There’s something amazing about juggling, something almost magical. It seems to push aside gravity for a few seconds while hands make objects dance in mid-air.

And juggling, though it looks difficult, is easy enough for a child to learn the basics in a day or two.

To celebrate World Juggling Day, I have two activities for you.

First, for kids and adults willing to give juggling a try, learn how to juggle from a page I’ve created with simple, animated steps.

Then, for those of you who’d like something the family can do around the dinner table — and don’t consider it fun to have dinner rolls flying around the room — I have an activity page you can print. (Call it a play-sheet; who would ever want to do a work-sheet in the summer?) On it is a jester bear who is waiting for your family to draw the wacky things you think he’s desperately trying to juggle.

Hey, there’s something fun in the air today.

Want to catch it?

— Bruce Van Patter