Presto Papers

Magician Ryan Oakes shows you some School Magic that will leave your classmates amazed -- and you can bank on that! Learn how to magically turn a coin into a dollar bill with the Presto Papers trick!

A quarter
A dollar bill
5 pieces of construction paper (1 green, 2 orange, 2 purple)
Scissors
Glue stick

SOMETIMES WE USE MATERIALS THAT REQUIRE ADULT SUPERVISION…LIKE SCISSORS SO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE FRIENDS AND FAMILY AROUND WHENEVER YOU DO MAGIC TRICKS!

1. To prepare, cut a piece of green construction paper in half vertically.
2. Now you have to cut two smaller pieces of orange construction paper that can be folded up to fit inside one of the green halves. Fold a piece of orange paper about a third of the way along side itself, creasing sharply.
3. Fold the paper back along its other side the same amount and crease again.
4. Cut along the folds you’ve made. Make sure you have an adult help you when using scissors.
5. Now you have two pieces of orange paper that are the same size. Hold them back to back and trim about a third off the end of both so they are they same length as your green paper.
6. Fold the long sides of one piece of orange paper inward to meet each other at the center, creating a door fold. Then fold the short ends in on each.
7. To make identical folds in the second piece of orange paper, lay your first piece on the table, folded sides down. Lay your second piece over it centered, feel through for the edges of the first piece, then repeat step 6 to fold the sides of the second piece in, lining its folded edges to the first one's.
8. Now you have two identical orange envelopes. Use your glue stick to glue the envelopes together, back to back in perfect alignment. Use a lot of glue to make sure they don’t fall off each other.
9. Repeat steps 2 through 7 to create two smaller purple envelopes. These should be small enough to fit inside each orange one you’ve just created.
10. Open up one of the orange envelopes and place a purple one inside. Fold up your dollar bill and place it inside the purple one.
11. Fold the purple envelope closed with your dollar inside, and then fold the orange one closed with your purple one inside.
12. Place your attached orange envelopes into your green piece of paper with the stuffed one (the one hiding the purple envelope with the dollar) face down.
13. Open up the empty orange envelope and place the empty purple one inside.
14. Now you're ready to perform the trick. Show three pieces of paper (your green, your empty orange, and your empty purple) and your quarter to the audience.
15. Place the quarter in the center of your empty purple envelope. Show all sides of this envelope to your audience and then fold them closed over the quarter.
16. Place this purple envelope inside your empty orange one, folding its sides over it.
17. Time for some misdirection. Lift the orange envelopes up and show your green paper to the audience. As you do this, use some slight of hand to secretly flip your orange envelopes in your other hand behind it.
18. Place your green paper back down and place your orange envelopes back down inside, now with the quarter stuffed one facing down and the dollar stuffed one facing up. Close the green paper up over everything.
19. Wave your hands and snap your fingers. Open the green back up, then your orange envelope, then finally your purple one to reveal the dollar inside. Your audience will think your quarter has magically turned into a dollar!