With the popularity of “Harry Potter,” it is no surprise that children are interested in magic. But did you know that magic can be beneficial to your child’s development? In fact, magic may be the trick to making children more confident and sociable. A study at the British Association for the Advancement of Science took 50 pupils at two schools to compare a “magic school” lesson with a standard personal, social and health education (PSHE) lesson currently used to promote good health, confidence and social skills. At the start of the study, each child completed standard measures of social skills and self-esteem, and their teachers provided individual assessments of sociability and confidence. At the end of the study, they discovered that magic teaches self-discipline and critical thinking. There was also an increase in sociability and confidence of the children who learned magic. The teachers’ ratings revealed the children to be more sociable and confident after the magic lesson than after the standard lesson. Magic helped the students think from another person’s perspective and think about how they are feeling.
Here are some easy tricks you can teach your child
Is that your card?
1) Shuffle a deck of cards, and secretly look at the bottom card.
2) Fan out the cards face down, and ask your friend to take a card from the deck and look at it.
3) Square up the deck and hold it face down. Ask your friend to place their card on the top of the deck.
4) Cut the deck roughly in half, and then complete the cut by placing the lower portion on top of the upper portion.
5) Turn the deck face up, and spread out the cards on a table.
6) Secretly look for the card that was on the bottom of the deck, and your friend’s card will be lying on top of it. Pick out their card and announce, “Is that your card?”
Mind Reading Magic
1) Lay a 25¢, 10¢, 5¢, and 1¢ coin on a table.
2) Turn your back, and ask your friend to choose any coin.
3) Ask them to pick up the coin and hold it tightly in their hand for a few moments while concentrating on it.
3) Next, have them put the coin back on the table and move all of the coins around.
4) To find out which coin they chose, pick up each coin and hold it against your forehead. The coin they chose will feel warmer than the others.
The amazing jumping band
1) Place a rubber band over your first (index) and second (middle) fingers, and slide it all the way down to the bottom of your fingers.
2) Slowly curl your fingers into the shape of a fist, and stretch the rubber band so that it’s over all of your fingers.
3) When your friends look at the back of your hand, they will think that the rubber band is only around your first and second fingers.
4) Open all your fingers, and the rubber band will jump on to your third and little fingers!
Would you like to see your YA readers enthusiastically check out books from all kinds of sections in your library?
Cris Johnson’s Magic Workshop!
“Cris Johnson’s Magic Workshop!” brings you the best of all worlds. This workshop has been carefully designed to give the kids attending some real-world knowledge of not only the secrets of magic (which is what first draws their attention) but how to perform the tricks as well as an appreciation of the history of magic and stagecraft.
Your child will be exposed to different subjects such as psychology, stagecraft, and history in the library to enable them to learn more about this fascinating performance art. This is a YA program your kids and parents will LOVE –- simply because it’s so interactive!