Effect: You hand the spectator a small box of crayons. Turning your back to the audience, ask a spectator to pick any color crayon out of the box. With your back still turned, ask the spectator to place the crayon in your hands and you will try, given your highly developed sense of touch, to name the color crayon selected. You hand the crayon back to the spectator who puts it back in the box and closes it. You turn around, take the box of crayons in your hand, and hold it to your forehead for a second before correctly naming the color of the crayon selected.
Secret: This is an excellent trick to perform for young kids, including your grandchildren. The “peek” method of mental magic is used with this effect – meaning that, at some point during the routine, you need to sneak a look at the color of the crayon selected. You need a box of crayons that contain five or more crayons that are distinctly different colors.
1. Turning around with your back to the audience, you ask a spectator to select one crayon from the box and place it in your hands, in view of the audience.
2. While you are explaining that one of your gifts is your ability to tell colors by touch alone, secretly scrape a fleck of crayon off with your thumb or fingernail.
3. Alternately, you can turn around to face the audience for a little more cover before scraping the crayon and then turn back around, facing away from the audience.
4. Hand the crayon back to the spectator instructing him to put the crayon back in the box before you turn around.
5. Turning back around, ask for the box and bring up to your forehead as if you need them closer to assist in your concentration. As you do, glimpse the color of the fleck of crayon on your fingernail.
6. Now you are free to reveal the correct color of the crayon solely on the basis of your ability to discern colors by touch or “feel” alone.
