Hello, I'd really appreciate some recommendations on the best magic kits/sets out there for my son who is nearly 11. I've been searching online for ages and of course in the write-ups they make them all sound good, so I'd love some help from people 'in the know!' Thankyou very much, he wants to order one really soon!

Sounds like you are at the beginning of a fun ride! A few questions would help:

1. Do you intend to help your son learn these things or possible to learn them yourself?
2. Has your son tried to seek out magic on the internet or elsewhere, or is this a more casual interest?
3. Do you have a price range in mind?

While I have not seen the kit personally, I know that Lance Burton, a world-class magician, has a magic kit for around $50 that has about 100 tricks. Also, and a very important item, it has an instructional video to make learning more fun and understandable. As you have found, there are many magic kits for sale. I have heard good things about the Chriss Angel kit, provided you realize he is a rather goth image, whereas Lance is very elegant and proper.

Hope this helps. I am sure you will get many ideas from future posts!

Good luck,

Jim

I'm a fan of the Fantasma line of magic sets:
http://www.fantasmamagic.com/products.php?cat=16

They are well-made as far as magic sets go, plus, the company offers a lot more individual tricks if the young magician wishes to continue adding on...or advancing on to more sophisticated effects. It also helps that there is a Fantasma magic shop...which is a very nice destination in and of itself should you be in NY.

I would strongly - strongly - recommend using some of the money for a good magic book or beginner DVD. The props are fun...we all loved them, and still do...but a good magic book will contain dozens and dozens of effects. Use the search tool on this site in the upper right corner, and you'll find several threads on beginner magic books.

You'll get a lot of passionate recommendations for books and DVDs. For a young magician, I like Joshua Jay's book and DVD:
http://www.amazon.com/Magic-The-Complete......ic+books

Josh his a younger guy whom kids can relate to, and aspire to, the effects in the book and DVD are workable, and very learnable. Plus, the price is right.

I have just "assembled" a small magic kit for my 11 year old nephew. I started with The book "Mark Wilson's Complete Course In Magic". a couple decks of cards, 2 silks, 4 sponge balls, and a couple of gold plated dollar coins aka Magic Coins . He is very good with looking up things on You Tube and the internet so he has that as a resource. Hoping he can get down some basics and proceed from here.

If your 11 year old is interested in cards, I highly recommend Card College 1&2. Starts with very basics of how to hold a deck of cards and how to shuffle. The best part of this book series is that the early mechanics are taught to facilitate advanced techniques later. That is, he/she won't need to unlearn bad habits later on during the magic journey.

Hope this helps.

Hudson

PS Don't let the title fool you. Card College doesn't start with advanced techniques, but rather with basics and then moves to advanced techniques later in the series. Also, get the books first. Later complement with the DVDs if you like.

I second Joe's recommendation. "Mark Wilson's Complete Course In Magic" is a very easy book to read, tons of materials, and a lot of graphics thus very easy for children to follow. Lots of very usable materials in there. Highly recommend!!

My other recommendation would be "Magic for dummies", aimed for beginners, again very easy to follow. Perhaps cover less material than Mark Wilson's book, but the dummies series writing style and humor, makes it more interesting to read for beginners. It covers some very good materials and classic tricks also with everyday objects.

I would say either one of these two books would do just fine. Check out the preview of the books on Amazon or such and see which one you like better.

So many great replies already! To answer some questions:

Yes I would help him learn the tricks if he needs help but he is self-motivated and has been looking things up on the internet himself. And as for price I haven't really set a limit as such but we could spread out some purchases over the year I suppose. I am in Australia, where do you purchase the beginner magic books from, eBay & Amazon? Thanks.

I am not from Australia, but quick search on Google said Amazon have high shipping rates to Australia. Try this: http://www.thenile.com.au/books/David-Po......4551017/

More reference: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?......1AADVTL7

Well I gave my nephew who is 11 years old a criss angel
magic kit for christmas.i was really surprised at how well
it was put togeather.and it had a very good dvd that shows
the performences and the explanation also.he was very excited with
the kit.understand this was not his first magic kit.i have worked with him off and on
for a couple of years.but it still had some effects he was not familiar with.
I was happy with this purchase.
todd

http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/3134

ideally a mentor - seen too many magic sets given and the interest is short lived ,because the essence of magic was not articulated.
Performing a trick well is more important than presenting a trick without heart.

If your son is committed enough to put lots of time into it, I would recommend getting some cards, because I think card tricks are the most spectacular. I say you should gt him a Svengali Deck, since they don't use tons of practice, and the effects are mind-blowing.

I recommend the Mark Wilson's Complete Course In Magic. I gave it to my nephew for Christmas and he loved it.

I agree that Magic for dummies is a wonderful book. I have read cover to cover and I have given to several kids interested in magic. The first part focuses on performance only tricks (which is fun if you have a parent participating and teaches valuable lessons) and the rest has some really good tricks.

Learning a trick or two and then fooling them with it before giving them the book (or trick set) has been very effective in my experience.

I agree with bowers. The Chris Angel set is a pretty good starter set. It has a wide variety of easy to perform tricks that most people still are not aware of. The cards in it are a little cheap, but better than no-name dollar decks. Just give them a set of bikes to make it all better.

Another thing you can do is go to Dollar Tree stores. They always seem to have a few easy to use magic sets with themes as well as a couple of decks like Svengali decks, marked decks, tapered decks and blank decks. Also, they sell stuff in the craft section like sponges and crayons/coloring books that can be used to make some of the magic classics like sponge balls, cups and balls and the magic coloring book. Best of all, you can walk out of there for around eight to ten dollars and have a pretty decent setup for a kid.

As for books, obviously Mark Wilson's is an excellent choice. I'd also suggest "The Practical Encyclopedia of Magic" by Nick Einhorn, and "The Little Giant Encyclopedia Of Card And Magic Tricks" from the Diagram Group. Both are tailored more toward kids and have a huge number of easy, fun, and still mystifying magic within them. Also, like Mark Wilson's book, they both have a ton of pictures and easy to follow directions. Personally I think Nick Einhorn's book would be slightly the better of the two. But they are both great options.

As a poster said up there, I would highly recommend a Svengali deck, there are a lot of amazing effects that can be produced with one and they are a way to introduce you into many of the fundamentals of card tricks, but in a simpler way due to how the deck is gaffed.

Think ssskyy left the building?

No, no, still very much in the building! And have been reading everything posted. So far we have purchased a Criss Angel 350 Trick Magic Set and I have a list of other items that we want to get thanks to all the helpful suggestions!

I like the Criss Angel Magic Set. It is a very good value for the price and the tricks are all quality, no junkers in there. I think you can get it from QVC with some extras stand alone tricks. I bought a Fantasma Set and I like a few of the tricks, but the rest to me was filler.

So ssskyy, how did he like the Angel set?

The magic set idea is very helpful. I remember getting a Mysto Magic Set by A.C. Gilbert from my parents when I was 10 or 11 years old. That helped push me along.