24 Feb Easy Magic Tricks
Easy Magic Tricks
Eight simple tricks anyone can learn - step by step, with no special kit and no years of practice. The exact tricks I started with.
Welcome, future magician. I'm Close-Up Chris, and I've spent 28 years turning simple sleight of hand into jaw-dropping moments at weddings, parties and corporate events across the UK. But everyone starts somewhere - and this is where you start.
Below are eight easy magic tricks for beginners - the kind anyone can learn and do at home, with no fancy kit and no years of practice. They're quick to pick up, genuinely impressive, and perfect for adults who want a few close-up tricks ready to impress friends down the pub or at the dinner table.
Here's the real secret, though - magic isn't only about the method. Every trick below comes with clear step-by-step instructions, but it's the confidence and showmanship you wrap around them that makes people gasp. Grab a coin, a pencil and a deck of cards, and let's get started.
Eight tricks, start to finish
The Magnetic Pencil
Make a pencil cling to your open hand as if by magnetism. A perfect quick opener - all you need is a watch.
- A standard pencil
- A watch with a snug strap
- A willing audience (the dog counts)
- Secretly tuck a second pencil behind your watch strap - this is your hidden "magnet".
- Hold the visible pencil flat against your palm, lining it up with the hidden one behind the strap.
- Slowly open your hand, letting the hidden pencil pin the visible one in place so it appears to cling on its own.
- Keep your movements natural and your face straight - sell it like you're as baffled as they are.
Why it works: it's all in the positioning. Nobody clocks the pencil tucked behind the strap - the performance is what sells it. Practise in a mirror first.
The Coin Behind the Ear
Pluck a coin out of thin air - right from behind someone's ear. One coin, zero setup, guaranteed grin.
What you need: a single coin (a 50p sits nicely in the hand).
- Show the coin openly in your right hand, then pretend to place it into your left - secretly keeping it hidden in your right fingers (the classic "drop").
- Close your empty left hand as if it's holding the coin, and let everyone's eyes follow it.
- Reach up behind your volunteer's ear with your right hand, coin still tucked away.
- Slide the coin to your fingertips and "produce" it from behind their ear, as if it had been hiding there all along.
- Open your left hand to show it empty - then hand them the coin to keep.
Why it works: pure misdirection. The instant everyone watches your "full" left hand, your right hand does the real work unseen. Sell the drop and the ear does the rest.
The Spinning Straw
Make a straw spin on top of a bottle without laying a finger on it - science dressed up as sorcery.
What you need: a plastic bottle and a straw (a paper-wrapped one works best).
Secretly rub the straw briskly on your sleeve or hair to build up a static charge.
Balance the straw flat across the mouth of the bottle so it can pivot freely.
Hold your hand near one end - not touching - and let the static draw it round.
Wave your hands as if channelling unseen forces, and watch it spin on its own.
Why it works: static electricity. Your charged hand attracts the light straw - the dramatic hand-waving is what turns physics into magic.
The Appearing Coin
Produce a coin from thin air and drop it straight into a friend's waiting hands. No pockets, no palming - just cheek.
What you need: a single coin.
- Before you begin, secretly balance a coin on top of your head.
- Ask a friend to cup their hands together in front of you.
- Place your hands near theirs, building suspense as if passing something invisible across.
- At the right moment, tip your head forward so the coin slides off into their hands.
- Let them look down in disbelief as a coin "appears" from nowhere.
Why it works: nobody thinks to look up. A straight face and good timing are the whole secret.
The Self-Slicing Banana
Peel a banana to reveal it's already sliced inside. Completely baffling - and you get a snack out of it.
What you need: a banana and a needle or pin.
- Before the show, push a needle through the peel and gently saw side to side to slice the fruit inside. Repeat every couple of centimetres down the banana.
- The tiny holes are almost invisible, so the banana still looks perfectly untouched.
- When you're ready, hand it over - or peel it yourself with a flourish.
- Watch their faces as the banana falls open in neat, pre-cut slices.
Why it works: all the effort happens before you perform. By the time it's in your hand the magic is already done - you just have to sell the reveal.
Find Any Card
Let someone pick a card, bury it, shuffle - and still find it every time. Your first proper card trick.
What you need: a standard deck of cards and a pencil.
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Mark your key card
With a pencil, put a tiny dot on the back corner of one card. Place that card on the bottom of the deck.
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Let them choose
Have your spectator take any card, memorise it, and place it back on top of the deck.
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Cut the deck
A single cut brings your marked key card directly next to their chosen one. Let them cut again as often as they like - the two stay together.
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The reveal
Spread the cards face down, find your pencil dot, and their card is the one right beside it. Reveal it like you're reading their mind.
Why it works: the marked card is a secret bookmark. Once you spot the dot, their card is always its neighbour - everything else is showmanship.
Find Any Card, Eyes Closed
A step up from the last one - they pick, bury and shuffle, and you find it without even looking.
They choose a card, slot it back wherever they like, and even shuffle the deck. You spread the cards and pull theirs out in a heartbeat - no fishing, no peeking.
What you need: a deck with a one-way back design (a pattern that looks different upside down).
- Beforehand, make sure every card faces the same way, so any reversed card will stand out.
- While they study their chosen card, secretly turn the whole deck end for end - point at something across the room to cover the move.
- Have them slot the card back in. It's now the only one facing the opposite way.
- Let them shuffle, but guide them to an overhand shuffle rather than a riffle, so the orientation holds.
- Spread the deck and find the single card facing the wrong way. That's theirs.
Why it works: a one-way back means their card is secretly upside down to everyone but you. Flip the deck once, and it quietly flags itself.
The Rising Card
A chosen card rises out of the deck on its own, as if pulled by an invisible thread. A proper showstopper to finish on.
What you need: a deck of cards.
- Have a card selected and secretly control it to the top of the deck (the key-card cut from Trick 6 does the job).
- Hold the deck upright, faces toward your audience.
- Make a fist with your right hand, pointing your index finger and pinky outward.
- Secretly rest your pinky on the back of the top card, index finger on top of the deck.
- Slowly raise your index finger - your pinky pushes the card up, so it appears to rise on its own.
- Once it's halfway out, take the top edge between finger and thumb, curl your pinky away, and hand it out to be examined.
Why it works: your pinky does the lifting, hidden behind the deck. Every eye is on your rising index finger - the misdirection is built right in.
From a spinning straw to a rising card, you've now got eight easy magic tricks in your back pocket. But the secret was never really the method - it's the confidence, the timing, and the bit of showmanship you wrap around it. Now go on: make someone say "how did you do that?"
Or let a pro handle the magic.
Learning tricks is brilliant fun - but if you'd rather sit back and watch a professional baffle the whole room at your wedding, party or work do, that's what I'm here for. 28 years, 200+ five-star reviews, zero cheese.