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pfig New user Portugal 52 Posts |
Hi,
I have been asked to do a small (maybe 20 min) show in my son's school for the kids and their parents. The kids have 3 to 5 years old. I have been in magic for only 3 or 4 months. I usually do card magic. I can also do some rope routine (I think that I can adapt it to kids), some sponge ball. I have recently bought the David Kaye's Seriously Silly DVD. The problem, I think, is that I have to entertain very small children and their parents. Should I accept this? Thanks, Paulo F. |
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B Hackler Special user 778 Posts |
I would and you have some great rountines in the serisouly silly dvd. watch the tape find a few rountines you like put your spin on the rountine and there you go. my 2 cents
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Jaz Inner circle NJ, U.S. 6111 Posts |
Interact and goof around with the kiddies. That's what the little ones like.
Doing so, you shouldn't need much for 20 minutes. Save the cards for the parents. How many kids and parents? Stage, parlor? What size working area? |
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pfig New user Portugal 52 Posts |
Quote:
How many kids and parents? 60 kids and, probably, 150/200 parents and relatives. It's on stage, a small one. I think I will buy a change bag to do a routine with silks. What else (inexpensive items) should I buy, cause I don't want to spend a lot of money. |
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Jaz Inner circle NJ, U.S. 6111 Posts |
If you have cards and rope you're already in good shape.
A entertaining routine with cards is telling a fun story while doing "Six Card Repeat". Do you have any of the Tarbell books?? I ask because there are tons of routines that use props you can make cheap. Don't overlook "The little darlings" forum under 'Special Interests' here at the Café. http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewf......17&94347 Especially 'Routining School Shows, Kids, Shows, and Illusion Shows'. |
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pfig New user Portugal 52 Posts |
Thanks Jaz.
Unfortunately I don't have any of the Tarbell books. I have Mark Wilson's Complete Course in magic and some cards books. I will dig in 'The little darlings' forums. Paulo F. |
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jimhlou Inner circle 3698 Posts |
You can get a Crystal Tube for less than $10. Using Silly Billy's routine, you have 1/3 of your show right there.
Jim |
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Parson Smith Inner circle 1937 Posts |
Pfig,
Welcome aboard. I think that you will find that interaction with the kids will provide the best magic. For the younger kids, more visual is always best. I would suggest that you start out with warmups. (Perhaps yelling contest between boys and girls.) I hope you have a great time. Magic is fun. Peace, Parson
Here kitty, kitty,kitty.
+++a posse ad esse+++ |
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Brad Burt Inner circle 2675 Posts |
You have some good advice above....but, in the years and years I did children's show I would NOT work for any under the age of 6 or 7. The real young ones is a sub set specialty of working kids shows.
Be careful: You CAN scare small children in any number of ways. Watch out for this. Just have LOTS of fun. It takes a serious amount of ON energy to work for children in general and the real young ones in particular. Have LOT's of funny sight gags. Do LOT's of audience participation of almost any kind. If you can score a copy of Kidbiz by David Ginn ANYWHERE, buy it. Especially if you plan on working for children a bit. Again....to use over emphasis: Use lot's of funny sight gags. Funny magic words that you get them all shouting. Even a simple trick using just a Zipper Change Bag, a white 18" silk and a red 18" silk.....in which you will make the white change color and it doesn't work and it doesn't work and it doesn't work until YOU looking more and more frazzled, etc. have them progressively shout louder and louder the 'magic' word, wave a rubber chicken over the change bag, etc. etc. etc. ..... you get the idea. Fact: No matter HOW goofy you act you can NOT be goofy enough for 3-5 year olds. Unless 'you' are scarey when goofy. What that means is....YOU have to know YOU. Can you 'work' for that age range. I have known any number of guys who should never have been let near children.....not because they were bad guys at all. They were GREAT guys.....they just did NOT know how to RELATE to children!!! The fact is that that last paragraph is crucial. Do YOU really know how to relate to a large group of children? If you DO....and are not very good at you CAN GET better at it with training, study and experience. Good luck. Working for children is a total hoot if you enjoy it as I did. Now.....teen age boys....that's a WHOLE different kettle of fish!!! ;-) Best,
Brad Burt
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Ed_Millis Inner circle Yuma, AZ 2292 Posts |
I think a routine involving a child and his/her parent is good. The child should win and the parent should laugh. If the parent is having fun while the child wins, the kids feel much more comfortable. If the kids ever feel you are trying to make them look foolish, you've lost them!
There's a routine about pulling a colored ball from a paper bag - the child can always guess the color correctly because there's a clear window in the bag. There's another about asking questions like a test - math, spelling, history, and so forth. Might have to be altered for the age group. Force the questions - the kid gets "what is 2+2?" and "spell cat"; the parent gets "what is the square root of pi?" and "spell the Indian name of Lake Webster, Massachusetts" (google it - it's 45 letters!). There's always Silly Billy's routine with the thumb tip, too. Ed |
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TonyB2009 Inner circle 5006 Posts |
Most of the advice here is good. Lots of goofey stuff, getting the kids to shout, pitting the boys against the girls to see who shouts loudest. Get a change bag, and have fun with that.
But leave the cards at home. Even something as simple and visual as a six card repeat is well beyond three to five year olds. They are only beginning to count at four or five, and the trick will be lost on them, and will lose them. Even something as simple as lining up kids and hitting them on the head with a long balloon gets them laughing. But start gentle and work up the energy.lYou don't want to frighten them, and the younger ones frighten easily. Just relax and enjoy it. Then they will.
Check out Tony's new thriller Dead or Alive http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alive-Varrick-Bo......n+carson
http://www.PartyMagic.ie |
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Ed_Millis Inner circle Yuma, AZ 2292 Posts |
Get one of those Fun Noodles like you use for a swimming pool and call it your magic wand. Let the child wave it over the change bag and hit you. Act stunned like a cartoon character, or like it's stuck up your nose.
Ed |
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pfig New user Portugal 52 Posts |
Thanks a lot for your advices. I will get a change bag, a crystal tube and a breakable/soft magic wand.
After the show, I have almost 2 months to prepare it, I'll post here the 'result'. Many thanks, Paulo F. |
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pfig New user Portugal 52 Posts |
Quote:
Fact: No matter HOW goofy you act you can NOT be goofy enough for 3-5 year olds. Unless 'you' are scarey when goofy. What that means is....YOU have to know YOU. Can you 'work' for that age range. I have known any number of guys who should never have been let near children.....not because they were bad guys at all. They were GREAT guys.....they just did NOT know how to RELATE to children!!! I think I can handle that. I have 3 kids and I still am a big kid. |
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pradell Special user Alaska 560 Posts |
Silly Billy's book is now on DVD! A good place to start. Find it here:
http://www.fabmagic.com/vmchk/dvd-s-cd-s......dvd.html Its really got less to do with what tricks you decide to do than how you interact with the children and entertain them. :magicrabbit: |
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Dynamike Eternal Order FullTimer 24148 Posts |
Quote:
On 2009-04-28 17:24, pfig wrote: Go to a department store and get kids flash cards or Uno cards. It will make it easier for a kid to understand. Have a chosen card appear in a funny manner, behind you back for example. Quote:
The problem, I think, is that I have to entertain very small children and their parents. Should I accept this? Do not worry about entertaining the parents. They will feel comfortable as long as the kids are pleased. Do whatever you can to make the kids have fun by laughing as much as possible. If you want to be a professional in entertaining audiences, you will have to start somewhere. That is what I did. |
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themagiciansapprentice Inner circle Essex, UK 1381 Posts |
Use routines based on nursery rhymes. Get hold of Terry herbert's Magic for the Under-5s, it's full of warm-ups, gags and routines eg magic painting (I make my own to fit the audience or they're $3 each from Lock Family Magic), silver sceptre, puppets hitting you with wands.
This age group are great fun but remember to use behind you and magic in trouble sets. They love volunteering so have pressies ready for them Photocopy some magic wands - I make mine on Publisher then photocopy them onto paper that I roll up. Have a silly magic word that they can say. I always finish with a dove pan producing sweets. Enjoy
Have wand will travel! Performing children's magic in the UK for Winter 2014 and Spring 2015.
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Loopback Veteran user Lincoln, Nebraska 359 Posts |
I do the Silly Billy Crystal Tube routine and have to agree with Jim.
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Mr. Woolery Inner circle Fairbanks, AK 2149 Posts |
I know this is sort of an old thread, but I wanted to toss in a couple of thoughts.
My only magic "performance" experience is with young children in my kids' school. I volunteer to read during snack breaks and have started doing magic tricks instead of reading. The kids love it and I am known through the school as "the magic guy." Basic tricks are really the best, as long as they are colorful. Avoid complicated setups. So, Crystal Tube is great. Using a TT to vanish a silk is great. Dye tube is good for kids, but skip the sucker "explanation" with little ones. Just transform a hankie to a different color, then do it again, then finish with the same color you started with and show the hand empty. My two most memorable routines seem to be the Quentin Reynolds handkerchief mouse (that DVD is worth twice what I spent on it) and a simple, hammed-up vanish trick with a Devil's Napkin (I made my own, but they are pretty cheap). I did that last one three weeks ago and I still make my son laugh by referring to "Chet's Cheesestick", which is what I vanished just because Chet was the closest kid during snack time who had a vanishable snack item on his desk. With the very young, make your own snack disappear, not one of theirs. Bring a bag of jelly beans or a big pretzel, perhaps. A devil's napkin can also be used to produce items. Like candy. Show empty, make the bag, get everyone to repeat the magic words (Handy Pandy, I want Candy) and reach in to find a handful of candy. Show the hank open, repeat. Take three repetitions to get all the candy out. The Silly Billy stuff should give you the information to turn any basic routine into a real kid-pleaser. My copy is on the way, so I can't comment about it other than to say that he is hilarious in the You Tube clips I've watched. My kids respond really well to his humor, which is why I ordered it. The other thing that goes over super-well with young kids is balloons. Every young child loves balloons. And, unlike magic tricks, you can find loads of great information freely shared on the web. With magic, part of the fun is the secret. With balloons, the whole fun factor is tied up in transforming a big latex sausage into a dog or a giraffe or a swan or a lizard. For kids, this is still magic. Learn 5 shapes and give a balloon critter to each kid. At schools, avoid the swords (too bad, as that's a really easy shape). I'm not a balloon artist, I'm a kid-lover. When I recently saw a local clown magician thrilling kids with balloons, I decided I had to learn balloon twisting. I've been at it for three days and my kids hate to have me pop my failures. They "rescue" them before I can pop them. Kids love balloons. And it still falls into the "colorful and visual" realm. So, to sum up a really long post, here's what I'd probably do if I had the props you are proposing getting (change bag, crystal tube, big boffy wand): -Opening with a fun introduction, moving right to the magic. Most kids this age don't know if they want to see a magic trick or not. Just assume they do. -Crystal Tube routine. It is right there in Seriously Silly. -Rope tricks (keep it fairly short - my rope routine involves a knot that comes off into the audience and a simple C&R all framed with a story about how my mom taught me to tie knots) allow you to emphasize that magic can be done with ordinary items you find around the house. -Change bag trick (just use a basic color change silks, do the whole wand boffing routine, have kids shouting the magic words to make things change. Patrick Page has a whole bit he does with the breakaway wand when he's having a kid help with a change bag. I didn't even like breakaway wands until I saw that part of his Kids Business DVD. -I'd personally use a double change bag with the final chamber loaded with balloons. When the hankies (or whatever) go away, I'd be surprised to find that they have changed into colorful balloons, and immediately pump one up (don't try to mouth-blow these suckers) and twist it into a quick form like the dog or swan. Have the kids come up to you and assure them that every kid gets a balloon. This fills the last 10 minutes of the show and everyone goes away with a prize! You can even tell them that because they were so good they all get a balloon as a prize. It makes kids feel special. If time is likely to be tight at the end, have 20 balloons already inflated and in a black garbage bag set in the corner. Pump one of your produced balloons up, hand the animal to a kid, reach down and get the bag full of them and go to town twisting them. Music is great during this part. Anyway, this is almost writing a book and I'm still really new to magic. I've just found a few ideas that really seem to work well with the kids I deal with and wanted to share. -Patrick |
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Erdnase27 Inner circle 2505 Posts |
My act was always(years ago)
1. chinese sticks (inexpensive, they think they have you BUT...) 2, spongegballs(also inexpensive, but needs sleight if hand) I make a big party of it with all colors spongeballs an like 40 balls haha. I finish with a growing ball 3. Rocky Raccoon (kills them everytime). Make it fun yourself etc 4. pause with ballooons. Just make everythign that pops into your mind(learn at least hte basic shapes, balloon school is a good DVD for this) 5. Changebag routine (children do it better then me, at the end a silk streamer ending) 6. multiplying bottles ( 2 person routine) as finisher remember to have fun, be enthousiast etc |
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