No Magic for children below 3?

All children seem to like magic. They believe into Santa and cannot imagine their lives without fairy-tales. According to this their parents try to bring as much magic as possible into the life of their children. For this very reason, they invite professional magicians as entertainers to their children’s birthday parties.

But some professionals in this sphere claim that a magician is not actually a good choice for children that are too young, specifically children aged 3 years and below. Why? There are several reasons that explain this point of view, but they are all based on the point that children aged 3 and below have quite a different perception of reality and their environment than adults. Thus, they have difficulty in understanding magic. Having no life experience and possessing no knowledge of physics, they take magic “for granted”, “as a matter of fact thing” as opposed to an impossible occurrence.

Moreover, children below the ages of 3 have difficulty following elaborate sequence of events or complicated actions that are supposed to mean something. This is simply because they have not developed the mental faculty needed to understand such activity. And because of this, when they are to follow the sequence of some actions that are to mean something, they get lost and fail to understand the effect achieved by means of magic.

Another reason to prove this point of view is that small children cannot be attentive for a long period of time – a birthday party show usually lasts for 30 – 45 minutes and for a child of 3 it is a real torture to sit still all this time especially if he/she doesn’t understand what’s going on!

But it is also important to admit, that this is not a rule, but rather an exception. There are professionals-magicians, who work with such small kids, and create their shows taking into account all those things and reasons. They will often use colorful props, large movements, lots of action, pantomime and perform very direct and easy-to-understand magic effects. For instance, children are sure to like when a stuffed toy or teddy bear starts speaking. Even though they are young, they do find it interesting that a “Creature” is making sounds and moves. Balloons and balloon animals can be good for very young children as long as they do not put un-inflated balloons or even parts of the balloon in their mouths. Take note that a bursting balloon may also scare children. However, because balloons are colorful and long balloons can be twisted into interesting shapes, young children are also intrigued by them.

So, next time before organizing a birthday party for your child, take all these things into account and if you are still eager to have some magic, see to it, that your magician is a real professional in this sphere.