childrens magic show – MagicShow.Tips

Play-Duh!

I love updating old things to make them modern and more relevant. A great example of this and something that I wish I thought of is Play-Duh. This is the old spring snake in a can, but instead of a peanut brittle or chip can, it’s a “Play-Doh” style can.

Simply putting a spring snake into Play-Doh can won’t work, the lid won’t reliably stay on. This has an adjusted lid to make it stay on.

I’ve been using this in my test shows for my summer library show and it’s a HIT!

The national theme for libraries this summer in the USA is Color Your World, so this fits right into the theme!

Here’s how I use it in my kid show:

Effect: Five container of Play-Doh are shown, each has a different colored lid. One is selected (purple). The other four are opened and they contain a ball of purple Play-Doh. When the selected one is opened, and two purple spring snake jumps out.

This is a really simple routine, all you need to do is to put purple Play-Doh in the four containers that aren’t purple. Two spring snakes go into the one with the purple lid and you’re all set.

All you need to do is force the purple one, I use Phil Smith’s Quinta Force, but the PATEO Force or Magician’s Choice force would also work.

It’s a fun routine, especially when you add in all the Bev Bergeron style bits of trying to put the spring snake back into the can and having them pop back out.

This isn’t a product that I put or make anything on, it’s just something that I think is really cool idea.

You can get more info about them at:

https://hocus-pocus.com/product/play-duh-by-hocus-pocus-magic-deluxe-pack-in-stock-now/

-Louie

This is the Spot!

If you do a remotely fun show for kids, you’ve have a kid pee during your show because they’re having too much fun and don’t want to get up, or you make them laugh too hard. The other night I had a kid helping me and she was laughing super hard, she stopped and said, “I just peed”!

This is always a hard thing to navigate, you need to deal with it, but in a way that causes the least amount of attention. In this instance the kid didn’t seem in distress and was remarkably calm, so I said, “we’ll pause this trick and you can take care of it”. She left and got a change of clothes and while she was gone I did another routine. Once she was back, we picked up the routine where we left off.

Oh, I had a paper towel in my case, so I put it on the spot. Not so much to clean it up, but to mark it for me so I knew where it was.

Every time this happens you need to instantly read the situation to know what the appropriate way to handle it is.

-Louie

Setting Up The Show Quickly

Out here on this tour, sometimes the travel time between shows is very tight and I don’t have very much time to set or strike the show. I provide everything except electricity. Knowing that some shows I may not have much time to set, need to pack out quickly, or both, I have two set ups for the show.

The normal set up takes about 20-25 minutes to set up and I use this when I have plenty of time to set up and strike.

Here’s the normal set up:

The quick set up/strike takes about 10-15 mins and I use it when I have tight travel time.

Here’s what it looks like:

The big difference is that I don’t have the banner. It also doesn’t use a speaker stand for the PA. A difference you can’t see is that the quick set up doesn’t use a wireless headset mic. Those few things make a huge difference in set up/strike time.

I use the handheld mic with a stand or a mic hanger for when I need to use my hands. I’m really glad that about a year and half ago I decided to learn to use a handheld microphone. Having practiced with a handheld really makes me a lot more versatile!

-Louie