Colm Fitzpatrick
Children’s Corner
Magic tricks are a great way for you to develop your confidence and character, as well as amaze your family and friends. Magicians are known for doing various types of magic ranging from levitating to sawing a lady in half. Although these are quite complex feats to perform, it’s actually very easy to take magic from the stage and bring it to the livingroom. Instead of making an assistant disappear, you can just use a coin.
Often, this is the first trick that children see, usually from a family member, who then make it appear from behind their ear. It’s a classic of magic and over time hundreds of methods have been developed to perform it. It does, however, require some sleight-of-hand and a lot of practice to execute perfectly, so if you’re a beginner magician something much easier will be better.
To make a coin disappear, all you will need are some items that you have at home. For the trick you will need a coin, a cloth or newspaper page, two coloured pages of your liking, a pair of scissors and a pencil. First of all, place the opening of the glass face down on a coloured page and trace around it. Next, cut out the circle and tape it to the opening of the glass so it’s completely sealed. You can throw away the cut-up page and you no longer need the scissors. Now you’re ready to perform the trick!
Hidden
Place the glass face down on the second coloured page you have, and you’ll notice that the circle taped to the glass camouflages with the paper. Next place the coin on the paper and wrap the glass up with the cloth or newspaper.
Then when you want to make the coin disappear, set the glass on the coin, and with a magical gesture remove the cloth or newspaper, and it will look like the coin has disappeared. In reality, it’s hidden under the circle you cut out and taped to the glass, but the spectator won’t suspect a thing. To make the coin come back, simply place the cloth or newspaper back on the glass, pick it up, and it will look as if the coin has reappeared.
This is a great trick if you’re starting out in magic and there are lots of ways you could perform it. If you want to be sneaky, you could hide a second coin somewhere in the house before you start the trick, and when you make the first one disappear, pretend as if it has transported to that place.
Once you’ve got it down, this will be your first step in the journey to becoming a real-life magician!