Prep Time: About 10 minutes Entertainment Time: 20 minutes or moreEnergy Expended by Child: Minimal What You Need:
A medium-sized cardboard box that’s been opened at the topA box cutter or something sharp to cut into the box (Grownups only!)Markers, glitter glue, stickers, feathers – whatever crafts you like.Trinkets from around the house
How to Play: Ask your child to decorate the cardboard box as desired (and let any sticky crafts dry), transforming it into a magical keeper of secrets. Then, cut a narrow flap on one of the short sides of the box. This is where you’ll insert your trinkets into the box (e.g. a figurine, an m&m candy, a note from a fortune cookie) when a kid isn’t looking. Tell your kid this is the “special peek” slot. Announce that it is time to play The Magic Box game. Come prepared with something hidden in your hand that will fit into the slot. Then ask everyone involved to sit around the box and stack one hand each, one atop the other. Sit on the side with the slot facing you (this is key). Then instruct players to all wish very hard for the magic box to work. Now, insert the “magic item” through the slot. So as not to get caught, distract the players by fidgeting and moving the box or playfully saying, “No peeking!” or “Wish harder!” or “No wishing out loud!” You could also just ask them to close their eyes when they wish — wishing works better, of course, when you’re without distractions. After a few moments pass, ask players to remove their hands, and perform a drum roll. This is integral to making sure the magic is properly transferred. Once a drum roll has progressed, ask one player to take a “special peek” inside the box. Finally, the kids open the box and gasp when they see that there is, in fact, an object inside of it. (Sometimes the Magic Box can be a real joker, you know. Once, it gave the kids a piece of toilet paper when they tried to play the game in the bathroom.) Magic Box doesn’t work every time, and the reason you can tell your kids is: “Magic takes a lot of energy, and needs to rest.” Truthfully, asking me to be a magician more than three times a day is pressing my luck at not getting caught. Wrap Up: It is so much fun to delight my children with something that seems so easy to figure out, but to them, seems like “other forces” are at play. This game is an instant mood changer during moments at home when a kid is cranky or can’t seem to get over the disappointment of the moment. I love that some novice magician skills and a cardboard box can help me convince my kids that magic is real.
