Why Tricks Instead of Treats?
Brian is a magician, inventor, author, and speaker who specializes in using the art of magic to help people set down electronic devices and form true human connections. Through Magic Explorers, he creates screen-free activities that help children build confidence, strengthen communication skills, and discover the joy of connecting with others.
Every Halloween, we open our doors to superheroes, tiny monsters, and neighbors we may not have spoken to since last October. For a few hours, our neighborhoods become filled with conversation, imagination, and shared excitement. Halloween brings the familiar greeting of “Trick or treat!” Most of us know what the treat will be, but what about the trick?
Magic uses surprise and mystery, but its purpose is far more valuable than tricking someone. At its best, a magic trick is a shared experience. A performer invites another person to pause, pay attention, and enjoy a moment of wonder with them. Together, they share curiosity, laughter, and awe.
What you can learn through magic tricks
While performing magic tricks may not in itself seem like a very practical talent, the process of learning and sharing magic teaches priceless skills for many other areas of life. Learning a trick involves preparation. Children work out what to say, follow a sequence, practice handling their materials, and try again when something goes wrong. By this point, they have already started building their confidence and developing patience and persistence.
Performing adds another layer. By explaining instructions, listening, taking turns, and noticing how their audience is responding, children learn to care about others and how to have meaningful connections with them.
Research offers some encouraging evidence. A 2003 study involving 26 children with disabilities reported improved self-esteem and self-confidence after participants learned magic tricks, practiced over several weeks, and performed for others. Although this was a small study of a particular group and cannot establish what every child will experience, it does suggest that learning and sharing magic deserves attention as an opportunity for growth.
Families also describe the excitement of having something to bring home and share. In a testimonial published by 8 True Traits, parent Joy Skinner says, “My daughter has never been more excited to come home and show me what she’s learned!”
That desire to show someone is a valuable opening. It gives a parent, sibling, grandparent, or friend a chance to stop and say, “I’d love to see.” In a busy world, those moments deserve room to grow.
Between schedules, screens, and everyday distractions, how easy is it to move through the day without truly engaging with the people around us? Children need opportunities to experience the enjoyment of connecting face to face. Magic offers a playful way to create those opportunities without making conversation feel like an assignment.
Magic builds what screens can’t
Magic Explorers creates Magic Activity Packs that help children build confidence and strong social skills through hands-on experiences. Designed by a team of educators and professional magicians, these custom magic tricks inspire kids to share what they learn with others.
Each trick gives a child a reason to start a conversation, invite someone to participate, and create a shared moment of wonder. As they practice and perform, they have opportunities to speak clearly, listen, take turns, and connect with the people around them.
A goal of reaching 8 million children
Magic Explorers has a goal to reach 8 million children with opportunities to practice confidence, creativity, communication, and connection through magic. Behind that goal is a concern for providing the everyday experiences children need. They need chances to introduce themselves, contribute to a group, work through mistakes, and discover that what they can do can bring joy to someone else.
That purpose connects with the work of the 8 True Traits Foundation, which helps youth programs intentionally incorporate character development into the activities that children already enjoy. It works to help kids become respectful, prepared, enthusiastic, confident, humble, creative, authentic, and giving.
“Our goal of reaching 8 million children starts with moments like these: a child finding the courage to speak up, someone taking the time to listen, and both walking away feeling connected. Magic gives us a playful way to create more of those moments,” – Brian Daniel South, cofounder of the 8 True Traits Foundation.
At Magic Explorers, that idea is at the heart of its screen-free Magic Activity Packs. Children learn magic they can share while practicing confidence, creativity, and communication. To guide the experience, each magic trick teaches kids to “Make it fun,” “Think of others,” and “Give your best.”
Help share the magic
Halloween is a natural time to introduce that kind of magic. The season already invites imagination, surprise, and a willingness to go outside our normal comfort zone, try something new, and enjoy the unexpected. A simple trick appropriate for a child’s age can turn a doorstep exchange into the beginning of many more shared moments.
This Halloween, learn a simple trick together, give your child time to practice, and encourage them to share it with a friend, neighbor, or family member. You can help by being an encouraging audience and inviting them to try again.
This year, give kids tricks instead of treats! Visit the Magic Explorers website to learn more about its mission and discover ways to bring more magic into everyday moments.
When we suggest “tricks, not treats,” we are imagining a Halloween trick that leaves someone smiling and eager to share that feeling with another person. That is the opportunity a little magic offers at Halloween. Alongside the candy and costumes, we can create a moment that someone will remember long after the last piece of chocolate is gone.
Read more from Brian Daniel South
Brian Daniel South, Magician, Inventor, Author & Speaker
Brian Daniel South is a professional magician, inventor, author, speaker, and the co-founder of Discover Magic, a program that has already taught over 250,000 kids how to connect with others through the art of magic. Brian’s original creations have been used by some of the world's most recognized magicians, including some on the Las Vegas Strip. Brian is also part of The 8 True Traits Foundation, A nonprofit that offers training to enrichment providers and helps kids build character through intrinsically fun activities.
