I'm new to performing shows for children and I was wondering, are children able to understand cards well enough for me to perform card tricks? I know that it would depend of the age level, but at what age are children able to understand cards and card magic? And if I perform card magic, would I need to get rid of my poker sized decks and use "Jumbo" decks? any advice would be appreciated.

It all depends on the age of the kids you will be entertaining and the type of card tricks you are considering doing.

Even most adults tire of card tricks if you do more than a few in one sitting.

As a magician who enjoys and appreciates good card magic, even I don't want to see more than two or three card effects in a performance - no matter how good they are.

With kids, I wouldn't do more than a couple of card tricks and I probably wouldn't do any for kids younger than ten years of age.

But, that's me.

There are many differences of opinion on this.

Something like the McCombical Deck if done well can have a strong impact on a group of ten year olds because in the end the magician is the one who is fooled.

That type of effect fits in with the "magician in trouble" theme.

David Ginn does the "Comedy Card on Back" as well as another effect in which a selected card is shot out of the deck by the spectator who points his pointer finger at the deck as if he is holding a gun. When the card flutters to the floor, it is seen to have a bullet hole in it surrounded by a burn mark.

There are many possibilities of entertaining children with playing cards.

However, I don't know how much children would enjoy knuckle busting sleight of hand card effects.

I suppose that if presented in an interesting manner, "The Ambitious Card" could be a big hit with children.

There is a school of thought out there that believes that if you do card tricks for kids, you should make the force card a number card and a low number at that so that they will be knowledgable of and comfortable with the number and that you should use a heart or diamond card because they are shapes that the kids are familiar with.

There is no right or wrong answer here.

These are all just opinions.

I hope you find some of this helpful.

Perhaps others will chime in and share their thoughts.

Good luck!

Peter Cuddihy

I forgot to add that I don't think it matters whether you use regular poker size cards or jumbo cards.

That would depend more on the venue: parlor vs. stage.

I do an ACR with a blank deck, where the child draws his favorite animal on one of the cards. It's not a pure ACR, as it involves the card jumping (hot-shot cut), use of an Atta-Boy, and ultimately results in the card going "home" (Mystery Box), but the point is that they know it's their card, and they don't have to worry about suits or numbers or any of that. Seems to work fine for any age.

I rarely do card magic for kids. I find other visual magic plays stronger. same for senior citizens.
I do occasionally do 1 or 2 card tricks for kids shows. Michael close has two that kids really enjoy- The Frog Prince and The Oooh-Ahhh Bird. Worth checking out.