I was privileged to see Al Goshman perform and lecture in an extreme close-up situation way back in the mid-1970s. He was magnificent! Have met/seen very few entertainers since whose sense of timing and misdirection was so superb.

Yup~ Back then, he was "Baker the fakir"!

Maybe this week, I'll tell the story of Al's "lecture" at Bill Brewe's shop in Cincinnati OH.

Thank you all for your responses. I've found 'generic' props to work great with children and I really liked the advice I got from this topic, where I should use those props in a different manner to create new 'effects'. This will give me the chance to invest in new routines with the same props, without having to focus on learning new tricks with different props.

And yes, the magic is you. The entertainment value is far bigger when you do the magic, instead of when the prop does the magic. At least, for me it works that way.