Melissa & Doug Kids Magic Set Role Play Toys | Magic Toys for Kids & Toddlers | Halloween Tricks for Kids | Kids Dress Up for Girls or Boys | Pretend Play Gifts for Kids Age 8+

This is no ordinary magic set designed to amuse and entertain young children. This astonishing top quality magic set sets apart all other magic sets because with the wonderful well made beautifully decorated wooden props ALL Magi – young and old - will be able to perform truly astounding PROFESSIONAL close-up magic that have wowed and baffled audiences for centuries.Magic has four aspects named after the four elements. These are: Productions (Air); Vanishes (Earth); Transformations (Fire); and Penetrations (Water). The amazing props and fabulous utilities contained in this magic set permit the performer to perform all of these effects with effortless ease. All that is needed is a dash of showmanship and a little focused concentration to master the props.The set contains ten professional effects that enable the performer to create an enormous variety of strong very baffling five-set close-up magic shows ranging from formidable visual eye-popping close-up magic to startling mentalism that verges on the paranormal.Here is a flavour of what this amazing magic set contains.Tight squeeze: Here a wooden tube and three coloured skittles are handed out for inspection. The Magi stands the tube onto the table (supplied with the kit) and inserts the skittles into the top of the tube one-by-one in a colour sequence chosen by the participant. The Magi then slowly tips the tube over – and the skittles slowly slide out of the bottom of the tube In Reverse Order.The Blue Pagoda: This is a Chinese utility box that is over 3,000 years old. The ingenious mechanism provides the Magi with the capability to effortlessly perform productions; transformations; and vanishes right under the noses of the audience.The box of wonder: This is an Indian utility that is over 4,000 years old. The ingenious topology of several boxes nested inside of each other provides the Magi with the capability to perform astonishing penetrations of personal objects (rings, bracelets, watches, necklaces, signed cards and signed coins, etc) into a suite of boxes that are all nested inside of each other and are placed in full view of the audience. All boxes can be examined prior to and after the reveal is made.The phantom cube (aka The lions cage): This amazing prop causes a solid wooden cube to completely vanish without trace when placed in the ingenious beautifully decorated wooden box. The box has slots cut into one side of the box to represent the bars of a lions cage so so that whatever is placed into the box is in full view of the audience and can be ‘poked’ by a participant using the magic wand. The lid of the box has a large hole cut into it so that objects such as small balls, rings, etc. can be dropped into the box when the cube disappears to show that the box is completely empty – until the Magi removes the lid and takes out the solid wooden cube. The prop can be examined prior to and after the event has taken place.But there is more - much more because in addition, two fabulous utilities are supplied that enable the Magi to perform astonishing utterly baffling, mind-blowing mentalism such as offering several participants a secret free choice of a number, letter of the alphabet, coloured marble, or playing card – and know who has chosen what - as seen performed by Derren Brown.The final effect I shall describe here is the infamous ‘Pharaoh’s Casket’. This stunning mind-blowing phenomenon premonition originated in Egypt over FIVE THOUSAND YEARS AGO – and it is worth reading the full presentation to give you an insight into the power and majesty of this amazing effect – an effect that when performed with grace and elegance as a climax to a performance has audiences from all around the world giving the Magi standing ovations.And so dear reader show your love for ‘Pharaoh’s Casket’EffectThe Magi and the participant each have five ‘Hieroglyphs’ representing the sun god Isis; Horas the healer, Queen Nefertitti; Raneses the second; and Tut-ank-amon – the boy king.All ten discs – which are not gaffed in any way - are shown on both sides and five discs – all different - are freely selected.The Magi picks up the five remaining discs that are identical to the discs the participant selected.The lid of the pharaoh’s sacred casket is then removed and the audience sees two ‘sacred wells’ inside of the sacred casket.The Magi then explains that the participant must choose a sacred well in which to place their discs face-up for all to see - in any order they choose into their selected sacred well - AFTER the Magi has placed their selected disc into the other sacred well (i.e. the Magi always goes first).The Magi then explains that through telepathy the Pharaoh will indicate to the Magi AHEAD OF TIME – which disc the participant will place inro the sacred well on each turn.The Magi then asks everyone to recite – line by line:O great and all powerful Pharaoh;Son of Isis;Mighty King of the Nubians;Great ruler of Egypt;And guardian of the sacred River Nile’;Grant that the Magi may receive the thoughts of another;And let them enter into the mind of the Magi.The Magi then places a disc FACE DOWN into the sacred well. (The disc is placed face down so as not to influence the participants selections)The participant then places their disc face up into their freely selected sacred well for all to see.When all discs have been inserted into the two sacred wells, the Magi places the lid of the sacred casket back onto the sacred casket to hold all of the discs in place in the wells – in the order they were placed - and slowly turns the sacred casket over and gently rests the sacred casket down on its lid.All of the Magi’s discs are now face up; and all of the participants discs are now face down in the order they were placed into the sacred wells so nobody knows the order that the Magi placed their discs into the sacred well.The Magi now gently lifts up the sacred casket to reveal the two stacks of discs – taking care not to topple the two stacks of discs onto the table – and sets the upturned casket on one side.One by one the Magi reveals each participant disc and compares each face down disc with the Magi’s selection – which is face up for all to see that BOTH DISCS MATCH!This is repeated four more times – and every time the Magi’s face-up disc matches the participant’s FACE-DOWN disc – bearing in mind that the Magi always went first when the discs were placed into the scared wells.ENJOY!Happy fooling and STAY SAFE

All in all, this magic set is good value for money. However on the set we received, a lot of the numbers on the magic cards were so faded that they couldn't be read and therefore tricks that use the cards can't be performed. Disappointing. Everything else we've tried so far has worked though. It's a shame we can't get through to the vendor and arrange for new cards to be sent, rather than having to return the whole set (which we probably won't bother doing). The other thing to bear in mind is that the box that all the tricks are housed in doesn't lock shut and has a large hole at the top for performing tricks, so don't expect everything to stay together for long if your kids are anything like mine.

We got this as a replacement Magic set for a 7yo when the box of 125 magic tricks (mostly in naff plastic) was returned due to poor quality of the items (and failure of a fair few of the tricks). The Melissa and Doug set is in a different league, lots of wooden items with a nice look to them. As a gift to a young and aspiring magician this looks fantastic. Every trick works as intended (more or less) and it all packs away into a fairly solid wooden box but it isnt without its flawsThe best item by far is the trick that puts someones coin inside 3 nested boxes. You need some good patter (and a little sleight of hand helps) to make it work well, but even a young one can really impress people with thisAnother good item seem to be the mind reading cards (which with practice you can use without even looking at them, and that really impresses people) for a 7yo is it harder as it requires some mental arithmetic but our little one really wants to learn how to do it now, which is good. The coin multiplying tray is ok, and with a little help I was able to show our little girl how to do the same trick with a plain tea cup saucer, which also impressedIn use some of the other tricks are rather poorly made alas. For example the coin vanisher box has wonky hinges and an all too obvious shelf, the wand vanisher has a mirror that isnt fitted properly so you can see how it works and the ball vanisher has a flimsy plastic hinge that bends after a few enthusiastic uses. The wood and velvet vanishing bag is almost great but the hinge is too stiff for a little one and even a grown up will struggle to use the prop properly without raising suspicion. The prediction mummy seems to work but so far it has proven impossible to finish the trick without people seeing how it works - maybe that will improve with practice?All in all it is a shame the items dont quite live up to the promise (at least from an adult purchasers point of view, and at the price). From the looks alone it appears to be a great gift, and to be fair our 7yo is so very proud of her Magic setIf you are wanting a gift for a younger child (7 up to maybe 10 or 11) who is wanting a good start in magic, then this is a good choice (well there arent that many other choices). Our little girl feel like she is using 'proper' magic items rather than stuff you would get from a Christmas cracker and she now really wants to learn more tricks (which I doubt would have happened with the naff plastic stuff we got initially) so we are adding a colour changing hanky and getting a couple of good books as well - so a successful outcome even if a fair few items in the set probably wont last long and the price is quite high

Whole item was just right

I purchased this set as My son wanted to put on a magic show for his 7th birthday party. So I wanted a set with tricks he would actually be able to remember and deliver well and that would really wow his friends.This set did the trick!Even the adults were amazed at how good the magic tricks were and were stumped on a few of them.Yes this set is pricier them most but you are paying for quality and a toy that will actually get used.Some of the tricks are so easy to execute that they only take an hour or so to master. Then a few take a week of practice and others are more adapted to older children about 9+. So there is a longevity to the set as well. Certainly not just for 6/7 year olds but also up to teens and beyond.It really looks the part as well with a really mysterious feel created by the artwork.Honestly I think every child should own this set.