Encyclopedia of Magic

Children’s Magic for Dummies

2013-01-23T01:47:33+00:00

Hey guys! This is Yehuda Lindow with my first post in quite a long time and I miss this great community a lot! I searched "kids" and the lack of posts in this category practically forced me to write this. this article is exactly as you would guess by the title: a rough guide through all the nuances of performing for kids.
DISCLAIMER: Rewarding as it is, children's magic is probably the most difficult style of magic.

The most important thing to know about magic for kids is that they rarely if ever actually care what you do as long as they are entertained and happy. We often say "the magician is the star, not the tricks." For children this is even more applicable. But perhaps the phrase should be amended to "the kids are the stars." In my opinion, the best show I ever did for kids had only three tricks in it lasting about twenty five minutes.

The kids should never feel subservient to you; you are there to serve them, not the other way around. So make it their party. This often means changing your routine a bit on the spot to suit your particular audience. See what they are like and feed off of their energy.

Dress the part for your show. Maybe a large bow tie is all you need to look funny. Maybe that won't work with your personality so try a full clown outfit or maybe just a nice shirt and slacks. I don't suggest black tie with an audience this young but I've never tried it so if it feels good to you, go right ahead! Just make your outfit match who you are.

Now let's get straight to the real stuff. Your opening at a kids show is very different than for an older audience. You want to interact with the kids and get them involved as quickly as possible. Here's one thing you may want to try: come out, introduce yourself very briefly (good morning and your name/nickname), "...and on the count of three I want everyone to say 'HI, YEHUDA!'" this gets them active but, unbeknownst to them, already under your control. Use the idea of getting them all to say something in unison very often in your show, that way no one feels left out.

So you've opened up your show, now the moment you've been waiting for: the MAGIC!! You want to get good tricks for the kids so I suggest, especially if you're just starting out, to go to a big magic website and search for child show stuff. The demos on these websites shows you the effect but only the effect. You'll need to add lots of personality to your act, comedy (especially bathroom humor; kids love it), and make sure to "mess up" a lot but the kids come to the rescue and redeem your mistake. Don't do card tricks or money magic with the possible exception of Miser's Dream. Those requires too much thought and maturity. I'm talking simple like appearing/disappearing stuff, one thing clearly changes into something very different, magic with a story or message to go with it, sponge balls with a funny routine, or the breakaway wand/fan, or anything else that makes it look like you messed up.

Make sure to get the kids actively involved. Call up volunteers or helpers and make them the magician, give them the wand or the magic powers. They don't need to do anything special, they will feel important even if all they do is blow on your hand to make one sponge ball turn into two. If you know how to make balloon animals, I highly suggest it during your show, and make a routine out of just blowing it up. Mess up, put the balloon in your mouth the wrong way, put the entire balloon in your mouth, or anything else you can think of. Try accidentally hitting yourself with the balloon while stretching it and then let the kids snap it at you. The possibilities are endless. Even if you don't know how to blow up an animal balloon, you can mess up so many times that you run out of balloons to use and never get around to actually blowing it up or making the animal out of it. Make sure your helpers get lots of applause when they are finished. This should go without saying but definitely, at all costs, DO NOT INSULT THEM!

When you bring a helper up, ask him questions about himself. "What's your name?" Maybe you should mis-hear his name a couple times for the comedy aspect. "How old are you?" "Are you married?" Give time for the kids to laugh at the last one, which they will.

Exaggerate! If something is supposed to hurt you, act really hurt. If you stub your toe, walk it off in a really awkward walk taking wide steps with your 'bad foot.' If you mess up, make sure to show your distress. If it works, be extra happy. Better, though, to not exaggerate than to overdo it. It gets boring and the kids get confused "how serious are you?". And don't force them to feel bad for you.

After having a lot of fun with the kids, it will be time to say goodbye and bring your show to a close. When done well, the kids will go home and tell their parents about you. So I suggest ending with your big trick, not big for how amazing it is but for how entertaining. Before performing it, tell them this is the last trick in your show. When this trick is finished, thank them sincerely for being so wonderful and great helpers. You may want to consider giving them each a small item they can take home. Remind them of your name because they might tell their parents about you by name.

I really hope this article helped you. Feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading,
Yehuda Lindow, Entertainer

P.S. Here's a video of part of a kids show I did right outside of Mt. Rushmore, one of America's most patriotic memorials:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HITJwpJZyxE

What are some venues for doing commercial magic for children?

2012-03-29T18:47:54+00:00

Here is my list of places where I've professionally performed magic for children along with 3 (asterisk marked) that I've not yet done, but would like to try.

Please add to this list other places you think would hire magicians to entertain or educate children using magic. My experience is limited to America. You may know of other venues in your country that would differ, so please clue us in to your magical world perspective.

Remember, children's shows run a gamut of ages. Shows for each age bracket will be drastically different. Pre-school, grade school, middle school, junior high, and high school children and young person’s all require different programs, skill sets, and approaches from the performer. Only the most versatile and experienced performers will attempt to span the entire range of ages. Most will wisely specialize.

1) The all time #1 classic place to be booked for a children’s show is at a BIRTHDAY PARTY. To get repeat bookings this requires much patience in always dealing politely and professionally with both the children and the adults (and not just those that hired you; every mom & dad present is a potential future client for which you are showcasing. This will not always be easy since many children do not know what to expect from live entertainment. A live show, especially in a home setting, is a new experience of which you must be in control and show them how to experience it. Think of it as a classroom and help them to think of it partly in those terms as well. Parents' most precious part of their lives are their kids. How you treat them will be the way they think of you and will determine both repeat & spin-off engagements. To some extent this will be true of all shows for children, but especially in the birthday party venue where parents are the ones deciding if you are really able to make their next party a positive experience and a success.

2) The second most popular venue is SCHOOL ASSEMBLIES (large shows) and smaller CLASSROOM PARTIES. These will typically be more controlled than the home setting because the kids will know this is school and the teacher(s) is (are) present. They are also accustomed to appropriate behavior in an assembly. For large assemblies, do not count on the school having an adequate or working public address system. Bring your own. If it is needed, and if they know it, you can even add the "rental" of it as an extra fee,

3) Akin to the school shows above are the EDUCATIONAL FEATURE presentations. In this show you become the expert in an area of education, typically one of the sciences, math, health, or reading, etcetera. Conversely, the program may address a problem prevention area like bullying, gangs, drugs or other area where awareness and prevention is your specialty. Magic takes a back seat to the topic, but it is used throughout not just to highlight a point or to lighten things up a bit, but as a function to teach and illustrate a part of the process of the thing to be learned or to show how to avoid problems or peer pressures. This kind of show is not for everyone. It involves a degree of specialization which will sometimes be questioned by the school considering hiring your services. If you have a degree or certification in the specialty or in education in general you will find this show will be an easy sell and bump out competition selling only the entertaining magic show version above.

4) BANQUETS or SEASONAL PARTIES are a good source of revenue for the children's magician. The problem here is that many are indeed seasonal and will all be packed onto one time of year or even a specific date. The trick here is to be selective and take only the best paying or the highest publicity shows (when one is both it is likely to be a "no brainer" choice if you can book it). It is highly unlikely you will be abe to handle all the shows in your area on the same dates. Although if you explain the tightness of your schedule at that time of year and apologize for the need to keep a rigid time frame; and if you explain that even if changes in their program cut your show short or prevent you from performing in order to leave in time to be on time for your next show, they will still need to pay you in full for reserving your time, those who really want you will still hire you. I do not do this often. You will need two complete show sets or easy to reset items to pull this off, but it can be done. I have never tried it, but I think that if you really wanted to do the first of the two shows and had not already committed to the one starting at a later time, you may be abe to negotiate a premium seasonal price for them to have you miss the other show and pay you basically for both shows just to reserve you exclusively for theirs. Personally, I would rather squeeze in both as you never know which will breing in the most referrals.

Here is a brief list of some types of banquets that span the age range from young children through high school teens (barely in the children's show arena).

A) BOY & GIRL SCOUT organizations, YOUTH CLUBS, CIVIC, CHURCH, & FARM organizations hold annual banquets or programs. Some hold have an banquet at the end of the winter or fall season and a special ceremony induction service at the beginning of their group's calendar year that may or may not include a special dinner. Think Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquets, Brownies, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, AWANA, Pathfinder and Adventurer clubs, 4H Clubs, and many others.

*B) Season's end SPORT'S TEAM Banquets (that for kid's shows, range from regular school teams to programs not associated with a particular school such as little league, area hockey teams, and a host of others.)

There's a post limit so I omit C-on & others in detail: *Library, *Pre-school, Park District, VBS, Camps, & more than space left. Your turn.

You should perform to kids sometime in your life.

2011-12-11T06:13:53+00:00

Performing to kids is very rewarding because 1. they have no clue on how you did it 2. you get a big reaction when they are amazed and 3. it gives you practice, if the kids can see what your doing so can adults.