Hello Barry,

In your opinion, what is a good length of time for a kids' show for kids who are between 5-8 years old? Also, same question for kids who are around 9-11 years old?

I know it isn't so much the length of the show as much as it is what the show contains, but I'd love to read your thoughts on this.

-Mark

My answer may not be what you're looking for. I basically always do a 40 minute show unless I'm doing public speaking or magic lectures. I rarely do birthday parties although I did get a call for one in April. First one I've done in years. Just not something I do now. But even for those I shoot for 40 min because I ask that the kids fit in the age 5 to 11 range. With all that said, most of my shows are churches and some schools. Churches tend to hire me for large groups of 300 to 2000 and the ages range from 4 to 90+ (family shows) I've never had a problem holding the attention of younger children in my shows. It may be that I'm 51 years old and I've done this professionally for over 30 years. Or it may be that I just don't pay attention. I did shoot some video YEARS AGO at a preschool with the younger folk and held them for an hour. Could have gone longer but I had to pee. The REAL answer to your question is to make sure you have the right content for the age group. If I have the younger kids in the show I ALWAYS have a puppet bit. Of course my show has story tricks like my Magic Box, which is in almost every show, and skill magic like the cut and restored rope for the adults and kids, and audience participation magic for all ages. So the answer is, in my less than humble opinion, if the content is right you should be able to hold them 30 to 40 minutes.

Thanks, Barry. I figured you probably do mostly set shows. The answer you gave is the answer I needed.