Justin Flom - Everyday Magic for Kids: 30 Amazing Magic Tricks That You Can Do Anywhere

Copyright 2018 by Justin Flom

Illustrations copyright 2018 by Jason Kayser

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First Edition: November 2018

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2017963214

ISBNs: 978-0-7624-9260-2 (paperback), 978-0-7624-9259-6 (ebook)

E3-20180921-JV-PC

This book is dedicated to my dad. Ive had many magic heroes, but only one who watched me when I was terrible and who patiently shared wisdom on many car rides home from shows. My dad was the first magician to fool me and the first to make me laugh. Now I try to do the same for him with my own magic.

Dad, thank you for showing me the way.

I still have my first magic book from when I was a kid. Well, it wasnt mine exactly; it was my dads. Thats right: I was lucky enough to have a magician for a dad! Growing up, I was surrounded by the coolest and most magical characters you could imagine. Our backyard barbecues were full of fire jugglers, unicyclists, and moms being cut in half. Really! It was as fun and wondrous for a kid as you can imagine.

I fell in love with magicwith searching for secrets, learning the sleights of hand, and performing the impossible. Thats why I still cherish my first magic book: Houdinis Escapes and Magic by Walter B. Gibson. It is thick as a brick with antique yellowed pages curled with age. It is from the year 1930 and full of stories from vaudeville, which is where Americans first experienced grand magic in the theater. I remember hiding behind my dads secret passageway (our house had three hidden doorseven my bedroom was behind a moving bookcase!) and studying the magic tricks and classified methods of years past. And thats what started me on my path to becoming a magician.

So welcome to your new journey in the world of magic. I am thrilled for you. Magic can be a lifelong pursuit or a fun hobbyand its sure to teach you new things every day. When I was a kid, magic helped me make friends at school, it caught the attention of a girl who eventually married me, and has taken me around the world. But even if this is just a hobby, what you find in this book could change your life for the better.

There are thirty tricks within these pages and all of them have been proven to amaze audiences. Growing up, my audience was usually friends and family, so Ive written this book from that perspective. Each trick will begin by explaining how your friend or family member will see the trick, and then I will reveal the secret to the trick and what you need to build or practice. Ive always said that magic is more arts and crafts than it is spells and wizardry. And dont get discouraged if you cant do the secret move immediately! Magic is a lifelong pursuit, and the challenge of getting the trick right is part of the fun. I suggest you go through the book in order because Ive made sure each new skill and secret builds on the last to help you advance as an aspiring magician.

Ready? Lets make magic and share joy!

I want to open this book with my favorite trick to teach. I call it the Grocery Gambit, but your friends will call it what it is: amazing!

Your friend is going to make a choice, and you will then reveal that you knew exactly what decision they would make. Its an astounding prediction, and youre right every time! Here is what it looks like if you were to perform it for your friend: You have a jar of peanut butter, a jar of jelly, and a jar of pickles. You say to your friend, Pick one! The peanut butter, jelly, or pickles, but make sure that it is a free choice. At the end of this, you may think I made you choose one or the other. But no! I want this to be your decision. So, whatll it be?

Lets say in this example your friend chooses pickles. You reply, I knew you were going to say pickles. Let me show you how I knew that. And you unscrew the jar of pickles and you show everyone that inside the jar of pickles, written on the lid in magic marker, are the words PICK PICKLES ! (1)

But it gets even better. Your audience is kinda impressed, but they still seem skeptical. You then say, I know what youre thinking. You are thinking that there is a written prediction underneath all of the lids. Well, you are right. Then for the fantastic climax you unscrew the lid to the jelly and you show them that the jelly reads PICK PICKLES ! Finally, you unscrew the lid of the peanut butter and the peanut butter jar also reads PICK PICKLES ! Somehow you knew that your friend was going to pick pickles and you predicted it not once but three times!

Heres the secret to the trick: You are prepared with three different predictions no matter what your friend chooses. If they pick pickles, you reveal your prediction underneath the lid of the jar. But you have two other hidden predictions. You have jelly written on the back of each of the jars and you have peanut butter written underneath each of the jars. Pretty sneaky. This relies on the fact that the audience doesnt know how the trick ends; theyre just told to make a choice.

I made my peanut butter, jelly, and pickles jars with labels from the store. You can also use paper, scissors, and glue. Youll need three of each prediction totaling nine labels. Three will be hidden in the lid, three underneath the jars, and three at the back (2) .

Once you have made your specially prepared jars, you are ready to do the trick. You display the jars with the audience standing in front of you. (Note: This is a trick in which the audience cannot stand behind you or they will see your hidden predictions on the back of the jars.) You tell them to make a selection, but make sure that it is a free choice. Lets say they choose jelly. Then you say, I want to show you that I knew you were going to pick jelly because I wrote down a prediction on the back of one of these jars. And you reveal on the back of the jelly jar that it reads PICK JELLY !

Now you let your audience be impressed but skeptical and that is when you can reveal the rest of the trick by saying, I know what you are thinking. There is writing on the back of all of the jars. Well, you are right. And then you reveal that all of the jars read PICK JELLY on the back.

The same goes if your friend picks peanut butter and you reveal the bottom of the jars. The important thing to remember as you reveal the jars back or bottom, or under the lid, is to be careful not to reveal your other hidden predictions. This is an amazing trick that you can do in your kitchen at home or onstage for a bigger audience. And if you dont have peanut butter, jelly, or pickles in your house, you can use any food or items that have three different options for predictions. Be creative and create your own Grocery Gambit!