20 Amazing Card Tricks For Kids

By Gauri Ratnam | Updated: 27/07/2023

We have all visited a magic show and loved that trick where the magician pulls a bunny rabbit out of his hat. Card tricks have been passed on through generations to keep the magic alive. As kids, one is always seeking those cool card magic tricks to amuse themselves or friends and family. There are several card tricks that can be performed in front of loved ones to keep the magic alive. Right from mind-reading card tricks to tricks that involve sleight of hand, there are so many tricks your child can practice and master over time. Here are 20 card magic tricks for kids that you can teach your little one and put up a show!

20 Simple Kid-Friendly Card Tricks

Which kid dislikes card tricks? Card tricks are great to get familiar with kids. If you have a few up your sleeve and teach them, then you are sure to become a favourite and rule the popularity charts. For kids and beginners, card tricks have to be easy to understand, learn and perform. There are plenty of card tricks for children that fit this description to get them to feel like magicians. Some of these tricks are even easy card tricks for beginners. Read on to find on 20 easy magic card tricks to teach kids.

1. Mind Reading

How to Do The Trick?

Count 25 cards out of sight of spectators before beginning the trick.
Place these 25 cards on top of the pile. Hold the cards slightly apart.
Split the pack into two separates piles, noting where you have split them.
Place the 25 cards face down on the table. Ask someone to choose one card from the remaining cards in your hand.
Get them to memorise it.
Ask them to place that card on top of the pack that you have in your hand and add the 25 cards from the table.
Start dealing the cards one after the other and count until 26 in your mind.
That is your spectator’s card!

2. Spelling Card Trick

How To Do The Trick?

Bring the deck of cards and have the spectator select a random card.
As your spectator does this, take a glance at the bottom card on the deck of cards in your hand. Memorise it as it is the key card to find the chosen card.
When the spectator returns the card, make sure that the key card goes on top of that card. Place the spectator’s card on top of the deck and cut the deck. This will bring the key card on top of the spectator’s card.
Now spread the cards with their face up towards you and the audience. As you spot your key card you will be able to see the chosen card.
Now try to spell out the card using one card for each letter until you reach the chosen card. For eg: if the chosen card is “ ten of clubs”, spell it individually until you reach the chosen card.

3. Is This Your Card

How To Do The Trick?

This trick is done by splitting the deck of cards into piles of suits. For eg: hearts and spades into one pile and diamonds and clubs into the next pile.
You need to do this before your audience arrives. If you want to do it in front of the audience, make sure you know where the piles split.
Place the split piles into a pre-arranged pattern with their face down on the table.
Ask a spectator to choose one of the piles and shuffle the cards in them.
Get them to place it on the table face down and choose a card from the pile they shuffle.
Ask your spectator to memorise the card and place it back into the other pile. Get them to shuffle the cards in the second pile.
Pick up the pile and start looking through them. Once you have seen, throw some drama in with some intuitive expressions and hold the card up for the audience.

4. Cut the 4 Aces

How To Do The Trick?

Place the four aces on top of the pack. The deck will be pointing face down and the spectator will not know that the aces are on top of the pack.
Get the spectator to divide the cards into four separate pile. Make sure you see where the last pile with the aces is kept.
Point to one of the piles without the aces and ask the spectator to pick up and hold the pile. Ask him to take three cards from the top and place them at the bottom.
Then ask the spectator to deal one card from the top of the pile in his hand to each of the other three piles.
From a second non-ace pile, repeat this process of moving the top three cards to the bottom and dealing a single card to each of the other piles.
Repeat the process with the third non-ace pile too.
Now you are aware of the situation. The three piles ( non-ace ones) have a mix of random cards.
The pile with the aces has three random cards on the top followed by the four aces.
When the spectator mixes the cards in this pile in the next step, the top three cards will move to the bottom and three of the aces will be dealt with the top of the other piles. One ace will remain on the original “ace” pile.
Once the spectator is done with dealing the top card in the “aces” pile ask them to turn the top card of each pile. They will reveal the aces.
Pause after the spectator completes all the steps. Emphasise that the cards are jumbled and then unveil the big “reveal”.

5. Sleight of Hand

How To Do The Trick?

Shuffle an entire deck of cards and ask a spectator to pick a card.
Get them to split the deck and place the card face down on top of the pile.
The secret is to remember the card. So make sure to take a quick glance and put it back on the pile together.
To throw in some drama you must carefully shuffle the pack without misplacing the card that you glances.
Now deal the cards one after the other. Pause every now and then to make it look like you are thinking.
When you finally reach the card that the spectator picked. Go past it as if you are concentrating to add some effect. Then go and pick the card!

6. The Reversed Card Trick

How To Do The Trick?

Spread the deck of card between your hand. Get the spectator to choose and card, take a look and show it around.
The spread of cards is closed. The spectator has to return the card and that is slid face down in the middle of the deck.
You need to stress how impossible it is to reverse the card in the deck by itself. You need to then stress that you will find it in the centre of the deck in just one move.
Hide the deck for a second and then spread them all face-up on the table.
Lo and behold the chosen card is reversed in the centre of the deck.

7. Four Queen on Top

How To Do The Trick?

Before you perform the trick, pick out four random cards from the pack and place the four Queen under them.
Keep these eight cards in your hand.
Hold these cards up to the audience and mention that these Queens are going into their castles.
Now place these eight cards on top of the deck with their face down and mention that this is the first Queen who is spinning off to the Buckingham Castle.
Now place the first card on the deck which your spectators think is the Queen in a random place in the deck. Repeat the same with the following cards too.
Now shout out saying the Queens are going to rush to a Royal Ball. Wave your hands on top of the deck and life the first four cards to reveal the Queens from the four suits.

8. Card Colour Trick

How To Do The Trick?

Separate the cards into a black and red pile. Remember which pile is on top.
Spread the cards out and get someone in the audience to pick a card from the top. Ask them to memorise it.
Spread the bottom of the deck and get them to put the card in that deck.
Split the deck of card in the middle and place the bottom pile on the top to shuffle the cards.
Look through the deck and the colour you want will be the mixed one in a similar pile.

9. Card Trick

How To Do The Trick?

You need a regular deck of cards. Pick one ace to represent the number 1, one Joker Card so that you are aware that the spectator has not moved any cards. Now you need one of each card number up to 10. You can choose whichever suit you wish. You should have eleven cards now.
Lay them down in the following order- face up- 6,5,4,3,2,Ace, Jack, 10,9,8,7.
Get the spectator to move cards one at a time from right to left.
Now mention that they moved five cards and the new arrangement is – 8,9,10, Jack, Ace,6,5,4,3,2.
Count starting from the left and count seven cards and turn the seventh card over. This will be the sum of cards they moved over.
If the spectator does not move any cards over the 7th card which will be joker, you will know that no cards have been moved
Now move the cards back again to do the trick again. It will work every time.

10. Jumping Cards Trick

How To Do The Trick?

You will need two sets of cards. Prepare one deck by placing two cards of different suits at the top of the deck.
Now take the same set of cards from the second deck and place it at the bottom of the first deck.
Now announce that you will get the cards to jump from one deck to another.
Reveal the cards at the top of the deck and get your audience to memorise it. Place the cards back on the top.
Tap the deck twice to add some drama. Pull out the bottom two cards which will be the same that the audience saw.

11. Teleportation 101

How To Do The Trick?

Take 2 matching decks of cards. Pick out one card from the deck you will be using, and the matching card from the second deck. For example, the King of Hearts
Put one King of Hearts card in a sealed envelope.
On the second matching King of Hearts, stick a small piece of double tape in the centre and keep the card face down in the deck.
Give the envelope to any one audience member.
Tell the audience that you will teleport the King of Hearts from your hand to the envelope. While you talk, separate the King of Hearts from the card on which it is stuck.
Display the card to the audience and then place it back on top of the deck, making sure it firmly sticks to the card below it.
Pretend to shuffle and lose the card in between.
After a little dramatics, flip over the deck in your hand, fan it out, and show it to the audience. The King of Hearts wont be visible as it is stuck to another card.
Request the audience member with the envelope to open the envelope and reveal the teleported card.

12. Guess The Card At The Bottom

How To Do The Trick?

Look at the bottom card in your deck and memorise it.
Drop cards from one hand to the other and ask the audience to say ‘stop’.
When someone says ‘stop’, give them the selected card and ask them to memorise it.
Put the cards back together and ask the audience member to place their card on top. This way, the bottom card you memorised will be on top of their selected card.
Now, look through the entire deck and you should find the audience card in front of the card you memorised.
Ask them if it is their card, and watch their surprise.

13. Colour Changing Card

How To Do The Trick?

To perform this trick, you will require a complete deck of cards and a single card from another deck that has a similar pattern but a different colour.
Ensure that the card you want the audience to choose (the card with the different colour) is positioned at the bottom of the face-down deck.
Commence the trick by shuffling the cards. While performing the shuffle, request an audience member to call out “stop.” As soon as they utter the word, halt the shuffling and turn over the cards in your right hand.
The audience member will believe that they have randomly selected this particular playing card, but in reality, it is the one you intended them to choose. Proceed to unveil the identity of the card.
To divert their attention even more, announce the name of the card aloud. This will shift the audience’s focus towards identifying the card itself, rather than contemplating how it was chosen.
Now, place the selected card face-up on a table. Be cautious not to reveal its backside.
Gather the deck once again, ensuring that the cards are face-down, and then spread them out to display their backs.
Instruct the audience member to flip over the chosen card. They will discover that it possesses a distinct design.

14. Follow My Lead

How To Do The Trick?

To perform this fun trick, you’ll need two complete decks of cards without any jokers. It’s even more exciting if the two decks are different from each other.
Let the audience member choose one of the decks. They can pick whichever one they like.
Now, instruct the audience member to do the same things you do. They will copy your actions.
Start by shuffling the cards and then cutting the deck into two halves.
During your final shuffle, take a quick look at the bottom card and remember it. Let’s imagine it’s the Queen of Hearts.
To ensure that your deck is a regular one and not a special trick deck, exchange your deck with the one chosen by the audience member.
After the exchange, ask the audience member to split their deck in half and place the cards to their right side.
From the pile on the left, ask them to take the top card, remember it, and then place it on top of the other pile without showing it to you.
Now, ask them to take the pile on the left and put all those cards on top of the other deck. While it might seem like their cards are getting mixed up, the truth is that their chosen card will end up right next to the card you memorised (the Queen of Hearts).
Throughout this process, you will be doing the same actions as the audience member, but you only need to remember the Queen of Hearts and not any other card.
Exchange the decks once again.
Ask the audience member to search for their card and place it face-down on the table.
You do the same and pretend to search for a random card. However, you are actually looking for the Queen of Hearts, and the card to the right of it will be their chosen card. Place it face-down on the table.
Count to three, and when you both flip over the cards, you will have a perfect match! It’s a fantastic surprise!

15. The Eights

How To Do The Trick?

First, take out all the cards that have the number eight on them and keep them aside.
Next, hold the rest of the cards in your hand, with the pictures facing down. Put one of the eights on top of the cards.
Now, take another eight and place it in the tenth spot among the cards. But remember, to count the first eight as well when counting to ten.
After that, turn the cards over to see the pictures. Place the two eights in the eighth and ninth positions.
Now comes the exciting part! Tell someone from the audience that you can predict where another eight is. Say it’s in the tenth position.
To make it even more interesting, turn the cards back so the pictures are facing down. Then, ask the audience member to say “stop” when going through the cards. It’s important that they say “stop” only after you have passed the first two eights.
Once they say “stop,” divide the deck in half and make sure the pile with the bottom card is on the left side.
Now, ask the audience member to choose one of the piles. If they choose the first pile, the top card of that pile will help you count how many cards are in the second pile. Similarly, if they choose the second pile, the top card will help you find the eights in the first pile. And guess what? The top card of the first pile is an eight!
Finally, open the cards from the second and third piles, and your prediction will come true! It’s like magic!

16. Nine-Card Trick

How To Do The Trick?

Start by counting out nine cards. Give an audience member nine cards to hold in their hand. Ask them to choose one card from the nine, memorise it, and then put it back in the stack.
Next, deal the cards into three piles, from left to right. Here’s where it gets interesting! Ask the audience member to point to the pile where they think their card ended up. Tell them to just point to the pile, not the specific card.
After they have pointed to the pile, stack the piles together, making sure that the pile with the card is in the middle.
Now, deal the cards out again into three piles, from left to right, just like before. And once again, ask the audience member to point to the pile where they think the card landed.
After they have pointed to the pile, stack the piles together, making sure that the pile with the card is in the middle.
Hold on tight because here comes the exciting part! Turn the cards face up, so everyone can see the pictures. Now, count down from the top of the cards, and guess what? The fifth card will be the correct card! It’s like magic.

17. One-Handed Cut

How To Do The Trick?

To start, hold the whole deck of cards in your hand. Use your thumb to split the deck into two parts. Let the bottom half (let’s call it ‘B’) fall into your palm. Hold the remaining part (let’s call it ‘A’) with your fingers and thumb.
Now, use your middle finger to push the bottom half (B) so that it rotates on its long edge against your hand. Keep pushing until the B deck is standing up on its edge and clears the A deck. Your middle finger should keep pushing the lower half of deck B.
Once the B deck clears the A deck, let the A deck drop into your palm.
Now, complete the cut by releasing the B deck onto the A deck. Congratulations! You’ve successfully swapped the positions of both piles.
Tip: If you’re just starting out, you can use a rubber band to keep both piles together. This will help you practice the move without constantly dropping cards. You can also begin by practicing with a smaller pile of cards before moving on to the entire deck.

18. Lets Spell Magic

How To Do The Trick?

For this simple magic trick, you only need three piles of three cards each. You can put aside the rest of the cards for now.
Now, ask someone from the audience to choose one of the three piles and turn it over so that the cards are facing upwards.
This chosen pile will be the special MAGIC pile.
Turn over the remaining two piles and place all three small piles on top of each other. The MAGIC pile must be on the top.
Now, you’re going to spell out the word of a special card in a unique way. For example, let’s say the card is the Five of Clubs.
Pick up the nine cards and start spelling out the word “five.” As you spell each letter, drop a card from the top of the pile.
After you finish spelling “five,” drop the remaining cards in your hand on top of the cards you spelled out.
Next, spell out the word “of” and repeat the same procedure.
Finally, spell out the word “clubs” and repeat the procedure once again.
Now, spell out the word “magic” while dropping a card for each letter.
When you reach the last letter, which is the “c” of “magic,” turn over that card, and it will be your special MAGIC card. It’s like a little bit of magic happening right before our eyes!

19. Magic With Three Cards

How To Do The Trick?

Select three cards: the Ace of Spades, the Queen of Hearts, and the Ace of Clubs, and arrange them in the same order on a table.
Instruct an audience member to think of one of the three cards while you avert your gaze.
Now, ask them to communicate their chosen card to another audience member.
Next, request that they interchange the positions of the two cards they did not choose. For example, if they initially selected the Ace of Clubs, they would switch the positions of the Ace of Spades and the Queen of Hearts.
Then, instruct them to turn all three cards face-down. Turn around and ask them to shuffle the cards. As they do so, continuously track the card in the middle.
Once they finish shuffling, reveal the card you followed. If the card you turn over happens to be the Ace of Spades, it indicates that their mental selection was the Ace of Clubs.
If the revealed card is the Queen of Hearts, it signifies that it was their chosen card.
However, if the turned-over card is an Ace of Clubs, it means that they picked the Ace of Spades.
After pretending to have read their mind, flip over the cards and disclose what they had chosen.

20. The Fourth Card

How To Do The Trick?

Shuffle a deck of cards and hand the entire deck to a volunteer. Ensure that they shuffle it thoroughly before proceeding to cut the deck.
Once the volunteer hands it back, swiftly fan out the cards, allowing them a quick glimpse. Meanwhile, discreetly take a peek at the fourth card from the top, which we shall refer to as the “target card.”
Place the cards face-down on the table.
Instruct the volunteer to divide the cards, with one pile in their hands and the other pile on the table. Remember the top pile.
Now, based on the fourth card in the bottom pile, you can determine the identity of the fourth card in the other pile.
While examining the fourth card, ensure that the audience remains unaware of its contents.
In a grandiose manner, announce the fourth card as your “target card.”
Finally, flip over the fourth card and unveil the trick!

FAQs

1. What Are Some Techniques That Children Can Use to Shuffle Cards Like a Magician?

A large part of magic is smooth movements and lots of practice. You can show your child various online videos to learn the art of shuffling. You can also enrol them in workshops or classes as an extracurricular activity.

2. How Can Children Execute a Card Trick Without Being Detected?

Magic takes lots of practice, so it’s important to keep doing the same trick multiple times to ensure there are no mistakes. It’s also a good idea to distract your audience so they can’t fully see what you are doing.

3. What Strategies Can Children Use to Successfully Perform a Card Trick in Front of Multiple Spectators?

A good magician’s best friend is confidence, which comes with practice and knowing you can successfully perform the trick. Additionally, your child can start performing card tricks with a couple of people like friends or family before branching out to a larger audience.

This collection of simple tricks will get your child interested in learning magic tricks! You just need to remember to be vigilant, observant and need some practice before the grand finale. With a bit of drama and panache, you will surely nail any magic trick that comes your way.

Also Read:

Interesting Card Games for Children
Easy Hand Games for Kids
One Minute Games for Children
Trick Questions for Kids with Their Answers

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Author

About the Author

Gauri Ratnam

Gauri Ratnam completed her Masters in English Literature from the University of Pune. She began her journey as a German translator soon after completing her graduation, but later moved on to pursue her passion for writing. Having written for both digital and print media in a varied range of industries, she has the ability to write relatable and well-researched content, benefical for anyone seeking advice or direction.