This works for kids of all ages, as long as you have teeth and clean thumbnails. Having a nose helps, too, as opposed to a trunk or a beak, although you can use your imagination.
The idea here is that you impress (or gross out) others with your ability to crack your nose. It doesn’t actually crack, but they don’t know that, and it can be very effective once you get the hang of it. Works at parties, while waiting for the school bus, when sitting down for meals, and basically any other situation other than a few obvious ones—in church, during a speech, after your Mom (or brother or sister) tells you to stop for the fourth time.
The key is in the illusion of your nose actually cracking, and you should practice a few times in front of a mirror to get it right.
This works best with two hands, although a one-handed nose cracking is certainly possible. A few easy steps:
1. Hold your hands in front of you, palms facing up.
2. Touch the sides of your hands together—pinky to pinky, with one pinky actually overlapping the other slightly.
3. Curl your hands together toward the middle, cupping them, so that the tips of your fingers touch each other—pointer finger to pointer finger, thumb to thumb, that sort of thing.
4. Bring the whole thing up to your nose, covering it all the way up to the top, known as the bridge. You don’t want your nose to be seen at all from this point on.
5. Open your mouth just slightly and gently wedge your thumbnails under your top front teeth. If you don’t have front teeth, try the ones on the sides, but they need to be on the top row.
6. Pull your thumbs forward, away from your face, making a clicking sound.
7. Now here’s the fun part. With your nose hidden from your audience, move your cupped hands back and forth while making the clicking sound. It will appear to others that you are actually cracking your nose. The important rule here is to keep your nose hidden and move your hands convincingly left or right at the same time you are clicking your teeth.
8. Practice in front of a mirror doing it quickly or slowly, with single clicks and with multiple ones. Ooohs and Aaahs are expected from your audience and are the reward for a solid performance.
9. Don’t give away the secret too early. Make the audience squirm a bit.
