There's one where you put six relatively small guys on motorcycles inside a spherical metal cage. They drive around in circles but can't for the life of them get any mobile phone signal while inside.

Good thing that, using a phone while driving sounds risky

Thanks, I spit out my coffee.

Our kids in a standard German school has one whole week devoted to learning circus tricks and acts. At the end of the week, they put on a show for the parents and the local community. Money raised from the ticket sales goes back to the school. The kids loved it, and so did the parents.

They did things like walking on glass, eating fire, trapeze and other crazy acts.

Sounds like an insurance nightmare.

My kid went to welding summer camp when he was 8. 12 kids, one instructor; they learnt welding, brazing, soldering, other stuff I don't know the English for. Everyone had a good time and made some amazing things. Nobody suggested there was anything to worry about, but then again those parents wouldn't have signed their kids up. But I never met German parent who were particularly paranoid.

German kids videos and books can be really good too, like the 'was ist was' series that, say, really shows you how internal combustion engines work. I say "can be" because there's a lot of crap there too.

Dallas international school currently has a circus program for elementary and high school students through lone star circus.

I remember welding in shop class in seventh grade in the US. Pretty fun actually. That was more than two decades ago though.

Germany seems to have a lot more "common sense" than the US. Have you seen some of their playgrounds?

Probably just fewer "lawyers" and not more "common sense"

Edit: Added quotes to lawyers because I really meant destroyers of freedom

They've got socialized medicine, so they don't need as much insurance.

Blowing fire as well?

Can't imagine that would be legal. The flame liquids are either toxic and mustn't be swallowed, or they're very high strength alcohol.

Also, you have a significant fire risk with blowing fire - a friend once set a pub counter ablaze...

I sometimes do fire breathing, alongside fire spinning. Pretty much everyone who breathes fire as a hobby or performs professionally uses high purity paraffin.

Alcohol is bad because it burns hot and gets you drunk while you're doing it (very bad) and doesn't make a very impressive flame in comparison.

But yes, it's very dangerous. I refuse to teach anyone who I ever remotely believe will try to shortcut the safety procedures that are designed to make it at least not kill you most of the time.

The short list of safety stuff looks something like this:

1. Don't wear synthetic clothing, especially not nylon or polyester. That stuff will melt if it burns. You're actually better off with bare skin, but really you should wear something that doesn't burn easily.

2. Use a sturdy bottle (won't break if you drop/throw it) with a self-closing valve. If something happens, this will let you ditch the bottle fast and free your hand up for more important things. Last thing you need in an emergency is for your fuel bottle to spill fuel everywhere.

3. Have another fire breather watching you with a fire blanket for safety. If something goes wrong, it's their job to more or less tackle you and smother the flames as fast as possible. And if something really goes sideways, it's their job to call 9-1-1.

4. Check constantly for wind direction, and definitely don't try anything if the wind is unsteady.

At my daughter's school, they had that project week, too. Easily the most important experience in grade school IMO. They put the liquid inside a tube with a non-return valve. Also, all-time adult supervision, clear instructions upfront and kids did not get the tubes until they needed it. Kids were 8/9 years old. Yes, you have a significant risk and I am very glad they took it to help the kids grow up to be responsible people who can take limited risks.

If your doing both fire-eating and fire-breathing in the same act, then it's important to do them strictly in that order.

As for toxicity, you can fire breathe with pharmaceutical grade paraffin(kerosene), if you accidentally swallow some, you'll just experience its laxative effects

There is also the possibility to use cornstarch, flour or other powders for fire breathing. This should be safe, you shouldn't inhale the powder though.

I did it once, when I was around 12 years old. It looks a little less cool than with fluids, but it was still an awesome experience.

For a little while my kid had a circus performer (Belgian not Argentinian) for a nanny. He was just a kid who needed some extra money. Turns out he was realy mountain unicyclng too, which I had not ever heard of before.

It turns out they make cute little unicycles for four year olds. Amazing! All he really learned was unicycling, biking, some inappropriate language in English, and general irresponsibility. All of which have served him well.

If you throw a balloon animal into a ceiling fan, it's pretty funny.

(When I was very young we had a family friend who was a clown, and we visited his house once. This is everything I learned.)

For added effect, put the fan on the floor and paint inside the balloon.

Then sell the carpet for hundreds!

Haha yes as I am a circus person but that is a topic for another day

I'll second this