One of my favorite days is Houdini Day. I plan to do them all week!
So I kicked it off as always by asking if anyone has heard of Houdini. Sometimes one or two really know quite a bit about him. Maybe they read a biography and did a book report on him. None of them did today but they were first and second graders so mine was their first introduction to The Great One. I read the first page of The Houdini Box by Brian Selznick. It is a great build up. And I do try to do it justice with a dramatic reading. Then I performed a bit of magic that illustrated Houdini's ability to walk thru a brick wall. A hanky vanishes on one side of a larger hanky and reappears on the other! The kids love it but the problem is they then want to do that trick too!
I did then teach them my paper version of Walking Thru A Wall. It is a bit tricky to get the handling smooth but they loved it.
I then teased them with the one device Houdini could not escape from. The Chinese Finger Trap. They then say "we can get out from them!" Yes, but what if you follow the two rules I ask? No helping with other fingers and no breaking it. That makes it more of a challenge. Most can still do it. Some have fingers so thin they need to use their thumbs. Fun for all.
Oh, we did the hole thru the hand optical illusion with them too. That was more fun!

Back tomorrow with my larger 20 something class!