Gretchen Smiles’ joy is obvious as she stuns her young audience with her favorite magic trick.
The trick involves six cards laid face up in a row. She asks a member of the audience to pick a number between one and six.
Say the number is five, which has four letters. She counts to the fourth card and flips it. The back of the card is red. As she flips the other cards, all of them are blue. No matter what the number is, when the last card is flipped as a word is spelled, the back is always red; the rest are always blue.
Just as the trick’s simplicity hides its clever outcome, this six-year-old and her 20 classmates are gaining more than slip-of-hand in their “Secrets of Magic” class this summer at Hinsdale Middle School.
The session is one of three magic classes held four days each week for two months for children in kindergarten through 3rd grade. While the children are taught to mind-read cards and make rope knots vanish skillfully, they also are learning life skills, according to their teacher, retired magician Bill Bishop, 72.
“There are always a couple of kids who aren’t as aggressive, who need some prodding,” he said. “Those are the ones. . .I want to learn, because it shows them that they are successful.”
That lesson can be remembered when other things in life appear difficult, he added.
Trick performing is another example of show-and-tell, said Bishop. “It gives them the experience of public speaking with something in their hands. It gives them leadership, poise, confidence and the ability to communicate,” he said. “So if you roll it together, it gives them a headstart in life, no matter what they do.”
And with a slight sweep of his hand, a coin disappears.
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