Classic Magic

One thing I adore about my in-laws is that they dream up all sorts of interesting activities -- both crafty and every day -- to engage Laurel in during visits. Recently, in addition to introducing Laurel to a variety of awesome every day experiences, such as holding baby chicks, collecting eggs, and feeding horses (my heart breaks a little that I wasn't there to witness all of this), my father-in-law taught Laurel some classic magic.
My father-in-law apparently still has a big box of magic tricks and games from when Jon was little, and Laurel was absolutely ecstatic to show me the classic magic cup with balls trick when I returned from Houston yesterday. (The packaging was different, but the contents look exactly like this cups and balls set.) While Laurel demonstrated the trick, not only did I love her gleeful expression as she waved her hands around to cast the magic, but I couldn’t help but appreciate the simplicity of the tools, and the fact that learning the trick offered a unique bonding experience for her and her grandfather as well as a fun exercise in learning multistep commands (sorry, I’m a psychologist…these things are always on my mind).

And admittedly, I sat there with my jaw hanging open a bit. I never learned magic tricks as a kid and have no idea how the cup and balls trick actually works. And I told Laurel not to tell me so it will, in fact, remain magical to me.

If your child loves performing magic tricks and you know of great introductory books and props, I’d love to hear about them in the comments below. While searching around for the cups and balls set, I was interested to see this 20 tricks collection at Amazon and am noting it as a potential future gift for Laurel. Meanwhile, if I learn of other fantastic finds via my father-in-law’s magic trick treasure chest I’ll be sure to share them here.