10 Easy Salt Magic Tricks & Science Experiments for All Ages

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Wow your friends and family with just a bit of table salt

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Last Updated: October 3, 2025 References

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Disappearing Salt Trick

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Disappearing Salt Shaker

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Floating Salt Shaker

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Science Experiments

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Expert Advice

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Video

When you want to break out some easy magic tricks at the dinner table, a little salt can go a long way. Whether you want making salt disappear or levitating the shaker, we’ll fill you in on the magician’s secrets for performing the trick. Keep reading to learn some simple salt tricks and experiments that you can learn in a few minutes. We also spoke with professional magicians Barry McDonough and Magic Suzy for advice on performing a convincing trick!

How to Perform the Disappearing Salt Trick

Hold a fake hollow thumb in your fist and slowly pour the salt into it. Pretend to pack the salt into your hand. As you do that, slip the fake thumb onto your real thumb. Open your hand to reveal that the salt has disappeared. Quickly pull the fake thumb off and hide it in your fist again to pour the salt out again.

Section 1 of 5:

How to Do the Disappearing Salt Magic Trick

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Hold a fake thumb in your fist. A fake thumb looks like the real deal, but it’s hollow and has an opening on one end. Hold the thumb with the opening face-up in your palm, and wrap your fingers around it. Make sure the fake thumb is completely hidden in your fist, but you can still access the opening.^{[1]
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- If you’re doing this trick for an audience, keep your hands out of sight so nobody sees you hiding the fake thumb.
Meet the wikiHow Experts

Barry McDonough is a professional magician who runs a magic school and workshop to teach aspiring magicians how to perform.

Magic Suzy is a professional magician who specializes in family-friendly magic/comedy performances.
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Pour the salt into the fake thumb. Hold a small amount of table salt in your other hand or in a small container. Hold out your fist with the fake thumb hidden inside, and slowly pour the salt into the thumb’s opening. Take your time so it looks like you’re using a lot of salt.^{[2]
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- Show your audience the salt and tell them that you’re going to make the ordinary table salt disappear in front of their eyes.
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Push your thumb into the fake one. Act like you’re poking your fingers into the opening at the top of your fist like you’re packing the salt in. In reality, gently push the fake thumb so it angles back toward your body. As you’re doing that, slip the fake thumb onto the end of your real thumb on your other hand.^{[3]
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- Talk to your audience while you’re doing this so they’re distracted and not focusing on your hands. Explain that it takes a lot of concentration to make the salt disappear or ask an audience member how they’re doing.
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Open your hands to show that they’re empty. Pull your other hand away from your fist, and point your fingers directly toward the audience. Slowly open your fist and wiggle your fingers to show that the salt has magically disappeared.
- Pointing your fingers toward the audience helps hide the fake thumb so it’s less noticeable.
- Blow on your fist before opening to add a little bit of extra flair to your performance and make it look like the salt disappears into thin air.
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Pull off the fake thumb to make the salt reappear. After a few seconds, tell your audience that the salt isn’t gone forever and that you can make it reappear. Move your arms around and rub your hands together. In a quick, hidden motion, wrap your fingers around the fake thumb and pull it off so it’s hidden in your fist again.^{[4]
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- Once you have the fake thumb off, turn your fist upside-down and pour the salt out. It will look like the salt magically reappeared in your fist.

Section 2 of 5:

Disappearing Salt Shaker Magic Trick

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Cover a coin with a salt shaker and napkin. Tell your audience that you’re going to make a coin disappear. Set the coin on a table, and place a salt shaker directly on top of it. Cover the salt shaker with a large napkin. Keep the napkin tight against the salt shaker so you can see its shape underneath.^{[5]
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Lift the shaker and napkin to pretend like the trick isn’t working. Count down from 3 or say a few magic words, and lift up the salt shaker and napkin. When your audience sees the coin is still on the table, act confused about why the trick isn’t working.^{[6]
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- Lift the shaker and napkin a few times to really sell that you’re struggling with the trick.
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Drop the salt shaker into your lap when you lift the napkin. One of the times you lift the napkin and salt shaker up, hold it over the edge of the table right above your lap. Distract your audience with your other hand and carefully loosen your grip on the shaker so it falls into your lap.^{[7]
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- Make sure to hold onto the napkin so it maintains the shape of the salt shaker. That way, your audience still thinks the salt shaker is in your hand.
- Lift the empty napkin up 1-2 more times after you drop the shaker so it doesn’t seem obvious when you let go of it.
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Smash the napkin to reveal that the shaker has disappeared. After you set the napkin back over the coin, tell the audience that you just remembered the actual trick. Say a couple more magic words and slap the napkin with your hand. Your audience will think that you magically made the salt shaker vanish in front of their eyes!

Section 3 of 5:

Floating Salt Shaker Magic Trick

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Stick a toothpick halfway into a hole on the salt shaker. Any ordinary wooden toothpick works well for this trick. Push the end of the toothpick into one of the holes on the salt shaker, and twist it around so it forms a groove in the wood.^{[8]
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- To avoid poking yourself with the other end of the toothpick, cut it off with a pair of scissors.
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Lift the toothpick to raise the salt shaker. Pinch the toothpick between your thumb and index finger so it’s completely hidden. Tilt the toothpick at a slight angle so it catches the edge of the hole, and slowly lift up the shaker. To the audience in front of you, it will look like the salt shaker is levitating without you even holding onto it!
- You can reuse the toothpick to do the trick in the future. Just conceal it in your hand and stick it in the salt shaker right before you do the trick.

Section 4 of 5:

Easy Salt Tricks for Science Experiments

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Use salt to make eggs balance on top of each other. Sprinkle a little salt on the table and stand the egg on its end. Sprinkle a little more salt on top of the egg, and carefully set another egg on top. The eggs will appear to balance on top of each other without any extra support.
- How does it work? Salt granules are cube-shaped so they stay put when they’re on a surface. Because the egg is supported by multiple grains of salt, it has an easier time balancing on its end.^{[9]
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Float an egg in salt water. Fill up 2 cups with plain water. Add 3 spoonfuls of salt to one of the cups, and stir it until the salt completely dissolves. Carefully drop an egg into each cup. While the egg sinks to the bottom in normal water, it will float up to the surface in the salt water.
- How does it work? Eggs normally have a higher density than water, so they sink. Salt increases the density of the water so it’s higher than the egg, so the egg stays near the top.^{[10]
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Stick an ice cube onto a string with a pinch of salt. Fill a glass halfway with water and add a few ice cubes. Lay a piece of string on top of the ice cube and sprinkle a little salt onto the surface. Wait about 1 minute and lift the other end of the string. The string will magically fuse to the ice cube and lift it out of the water.
- How does it work? Salt raises the freezing point of water, so it causes the ice to melt a little bit. However, the melted ice quickly refreezes around the string, so the string gets stuck to the cube.^{[11]
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Separate salt and pepper with just a plastic spoon. When you have salt and pepper mixed together on a plate, it seems impossible to separate them again, right? With a plastic spoon, it’s actually pretty easy! Rub the back of the spoon back and forth on a piece of fabric for a few seconds, and then hold it about an inch above the plate. The pepper will jump onto the spoon and the salt will stay behind on the plate.
- How does it work? Rubbing the spoon on fabric gives it a negative static charge, so it attracts the positively-charged pepper.^{[12]
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- You can also do this experiment with an inflated balloon instead of a plastic spoon.
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Make a penny shine again with some salt and vinegar. Pour a little bit of vinegar into the bottom of a bowl and stir in a spoonful of salt until it’s dissolved. Add a dirty penny to the bowl and let it sit for about 30 seconds. Take the penny out, rinse it with water, and it should be shinier than before!
- How does it work? Salt and vinegar form a chemical reaction that dissolves the copper oxide on the penny’s surface. The solution even dissolves a little of the copper so the coin looks bright and shiny.^{[13]
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Sweeten fruit with a dash of salt. If you have some watermelon, cantaloupe, or tomatoes at home, cut up some pieces for your experiment. Taste-test the fruit plain first to see what it normally tastes like. Then, sprinkle a little salt onto the next piece. Does it taste sweeter than it did before?
- How does it work? A small amount of salt helps activate taste cells that are sensitive to sweet flavors, so it makes the sweetness more prominent.^{[14]
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Inflate a balloon on top of a soda bottle with salt. Carefully funnel a couple of spoonfuls of salt into a balloon. Secure the balloon around the top of an open soda bottle. Then, hold the balloon up so the salt falls into the drink. The soda will start fizzing quickly and the balloon will magically blow up by itself.
- How does it work? The salt causes the carbon dioxide in the soda to escape faster.^{[15]
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Section 5 of 5:

Expert Advice for Performing Magic Tricks

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Practice your tricks a little bit every day. McDonough agrees, “The best way to [get better] is to dedicate half an hour each day and work on one particular [trick] that you want to accomplish.” He recommends doing the trick slowly at first and repeating it until it feels natural.^{[16]
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Barry McDonough
Professional Magician

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- McDonough recommends getting all the motions down first, and then practicing what you’re going to say to your audience.^{[17]
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  Barry McDonough
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EXPERT TIP

Magic Suzy
Professional Magician
Suzy Seth, known professionally as Magic Suzy, is a Professional Magician based in Tampa, Florida. Known as Magic Suzy, she has over 20 years of experience as a magician, specializing in family-oriented comedy magic shows that entertain both kids and adults. She brings her signature show, The Magic Suzy Show, to kids’ birthday parties, school assemblies, PTA fundraisers, preschools, summer camps, and other private events. Her work has been featured on local TV stations in Tampa. Before that, she worked as an entertainer on Princess Cruises.

Magic Suzy
Professional Magician

The most important part of practicing is developing muscle memory. Performing magic tricks is all about dexterity and strengthening your muscles. Practice over and over until you’re able to repeat the movements the same way every time.
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Approach your act with fun, positive energy. “What makes them grab your attention is your energy,” says Magic Suzy. She continues, “You need to go off and goof around just like them, and make sure they are involved.”^{[18]
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Magic Suzy
Professional Magician

Expert Interview}
- McDonough adds, “ Make sure the audience likes you…Once you have that person liking you and finding you engaging, you can almost do no wrong because they're going to be rooting for you.”^{[19]
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  Barry McDonough
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Connect with the audience personally. “I think part of [the show] is getting to let them know who you are,” says McDonough. “I'll fill in some details about who I am, and I find that audiences like to hear that.”^{[20]
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Barry McDonough
Professional Magician

Expert Interview}
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Focus on entertaining instead of fooling your audience. McDonough believes that “the goal is to make sure everybody has fun because that's what they remember.” He explains that “the audience and the audience members want to have fun, they want to be fooled, they want to be entertained, they want to see you succeed.”^{[21]
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Barry McDonough
Professional Magician

Expert Interview}