The National Magic Day, which falls on 31 October, is a day set aside to celebrate the art of using illusions and tricks to entertain audience.

The National Magic Day was reportedly started as day to honour the world-famous magician Harry Houdini, who died on 31 October, 1926.

Interestingly, 31 October is not the only day set aside to celebrate magic. Tricksters also celebrate 12 June as Magic Day because the October version often gets overshadowed by Halloween.

Find below two easy tricks that can be used to spice up October's Magic Day and to please children.

The Crayon Trick: Ask a child to pick a crayon from a box, and you guess the colour.

According to Real Simple, start off the act by standing with your back to your child. Put your hands behind your back and ask the child to pick a crayon and place it in your hands.

Once that is done, turn to face the child. At the same time, scrape the crayon slightly with your right thumbnail so that some wax gets stuck between your finger and the nail

Transfer the crayon to the left hand and wave your right hand and mutter made-up magical spells to distract the child. As you are waving, glance at the colour of your thumbnail and reveal the answer.

Making a ketchup packet rise and fall in a bottle: All you need for this trick, which has been explained in detail in Buzzfeed, is a plastic bottle filled with water and a ketchup packet immersed in it.

The packet can be made to rise and fall by subtly squeezing and releasing the bottle with your right hand. Distract the kid by making a show of controlling the movement of the packet with your left hand.

If you are not in a mood to indulge in magic and trickery, spend the day watching movies based on magic. One movie that's sure to hold the attention of children is the Harry Potter series.

Here are some other movies based on magic and magicians:

  • Oz the Great and Powerful
  • Maleficent
  • Enchanted
  • The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
  • The Sorcerer's Apprentice
  • Aladdin