[For Kids] Magic Tricks You Can Perform at Daycare or Kindergarten
Kids love mysterious things and surprising performances, don’t they?
When you hear “magic,” you might think it takes a lot of preparation, but even tricks with simple secrets can amaze children.
This time, we’ve gathered ideas for magic tricks that are easy to perform and easy for kids to watch.
When they see the magic, children might start wondering how it works and let their imaginations run.
Let’s incorporate some outstanding magic into childcare to spark children’s imaginations.
- [Childcare Magic] Easy! A special feature on magic tricks you’ll want to show kids
- Simple magic tricks that delight kids: surprising to watch and make you want to try them yourself.
- Hilarious magic! Crowd-pleasing tricks perfect for parties and performances
- [Surprising] A collection of body-based magic tricks [for parties and performances]
- With Explanations: Easy Magic Tricks for Lower-Grade Elementary School Children — How to Do Simple Tricks
- Easy! Magic tricks that liven up a Christmas party. Simple tricks and their secrets revealed.
- Magic tricks with hats: recommended illusions for parties and performances
- Super easy magic tricks kids can do! Fun tricks you can play right away
- [Easy and Surprising] Rope Magic Tricks [For Parties and Events]
- Magic tricks using boxes: recommended illusions for parties and performances
- Magic tricks with a handkerchief: crowd-pleasing tricks for parties and performances
- Magic that gets kids excited on Children's Day: A collection of simple tricks
- [Entertainment/Performances] Ideas for Performances to Introduce at Kindergartens and Nursery Schools—Great for Children and Staff
[For Children] Magic Ideas to Perform at Nurseries and Kindergartens (41–50)
Spoon bending
Spoon bending may be the most famous trick in magic.
Because everyone knows it, it’s sure to be a hit at any fun gathering! Seeing a hard spoon bend with a soft “twist” makes you look just like a psychic.
It’s a simple trick that uses the principle of leverage, but it’s one that really excites an audience! The key is performance—make it look like you bent it with the power of a demon lord.
I recommend practicing while having a colleague watch your demonstration.
[For Children] Magic Ideas (51–60) to Perform at Nursery Schools and Kindergartens
The finger puppet has disappeared!
Put cute finger puppets on both hands.
It’s best to choose characters the children like.
When you move your arms behind your back, the puppets are gone by the time your hands come back to the front.
Do the same with the other hand—once you move it behind your back, the puppet disappears.
But if you repeat the same thing again, the puppets are back.
The kids will surely be puzzled, right? Even adults might be fooled, but the truth is, you’re just switching fingers.
The puppets start on the middle fingers, and when you move your hands behind your back, you swap them onto the index fingers—that’s the trick.
Easy magic using Pocky
You take an ordinary-looking Pocky stick with chocolate on it, spin it around to show there’s nothing unusual, then lightly stroke the top of the Pocky with your other hand… and amazingly, the chocolate disappears from the Pocky and reappears in that hand as a little chocolate ball! After eating the chocolate, you blow on the Pocky, and the chocolate returns to the stick—like magic.
In reality, the chocolate on one side of the Pocky has been shaved off, and when you show it, you rotate your wrist so you’re always showing the same side.
The other hand is secretly holding a chocolate ball from the start—that’s the trick.
A bucket that keeps producing gifts one after another
Presents keep appearing one after another, and the kids are sure to be thrilled! Here’s a magic trick using a bucket.
Cover the bucket with newspaper, secure it with a rubber band, and as you chant a magic spell and tear the newspaper, more and more presents appear from inside.
The key to this trick is to secretly hide a bag filled with presents behind the newspaper, and when you’ve taken out all the presents, roll up the newspaper together with the bag so it stays out of sight.
The performance is crucial, so practice several times and master it so the secret won’t be discovered!
Piercing Magic
This is a magic trick where you drop a pen into a plastic bottle whose mouth is blocked with a five-yen coin, and it seems to pierce through.
The key is to first insert the pen into the hole of the five-yen coin and show the audience, saying, “See? It doesn’t go through.” This makes them think you’re going to pass it through that hole.
In reality, the pen doesn’t go through the hole.
Instead, thanks to the momentum and weight of the falling pen, it slips through the gap between the tilted five-yen coin and the bottle.
If your hands are visible, the secret will be exposed, so hide the pen’s path with a tube made from rolled construction paper.
The trick is to drop the pen along the outside of the tube!
Cup and Bead Magic
Let me introduce a magic trick using cups and beads.
Put pink beads in one cup and light blue beads in another.
When you pour the beads into a single cup and mix them, you cast a spell and they can be separated back into two again.
The secret is simple: leave one color of beads loose, but string the other color together and tape the string to the bottom of the cup so it won’t come off.
That way, it looks like they’re mixed, but you can separate them again!
Moving chopsticks
You can perform a fun magic trick with just one disposable chopstick.
The idea is that when you send your will to the chopstick you’re holding, it moves as if by a mysterious power.
What you need: a chopstick, one rubber band, and a stapler.
First, staple the rubber band to the back side of the thicker end of the chopstick.
Put your thumb through the attached rubber band and, keeping the band hidden from view, pull on it as you move your thumb toward the thinner end of the chopstick.
As you chant a magic spell and gradually relax your finger, the rubber band’s force will make the chopstick move on its own.
Give it a try!
In conclusion
We introduced magic ideas that are a hit at nurseries and kindergartens. Even if the tricks are simple, with a little creativity in your performance you can put on magic that makes children gasp in surprise. Of course you can perform at events, but even trying a trick during small gaps in the day will captivate the kids and spark their curiosity. Be sure to incorporate magic as part of your childcare skills.