Tag: mentalism for kids

Mentalism for Kids…

Years ago, when I was a teenager I saw Lee Earle lecture. He did his gumball prediction and then warned that it’s not a kid show trick and that mentalism doesn’t work for kids. Lee said something like, “before you can read someone’s mind, they must first have a mind”. That’s a great quote, but it’s wrong.

You absolutely can do mentalism for kids, but ultimately it comes down to how you frame it. In my library / summer camp show for this year I do three mentalism tricks.

They aren’t framed as “mind reading” and that’s what makes them work, but they are still 100% mentalism. All three are essentially predictions.

One of them I used a Cootie Catcher / Fortune Teller to determine what I’m going to have for lunch or dinner that day.

cootie catcher magic trick

Another is a card prediction followed by a series of coincidence effects. The third is a strange happening, which is really a multiple revelation of predictions. All three of them are highlights of the show and frequently mentioned when I ask kids in the autograph line what their favorite tricks were.

Don’t be afraid of mentalism for kids, you just need to make it fun and relatable to them.

-Louie

Magic Apps…

Ugh, this summer for my Library tour I needed a way to either force some information, or get a peek at it. The problem with a peek is this that I need pretty much real time info, I can’t preshow it. I also need it to fit an “educational” bullet point in the show. The … Continue reading “Magic Apps…”

Ugh, this summer for my Library tour I needed a way to either force some information, or get a peek at it. The problem with a peek is this that I need pretty much real time info, I can’t preshow it. I also need it to fit an “educational” bullet point in the show. The bullet point would be researching.


The nice thing about researching is that I could use a book. The downside is that I need to force specific information. I need to force the size of an animal. I was going to use Inject 2.0, however the need for two devices to have working internet was something that I didn’t want to get involved in. This is a huge the problem with most magic apps.

If internet isn’t an issue, then the other problem is why are you using your phone. I use an app on my phone in my show on cruise ships, and there’s a good reason. I make a phone call, and a phone call at sea is very expensive, so obviously I’m not going to use a borrowed phone. The cellphone thing is easily overcome in a kids show, because younger kids frequently don’t have phone on them.


I heard about an Instagram prediction called Predict n’ Grab.

Predict n' Grab magic mentalism trick review

This is the solution. They now scroll through an animal facts Instagram page and stop at one of the pictures and that’s the force! I created a custom Instagram page that has all of the force info in the picture in meme form. Having the info in the pictures makes it much easier for a kid “research”.