. One of my better buys for sure.

Funny you should ask, I have 2 different DVD's dedicated to the linking ropes (will hit the shops late June). At the end of Dances with ropes, I give an ungimmicked linking ropes. But, I just developed an entire routine totally ungimmicked "Dances with Ropes and linking ropes that looks identical to any standard linking ropes.
see http://www.magicians.tv then see the Dances DVD, plus the standard linking ropes.

By "the ungimmicked linking ropes", you don't mean that Williams effect from Steven's magic? That's just a "knot puzzle".

I definitely agree with jakeg about the routine called "Kandu's Knot Funny" on Hocus Pocus's web site. It's a really great kid's rope routine.

Jakeg:

I purchased Kandu's "Knot Funny" and used it in my library shows last year. It was a big "hit" with every crowd!... and I loved it. Highly recommended!

magicians:

I don't know anything about "that Williams effect from Steven's magic"... when I mentioned an un-gimmicked linking rope effect, I was referring to the one where you tie three lengths of rope into circles (they can be examined), and yet you proceed to link all three together. The effect ends there, since you cannot "unlink" them; you can untie them, though. Right off the bat, I cannot remember the source of this, but I performed it back in the mid-90s in one summer's library shows.

Thanks again for all the suggestions...

Has anyone made good use of a variation of "the Lazy Magician" effect with two ropes, a wand, and several silks or other objects?

TED

That's a Calvert favorite, and I teach it to my younger magi's.

Cheating the gallows Prediction effect. You use 6 kids and predict which one of them lives.

Just a thought.

"Ghost Rope" with the Harry Potter patter (say that real fast seven times) works well with kids who are familiar with "Nearly Headless Nick." That "Cheating the Gallows" reference just brought it to mind, since my "Ghost Rope" is performed with a hangman's noose. It's in The Wizards' Journal #1 on my site, and also explained without the Harry Potter references on The Wiz Kid Rope Magic DVD.