Free
20 mins
Ages 6+
Vanishing coin trick
Take a coin in one hand and, poof, it's gone. The classic first magic trick, learned in ten minutes.
Crafts and slime
Mind-reading card trick
A friend picks a card in their head and only tells you which pile it's in. After a bit of dealing, you announce their card. It's sometimes called the 21-card trick, and it works every time because of clever maths, so kids can do it on their first go.
Ages7+
Time20 mins
CostFree
MessLow mess
WhereIndoors
What you need
No safety worries here, just a lot of "How did you do that?"
Let's go
Count out 21 cards. Put the rest of the pack away.
Deal the cards face up into three columns, one card in each column at a time, until each column has 7 cards.
Ask your friend to secretly choose a card and tell you only which column it's in.
Pick up each column into a pile, and put the pile with their card in the middle of the other two.
Deal them out into three columns again in the same way, and ask which column their card is in now. Pick up the columns again, with their column in the middle.
Do it one more time, so you've dealt three times altogether.
Their card is now the 11th card in the pile. Count down slowly, or deal 10 cards dramatically, then reveal the 11th. Ta-da!
Real talk
- Add some drama. Pretend to read their mind, stare into their eyes, or ask them to think hard about their card.
- The 11th card is always right in the middle, with 10 cards on top and 10 underneath.
- Older kids can work out why it works. The middle column squeezes their card closer to the centre each time.
Love a bit of magic?
Science and discovery centres often have illusion rooms and mind-bending puzzles that kids love.
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