Even as a total beginner in magic, there are still some magic tricks you can learn in about 5 minutes flat, which will totally baffle people when you perform them.

When you’re starting out with magic, the best tricks to start with are ones that don’t need complicated sleight of hand to be able to perform. There are some great card magic tricks that are good for beginners, that work because of the way the trick’s method has been constructed. Card magic is a good starting point for beginners to magic tricks.

Besides card magic, there are other tricks a beginner can learn to do easily. Here’s an example, which is a trick called ‘1089 Mind Reading’. This is an example of mind or prediction magic, and if performed well, it will definitely have your audience scratching their heads, and wondering how you did it (be sure never to tell them the secret)!

To start with, you’ll need a book, a slip of paper, and an envelope. In the book, go to page number 10, on this page go 8 lines down, and find the 9^th word on this line. Hopefully this word is something other than ‘the’, ‘a’ or ‘and’ – if not, you might want to choose another book! Write this word down on the paper, put it in the envelope, and seal it.

In front of your audience, show them the sealed envelope, tell them you’ve made a prediction, then ask an audience member to guard the envelope. Say that you’re going to get the audience to help you choose a random number.

Pick someone from the audience, and ask them to think of a 3 digit number, e.g. 487. Get them to reverse this, and subtract the smaller from the larger, so, here 784 – 487 = 297. Secondly, request they reverse this result, and add together – so here 297 + 792 = 1089. It might be that at this point, they have 198 rather than 1089. If this is the case, just have another step, ask them to reverse & add again, so e.g. 198 + 981 = 1089. This is a curious mathematical fact, taking these steps with any 3 digit number will always give 1089.

Now it’s time to use that result. Hand the book to a member of the audience, and say that the first 2 digits should indicate the page to turn to – i.e. page 10. Then tell them to use the 3^rd digit to find the line on that page  – line 8, and the final digit represents the word on that line – word 9.

Finally, it’s time to reveal your prediction. Ask the audience member with the book to read that word aloud. Then ask the other audience member you had guard your envelope to open it and show what was written on the piece of paper. The result – a fantastic display of mental prediction!

You can have a lot of fun doing this trick, just remember to practice it through a few times before performing for an audience. One thing you could do to make it seem a bit more random is at the start, to throw a sponge ball, or ball of paper into the audience, and ask them to pick a single digit between 1 and 9. Then have them throw the paper in the air and get someone else to choose a second digit, and repeat this with another audience member for the final digit. This draws out the performance a little, and adds a bit more fun too. Remember you can only perform this trick once in front of the same audience!

So even if you’re a total beginner when it comes to magic, there are literally hundreds of tricks you can learn pretty quickly. Many online magic sites will have tricks just like the one above that you can learn. Very soon, you’ll have quite a repertoire of tricks, which you can use to really entertain your family and friends.

A magic trick for beginners

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Really cool magic tricks don’t necessarily have to be really hard to do, in fact, many of them almost anyone could learn to do. More important than knowing just ‘how to’ do the trick is being able to perform it to people. Much of the ‘wow factor’ will be in how well this is done. Just think of famous street magicians, when they perform something, they act like they’re truly performing a magical feat, not a mere trick.

An example of one of these cool magic tricks is a variation on revealing a card prediction. If you can do a basic card force, then you can perform this. A regular version of this trick would be to write down a prediction of a card on a piece of paper. This card would be forced on a spectator who chooses a card from the pack, and then the paper is revealed to have predicted this card.

The variation here, which adds the extra dimension to this trick, is that before performing it, you use a small piece of soap or a chapstick to write down the number and a symbol for the suit of the card to be forced on your forearm.  This won’t be visible. When the forced card is chosen, get the spectator to write down the name of the card on the paper.

Then, using a match, burn this slip of paper in an ashtray (be extremely careful doing this!). After it’s burnt and gone out, take some of the ash, and rub it gently over your forearm with the invisible writing. Some of the ash will stick to it, and reveal the name of the card! That can seem pretty amazing to people watching.

That’s just one way of revealing the result of forcing a card. Have a think of some other variations on that, to come up with different tricks. Remember, people in general aren’t too familiar with the idea of forcing a card, so it will seem to them that you picked out their card directly. The more spectacular the method of revealing the card, the better, the more amazing it will seem.

There are plenty of other cool magic tricks like this one that you can discover, so take a look at some of the online magic sites to find some more that you can do, and pretty soon, you’ll have several really tricks that will blow people away when you perform them!

Levitating a card - a cool magic trick

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Learning to do a few magic tricks will have some other benefits for kids, as well as the pleasure of being able to do the tricks themselves. One is improved memory and concentration – in order to learn a magic trick successfully, these skills must be used. Another is a more inquiring mind, or increased curiosity. Kids are curious anyway, but learning a few simple tricks can get them into the habit of learning how things work. Finally, it’s good even at an early age to learn some kinds of presentation skills, and doing fun magic tricks in a friendly environment will help a lot with that.

For getting kids magic tricks, one choice would be to check out the recreation or kids’ section in your local library or online bookstore, they often have books with easy magic tricks. Look for ones with lots of pictures and step-by-step guides to doing the tricks, as well as some guidance on performing in general.

Another option are kids magic kits, that have instructions for a wide variety of different magic tricks, and usually contain all of the apparatus required. Be sure to check that the kit has the right age range for your child before getting it. These kits usually have a traditional-type magic wand included, which gives them the feeling that they’re real magicians! It’s probably best to go for one with several different styles of trick, so they should be able to find something they can do. Many online magic sites have good deals on these types of kids magic kits, and usually include info on what types of tricks are included.

The final piece of advice here is that once you’ve found a book or magic kit for your child, really encourage them to work towards performing a couple of the tricks, in front of you or their friends. They only need to learn a couple of them, but get them to practice a few times before the performance.

That way, they’ll get some fairly immediate satisfaction from performing a couple of tricks, and you’ll enjoy seeing them display their new-found skills. I remember being really pleased when my son did the classic ‘cups and balls’ trick from a magic kit he’d received as a gift, in front of some family members, and someone remarked afterwards “I don’t know how he did that” – it was great.

So if your child has expressed an interest in magic, have a look to investigate the various kits and books available. Who knows, they might really find a passion for magic in the future!

Abracadabra! A child performing a magic trick

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Imagine watching a magician performing a card trick, and saying “and now your chosen card will rise up out of the pack..” – and then imagine that the magician is you! If you think that’s a bit far fetched, then think again, as there are definitely some ways of performing this type of card trick that really aren’t that difficult, once you learn the secret, and it’s such a cool card trick to be able to perform.

There are plenty of websites on the internet that can teach you some great card tricks. A lot of these have video clips, which can be important when you need to see the exact way the magician performs the trick, or a move related to the trick.

Countless books have been written on card tricks, and some have literally hundreds of card tricks you can perform, these books can be really good value, as you’ll get details of many different tricks for the price of the book.  A trip to your local library can be a good start, many will have a shelf on magic books, usually in the hobbies/recreations section.

Some card tricks are what is known as ‘self working’ – meaning they don’t need any special card handling skills to perform. These are good ones to begin with. Other, more advanced card magic tricks need certain sleight of hand abilities, such as manipulating a chosen card to the top of the deck, or forcing a card. The best type of books for learning card magic tricks are ones that show you both of these types of tricks, and also ones that have clear step-by-step photo guides to each trick. This way you can easily progress from basic to more advanced card tricks.

Specialist magic shops are also good places to find info on card magic tricks. They will carry a wide range of books and videos dedicated to all branches of magic, including card magic. Talk to them about what kinds of card tricks you’d really like to perform, and they will suggest the best books or videos for you.

So there are a few suggestions on where to find some good information on how to perform card magic tricks. Follow up on some of these now, and make a list of the ones that particularly interest you. Who knows, it could really be you levitating that card out of the pack soon!

Presenting a card at the finale of a card trick

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Take the time to learn coin magic, and you’ll be able to perform almost any kind of close up magic. Why is that? Well, in order to perform most coin magic tricks, you’ll need to learn some type of sleight of hand techniques, however basic these may be. So, learning these techniques and just as importantly, how to present the trick to your audience, will give you an excellent grounding when going on to performing more complex close up magic tricks.

Many magic-related internet sites feature coin magic tricks, a lot of these will have video clips & instructions, which are very important when trying to pick up the essentials of coin tricks. Some of the store type sites will also have DVDs just on coin magic. These are great if you really want to get the moves right, and understand the specific details of particular coin sleights.

Books on magic pretty much always feature some coin magic tricks. Have a look down at your local library or bookstore.  One advantage that books sometimes have over DVDs is that with a book, a bit more is usually left to your interpretation, so you can put your own style in your performance of a particular coin trick. Books will often give some history about coin magic, and this might give you extra ideas for tricks you can do. One classic book on coin magic is ‘Modern Coin Magic’, by J. B. Bobo.

Also, do you have any friends or relatives who you’ve seen do coin magic tricks before? If so, and assuming that they impressed you when you saw them being performed, see if they’ll teach you a couple of basic tricks to get you started. Getting someone to show you in person like this is ideal, as you can see for yourself the exact details of how the sleights like palming and vanishing are done.

So there you have a couple of suggestions on how to get started with coin magic. Have a browse at some of these sources, and soon you’ll be learning how to do “The Miser’s Dream” (pulling a series of coins from thin air), or “The Coin Through Table” routine, and will be able to really impress your friends – just remember – don’t tell them how it’s done!

Learning Coin Magic - 'Palming' a coin

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