Crystal Tube and 3 Hankies – ONE GOD
Click to view the lesson full screen
Note: Magic tricks are a great way to get the attention of children. Just remember, whatever you do, DON’T EVER EXPLAIN HOW THE TRICK IS DONE or you will take away the impact that you made on your audience. Just leave them wondering :-).
What you need:
- Crystal Tube Christian Illusion (may be called by other names also) – can be purchased on Amazon from the link below
About the trick:
There is an empty clear tube with a gold band around each end. You have three separate, differently-colored handkerchiefs and you insert them one at a time into the tube and then when you blow them out of the tube, they are miraculously all tied together.
The gold (or silver) band on either end of the tube is important because the color will hide 2 little rubber bands that are also on the end of the tube. These rubber bands are the secret to the whole lesson and are similar in size and color to the ones you use for braces on your teeth. You will generally keep the end of the tube that has the rubber bands covered with your hand but if you show it and keep it moving it is very unlikely anyone will notice the rubber bands. Keep these spaced apart a bit so you can access them one at a time as needed.
To create the effect, insert one handkerchief into the tube but keep one corner of it (about 1 inch) hanging out of the tube… trap this against the end of the outside of the tube with your thumb. Grab another handkerchief by a corner and insert about 1 inch of it into the tube. 
Slide one of the rubber bands off of the tube and over the two corners of the handkerchiefs which will effectively “tie” them together (do this while talking or while doing something else that distracts the audience from the move). Do the same with the last handkerchief. Now that all three are connected with the rubber bands you can eject them from the tube by putting the end to your mouth and blowing. As they float to the ground, you can show that they are all together and have become one.
The Lesson:
You can teach a couple of different things with this trick and doubtless, while you watch the attached video or read this article, you may think of a completely different application. If so, please let me know about it! In this particular case, I am going to use to teach about ONE GOD. You can also use this lesson to teach on restoration (God can put you back together again) and unity.
On a table spread out the handkerchiefs and have the tube sitting there as well.
Pick up the empty tube and illustrate that it is empty by looking at your class using it as a spyglass.
“Today I stand in front of you with an empty tube and three separate handkerchiefs. In just a moment we are going to use these items to make something REALLY neat happen.”
“You know, these handkerchiefs just happen to be the same colors as a stoplight… or well… close I guess.”
HOLD UP THE YELLOW HANDKERCHIEF
“What do you do when you are driving and you see yellow?”
The kids will shout SLOW or SLOW DOWN so just ask the same question just a little bit slower than last time.
“What… do… you… do… when… you… are… driving… and… you… see… yellow?”
They will shout it again and each time they do, slow down a little bit more until you are drawing out each word VERY slowly.
When you have gotten all of the fun from it that you can just stop and say,
“I CAN’T GO ANY SLOWER!”
This will elicit a big laugh. THEN HOLD UP THE RED HANDKERCHIEF
“And what do you do when you see red?”
You will hear STOP so get halfway through a word and STOP suddenly. Stop everything, words, motions etc… turn into a statue. Then ask again and repeat the action. Play this up until it stops being funny.
HOLD UP BLUE
“What do you do when you see green?”
The kids will argue that it is BLUE and NOT GREEN. Make this argument silly and funny.
“You guys are crazy! I didn’t want to just talk about colors today. I came to ask a simple question… ‘How many Gods are there?’”
The kids, depending on your past teaching and on their background, should shout, ONE.
“Yes, that’s right, there is one God… what is His name?” JESUS
“Yes, His name is Jesus but some people will try to tell you that there is NO God or that there are 3 Gods or maybe even that there are 1 million Gods! Can you believe that? You will probably hear that there is the Father (hold up one of the handkerchiefs), the Son (hold up another) and the Holy Ghost (hold up the third) but we know that there is only one GOD!”
“Today, I am going to put these three handkerchiefs in this tube and see if there are indeed three Gods or just one.”
INSERT A HANDKERCHIEF INTO THE TUBE AND PUSH IT TO THE BOTTOM WITH A WAND. DO THIS WITH THE SECOND ONE AND THEN THE THIRD ONE.
WHEN YOU PUSH THE LAST ONE IN PLACE, PURPOSELY SHOVE THE FIRST HANDKERCHIEF OUT OF THE TUBE. LET IT FLOAT TO THE FLOOR AND PRETEND YOU DIDN’T SEE IT.
“Ok, so now we are going to blow the 3 handkerchiefs in this tube up into…”
You will probably not get very far because the kids are going to be going nuts that one of them fell to the floor. Act puzzled and then look down, see the handkerchief and jump like you are scared!
“AGGHHH! How did that happen? Who did that? What it you? Or You? Or You?”
POINT AT DIFFERENT KIDS AND THEN REPEAT THE PROCESS TWO OR THREE TIMES.
“Ok, I am going to be very careful here…”
PUT THEM ALL IN THE TUBE AND THEN POINT IT AT THE KIDS. SHAKE IT VIGOROUSLY WHILE SAYING,
“Now, you all need to stop messing with me and let me get on with my lesson!”
SHAKE ALL OF THE HANDKERCHIEFS FROM THE TUBE. HOLD THE TUBE UP TO YOUR MOUTH TO BLOW AND THEN LOOK PUZZLED (JUST IGNORE THE FRANTIC REMARKS FROM THE AUDIENCE)… EXAMINE THE TUBE CLOSELY AND HOLD IT TO YOUR EYE AND LOOK AT THE KIDS. FINALLY SEE THAT THE TUBE IS EMPTY, SEE THE HANDKERCHIEFS ON THE GROUND AND JUMP AGAIN.
“AGH! Who is messing with me?!?!?”
PUT THEM ALL BACK IN THE TUBES (without using the rubber bands) AND THEN…
“Ok… so we have the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost all in the tube together, let’s blow them out and see what happens. Is there one God or three?”
BLOW THEM OUT AND SEE THEM FALL SEPARATELY TO THE GROUND.
“Huh? What happened? But the bible says, that there is ONE GOD and ONE MEDIATOR between God and men… the man Christ Jesus… It says that there is One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism… It says” (you can add many one God verses here). OH WAIT! I REMEMBER! The bible also says that we are supposed to do ‘all things in the name of the Lord Jesus”’. Can you guys help me? We need to shout out the name of Jesus as loud as we can to make this work!”
“The name of Jesus is the most powerful name on earth… There is no other name given among men whereby we MUST be saved.”
PUT ALL OF THE HANDKERCHIEFS IN THE TUBE AGAIN, THIS TIME DOING IT CORRECTLY USING THE RUBBER BANDS.
“Ok, on the count of three, we are going to try this again. Scream out the name of Jesus and I am going to blow and we will see what happens… ONE, TWO, THREE!”
BLOW IT OUT AGAIN AND YOU WILL HAVE THE THREE HANDKERCHIEFS JOINED TOGETHER.
“SEE!? THERE IS ONE GOD!”
Jesus is the name of the SON… Mary had a little boy and the angel said, thou shalt call his name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins.
Jesus is also the name of the FATHER. Jesus later was talking to the disciples and He told them, ‘I am come in my Father’s name… he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father… I and my Father are ONE…
Jesus is the name of the HOLY GHOST… Jesus that He was going away but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, was going to be sent IN JESUS’ NAME!
The name of the Son, the name of the Father and the name of the Holy Ghost are all Jesus!
THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD AND HIS NAME IS JESUS!
