Magic tricks for parents to do with kids: a buyer’s guide

Magic is one of the few hobbies a parent and child can learn side by side. Choose easy tricks you can both learn, pieces where the magic happens in the child’s own hands, and a beginner kit with video lessons you can watch together. Then let your child perform for the family, with you as the assistant.

Doing magic with your kids works two ways: you can perform for them, and you can learn tricks together and put on a show. Both build confidence, patience and a fair bit of laughter. This guide covers what to look for, names four products from our shelves that suit families, and points to two free books full of paper tricks and home conjuring.

What makes a trick good for doing with kids?

• It’s easy to learn. A trick that needs weeks of practice will frustrate a child. Self-working or near self-working tricks get them performing quickly.
• It happens in their hands. Children love holding the props and being part of the magic, whether they’re the audience or the assistant.
• It’s visual. Colour changes, things appearing and vanishing, and objects passing through each other land with any age.
• It suits their age. Check the product’s age guidance and remember that small props need supervision around younger children.
• It can be taught. The best family tricks are ones you can show your child how to do, so they get the fun of fooling someone too.

What should you look for when you buy?

Question	Why it matters for families
Is there video instruction?	Watching a lesson together is easier than working from written steps.
Is there an age guide?	Some kits state an age in their description. Follow it.
How much sleight of hand is needed?	Gimmicked props and self-working tricks are faster to learn than pure sleight of hand.
How many tricks are inside?	A kit with many tricks gives you a project for weeks, not an afternoon.

Our family games night buyer’s guide covers magic for the whole family at the table, and our scouts and youth clubs buyer’s guide covers teaching magic to a group.

What helps you take it further?

These four come from our shelves and suit parents and kids. Every detail below is from the product’s own description.

• Shin Lim’s EVOLUSHIN Magic Kit: a beginner kit with easy tricks covering card magic, coin magic, levitations, mind reading, transformations and more. The description says every trick is taught by Shin Lim in about 140 minutes of streamed video across 20 chapters, and it includes two complete close-up acts. It’s offered in English only.
• How to Be a Magician Kit by Ellusionist: a box of special props plus downloadable videos with 47 tricks, taught by Peter McKinnon, Chris Ramsay and Adam Wilber. The description says it starts easy and moves up as you improve, and that it’s for everyone over 10, which makes it a kit an older child and a parent can work through together.
• Grandma’s Miracle by Chen Yang: a version of the classic Grandmother’s Necklace. The audience threads two ropes through three clear beads and holds them, and the ropes pass through their hand, leaving the beads in their palm. The description says it needs almost no sleight of hand and everything can be examined. Magic that happens in a child’s own hand is hard to beat.
• Sponge System by TCC: eight sponge ball techniques plus a bonus, with two red and two green Goshman sponge balls and an acrylic case. The description says sponge ball magic brings joy to audiences young or old. Note that these moves are pure sleight of hand with no gimmick, so this one suits a parent, or an older child, who is happy to practise.

Are there free books that help?

• Houdini’s Paper Magic by Harry Houdini (1922) is a free 229-page book on tricks with paper: torn and restored tricks, paper folding (including a bird and a bullfrog), tearing designs such as Jacob’s ladder and Grandma’s string of dolls, and paper puzzles. Paper is cheap, so kids can tear away happily.
• Parlour Magic (1838) is a free 204-page early Victorian handbook of home conjuring, with card tricks, sleights with everyday objects, scientific amusements and party puzzles, written for families to perform in the drawing room. Note the scan has no searchable text.

Both are public-domain scans of library copies, so expect the odd stain or stamp. See all our free ebooks.

How do you put on a family magic show?

1. Learn one trick together. Watch the lesson side by side and practise in turns.
2. Give your child the starring role. You can be the assistant who hands over the props.
3. Keep it to three tricks. A short show ends on a high. Start with an easy self-working trick such as the princess card trick.
4. Rehearse in front of a mirror. Then for one family member, then for the whole family. Our guide on how to practise magic has more tips.
5. Keep the secret together. Sharing a secret is part of the fun. Agree not to tell how it’s done.

What are the common mistakes?

• Starting too hard. A trick that takes weeks to learn can put a child off. Start easy and build up.
• Taking over. It’s tempting to show how it’s done properly. Let them perform, mistakes and all.
• Ignoring age guidance. Follow the age guide on each product and supervise small props.
• Explaining the secret after the show. Kids learn quickly that the mystery is the magic. Keep it.

Frequently asked questions