Using Mr Bottle’s Magic Workshops to Teach Children Values.

With have been receiving quite a few enquiries as well as bookings from teachers and parents about Mr Bottle‘s Magic Workshops to teach children values. Why?

You can probably strike a chord with me when I mention how kids sometimes lack confidence. You will also understand the frustrations of teachers and parents when their children do not listen or follow instructions. I am a parent myself, frankly, I faced similar problems.

Mr Bottle’s Education Background

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I am very passionate about education and values. Although I have been teaching magic for a long time, it is only under the persuasion of my wife, that I systemised the magic course to teach values to children about 5 years ago. She could see the difference in our children after learning magic so she wanted to share this with parents.

I studied psychology as a single major in NUS so I can understand more about kids behaviour in magic. One of the papers I wrote was on Play and how having fun can improve learning. I also represented Singapore for “UNESCO Conference on Youth and Values in Asia” in Seoul after I graduated from university.

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Currently, I am a MOE registered trainers as well as a PA Trainer. I have taught magic at NTUC Learning Hub too.

Interesting Observations During Magic Workshops to Teach Children Values

Having done many magic workshops in school and private, I noticed a few interesting observations of children after learning magic.

Observation 1: There is no shy kid.

Yes, there is no shy kid. We realised that most children are more than happy to perform, even if they do not volunteer themselves. Given that there are some who are quieter, but most are happy to perform if called upon.

From the very beginning, I was advised by my psychologist friend and magician, Paul Critelli, not to label anyone.

He was against this notion of scoring and grading them for magic. I agreed so our scoring system was to show NOT how well you can perform, but how much of the values you learned and showed. This motivated the kids to learn in a fun way and try their best to understand the values.

I also realised that having group performance helped to create a norm that everyone is the same.

Observation 2: Children understand more about these life values than you think.

Most children may not be able to explain certain values (eg. empathy or resilience), they do understand when given the worksheets to complete.

Then, you may ask, why did they ‘behave’ in that way if they know? There are several reasons for this:

• You see, seldom 1 value stands on its own. There are combinations of values (eg. social awareness + empathy + respect) needed to exhibit one value. It is rather difficult for them to collectively understand the values in a single context hence it is many wholistic practical sessions are needed.
• Knowing and practising the values are totally 2 different things. There are very little chances for them to practise the right values in the right context for them to learn. For instance, in a classic example, most children do get more answers correct in our empathy worksheets at a very young age, yet may not practise the empathy given the situation. That is why we use magic and our open feedback sessions to allow kids to practise empathy. There are, of course, many other ‘real-life’ chances which we try to recreate for them to practise in the magic classes.

With our system of emphasizing on values and helps to reinforced through practising. That is why we also have notes built for parents and teachers. There are limitations what we can do in an hour of class. Having a class of 10 allow the students to learn from each other, however reduces the time they can practise each trick.

That is why, in our class, we will constantly tell the children to perform their magic for their friends, teachers, parents and relatives. For parents, we encourage them to video their kids’ performance so that the learning continues.

Observation 3: Some overly quiet or active children are actually very smart.

We do meet children who can guess the secret of the magic sometimes. There are others who get ‘ahead’ of the magic since they guessed how it was done.

That is why in our magic lessons, we emphasise that secrets don’t mean anything. Knowing how to perform and understanding the values behind it are more important than anything else.

This is very much applied in life, isn’t it? Sometimes, we focus so much on the academic results and use that as our children’s KPI. In the real world, what is more important?

Observation 4: ‘Disruptive’ kids do not understand the societal norms.

Yes, they do not mean it. These disruptive children do not understand that by behaving in some ways, they disturb the societal norms. Interestingly, these kids are probably the ones who are quick to raise their hands to do the individual showcase first.

In most cases, our students have to follow the exact steps to get to our endpoints. However, we also have some magic which we kept it so open-ended which these kids may excel.

In this case, more attention is definitely needed in tasks which needs them to be followed closely.

Mr Bottle’s Magic Workshop is not a magic pill.

Do not expect an immediate change in behaviour after 1 or 2 lessons. This change can take effect when the participants consistently practise the values in magic. This means, after the lessons, the student must continue to perform the magic with the teacher or parent encouraging while ensuring that the right values are shown.

Moreover, our magic classes are seldom one-to-one, hence we usually do not have the luxury of allowing everyone to perform individually.

That is why our notes are actually designed for parents and teachers to follow up after that.

The good news is that most students do practise and perform the magic outside of our magic class. In fact, there was a case in which a child performed during lessons. We had to remind them of the example of ‘respect’ in which students in our magic class are to pay attention to whoever is performing in front.

Hence for each value which we cover to be effective, we require not only multiple lessons, but also consistent real world practice.

Why magic works?

Everyone knows that kids learn better while having fun. But teachers, parents and educators know that it is difficult to make every single lesson fun.

Mr Bottle is first an entertainer, then an educator. This makes a whole lot of difference in our lessons incorporating interaction and fun like videos, games, discussion, and of course, magic show. That is why Mr Bottle’s magic academy makes such a great magic school.

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Magic is also something an active art which encompasses theatre, psychology, art, science, math and so much more. This makes the perfect medium to explore for children, applying what is comfortable for them in their magic. Magic is a performing art which requires interaction.

The Results of Mr Bottle’s Magic Workshop

Mr Bottle’s Magic Academy has received many rave reviews so far from local schools. For instance, teachers immediately increased the frequency of the magic class after a trial class. Some were surprised how the ‘shy’ pupils are volunteering themselves in our magic classes. More schools are enquiring after hearing about fellow teachers too.

My magic school is not set up to teach kids how to perform 100 magic tricks. (I know there are many workshops around which boast that kids can learn 10 tricks after 1 lesson.) My students only learn 1 magic per lesson because a lot is focused on the values.

I also believe that it is better to learn 1 magic very well than to learn 10 mediocre tricks.

What if my kid ready to learn?

My priority now is to reach out to as many schools as possible to run our programme. Teachers have the first-hand information on how their kids are fairing in class so they can sieve out students suitable for this programme.

We do have a lot of individuals asking about our lessons. Since running our own magic lessons requires a lot of efforts to market with cost of hiring venues, we prefer if parents can form their own small groups for our magic lessons at your venues.

We can also do 1-to-1 lesson though it is more expensive as our price is for a minimum of 5 kids. ($260 per lesson, up to 5 children. Our full term consist of 10+2 lessons, with 3 terms per year.)

If your kids are keen to learn magic but find our lessons too costly, you can buy our magic tricks and learn it at home too. There are selected lessons which we teach parents how to incorporate values in the magic.

• Mr Bottle Magic Set ***Best Seller ****
• Walk through Wall Magic Trick 
• Dice Explosion *** Easy to Perform ***
• Ring and Chain Magic
• Dice Shake Up Magic
• Online Magic Class – (Promotional Rate for Trial Class!)

Hope this helps parents and teachers understand our magic lessons better.