Mind Reading Trick

This fun magic trick will amaze and amuse classmates. It uses simple materials you may already have around your home.
Remember, it's always a good idea to practice at home first!

Suggested Materials:

* 4 x compact but thick books eg. the final books in the Harry Potter series
* Salt in a small container with a lid

Suggested Instructions:

Step 1: At home, stand your four books on a table side-by-side and touching with the spines facing you. The books need to stand up easily as if they are on a bookshelf (otherwise you may need bookends).

Step 2: Sprinkle a few grains of salt by hand on the top of each book. Sprinkle it away from the spine. The amount of salt should be so small and scattered that only you can see it when you are looking for it. The salt should not be noticeable to anyone else.

Step 3: Turn your back and ask a member of your "audience" to choose one of the books while you are not looking. Ask them to turn it over and look carefully at both the front and back covers. Then ask them to replace the book in exactly the same place.

Step 4: Now turn around and ask them to think hard about the book they were just holding.

Step 5: While they are thinking about the book, you look hard at the books on the table and pretend that you are trying to read their mind. You might want to touch your index fingers to your temples for effect!

Step 6: What you are really doing is looking to see which book has no salt left on top of it. This is the book they were holding!

Step 7: Amaze your "audience" by selecting the right book and holding it in the air! Incredible!

Step 8: You may like to practice this trick a few times at home before trying it at school.

Step 9: At school, repeat Step 3 to Step 7.

Note: At school, you will need to set up your trick while no-one else is in the room - (perhaps before school or during morning tea break).