by Have you ever wanted someone to call you and it happens? Did you ever crave your favorite treat and mom walks in the door with that Snickers or Milky Way, Aba Zaba or Hershey Bar? It truly feels like if we think really, really hard about something, it might happenr.
We have seen magicians levitate people high into the air from a table. In this stunt, we will learn how to make a cup rise up out of our finger tips! Believe it? Concentrate on seeing this happen. Watch as it does.
Make a cup float in mid-air but…shhh!…it only looks that way.
Preparation: Take a paper cup and make two cuts to form an “X”. Each cut should be about an inch long. Take care with scissors.
Do:
Secretly attach the cup to the end of your thumb by pushing the tip of the thumb through the center of the, “X”. Hold the cup lightly with the fingers of both hands.
With your thumb pointing dfirectly at the audience (the cup is upright), remove your other fingers from the cup.
Move your thumb toward the audience. It will look as if the cup is floating!
Grab the cu0p with your fingers and pull it back as you say,
Say: “Wow! This cup is lighter than air!”
Have you ever been fooled by something because it appeared to do something but this didn’t happen at all? When there is an eclipse of the sun or moon, it appears to vanish for a few moments but it always reappears. Is a rainbow actually ribbons of colors arching over a horizon? Is there such thing as a hairless dog?
These are all examples of optical illusions. Fruits look good to eat but they don’t all taste that way. Coconut looks like a cannon ball. Pineapple looks like a door mat. What do pomegranates look like? How about an orange, a banana or an avocado? What do each of these look like. My favorite is a kumquat. It doesn’t taste like a little sweet orange at all!
People are that way, too. They may appear to be angry, happy or sad but they may feel very differently. Words we say may have a double meaning which confuses everyone. Have you ever heard someone say,
“Time flies when you’re having fun.”
The verb, “flies” and the word, “fun” … sound the same but they mean a completely different thing! They are synonyms.
Names can trick us, too. Here is a conversation between a teacher and a student. The student was tricked by the names of three ships.
Teacher: Bobby, what happened in the year 1492?
Bobby: I don’t know. I wasn’t alive back then.
Teacher: That’s enough of that. Bob by. Now, I’ll give you a hint: Do the hnames, Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria sound familiar?
Bobby: Not to me. I don’t know a lot about salsa music.
This song is about a Kookabura who sits in a gum tree and eats gum drops but everyone knows gum drops don’t grow on trees. Often, we allow our imaginations to take us into a world of joy and fantasy. It is a short trip, but it is fun.
A Kookaburra is a native Australian bird of the Kingfisher family, whose loud call sounds are like echoing human laughter. The name is a loanword from Wiradjuri, “guuguubarra.”
“Kookaburra Laugh Song” by Marion Sinclair, l932 (Austrailian nursery rhyme)
Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Merry, merry king of the bush is he
Laugh, Kookaburra! Laugh, Kookaburra! Gay your life must be
Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Eating all the gum drops he can see
Stop, Kookaburra! Stop, Kookaburra!
Leave some there for me
Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Counting all the monkeys he can see
Stop, Kookaburra! Stop, Kookaburra!
That’s not a monkey that’s me
Kookaburra sits on a rusty nail
Gets a boo-boo in his tail
Cry, Kookaburra! Cry, kookaburra!
Oh how life can be!
Google for videos of the song, “Kookaburra Laugh Song”
Scripture Application: John 3:16. We all know that an image of Christ on the cross is not a pretty sight but when we learn that God loves us and He gave His only Son for us so that we might have eternal life… well, that is a good thing. When we look at Jesus, we should think about how he died for our sins and we will live forever because He suffered for us. God loved us that much!
Boundaries: Does your clothing and your appearance make people think you are a generous, kind and loving person? Do you always try to have a smile on your face? Understand that people do not always feel happy. Their faces may not show how they truly feel inside. Have a value-centered chit chat with them. Show them a good trick. Put a smile that is real, on their faces.
