Elephant poop foam experiment at a Daejeon kids' show: Magician JT

I was trying to figure out what to do with my 5-year-old this weekend and ended up seeing something a bit different — Magician JT's Science Lab, a show that combines magic with science experiments. Samkku doesn't usually get much exposure to science, so I wondered if it might be too hard for her, but once we actually watched it, there were plenty of scenes that could grab kids' interest, showing scientific principles through magic and experiments. That said, a 5-year-old's real attention span is its own thing, haha — I'll be honest about that part too.

Show time and seats at the Pyeongsong Youth Culture Center small theater

This Daejeon show ran at the small theater of Pyeongsong Youth Culture Center. The performance we saw started at 2pm and ended around 3:10pm, running about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

I sat in row C10, seats 3 and 4, and had no real trouble seeing the whole stage.

Where to park: Hanbat Arboretum, full on weekends

For parking, we used Hanbat Arboretum. Maybe because it was a weekend, the lot was already full when we arrived, so parking was quite a struggle. In the end, my husband couldn't come see the show with us, and it turned into a sad story of just me and Samkku watching together...haha.

If you're heading to a weekend show, I'd suggest leaving with extra time to account for parking.

Magic starts before the show does

One fun thing was that magic was already happening on stage before the main show even began. When you go to a venue with a kid, the wait before the show starts can feel surprisingly long. But since there was already something to watch, Samkku naturally started paying attention to the stage.

What the science magic show actually does on stage

Magician JT's Science Lab wasn't just a show of amazing magic tricks —

Explain the scientific principle → experiment, magic → audience participation

it was a science magic show structured this way.

From levitation and static electricity tricks to air pressure experiments and number magic using math, there was quite a variety.

In particular, during the air pressure experiment where a long plastic bag gets filled with air, a dad from the audience came up on stage to take part.

The math magic also stuck with me. Kids entered numbers related to their birthdays into a calculator, and the audience took part in the calculation, and the final number ended up matching that day's date and the exact time we were watching the show — that surprised even me, haha.

The 5-year-old's favorite: the "elephant poop" foam experiment

There was also a decomposition experiment using hydrogen peroxide and dish soap. This time, the moms played rock-paper-scissors to pick who would take part in the experiment, and since the audience kept getting involved, the mood was really fun. (Sorry I lost, mom..🥹)

And the foam that forms was described to the kids as 'elephant poop.' After the show, when I asked Samkku, "What was the most fun part?" she immediately brought up this elephant poop. Sure enough, a 5-year-old's tastes for poop and farts never fail, haha.

They even showed a way to try an optical illusion at home. Draw a horizontal line on one side of a square piece of paper and a vertical line on the other side, then hold the corners and spin it to create the illusion — I'm planning to try this with Samkku at home.

At the end, they explained how tiny water droplets gather to form clouds, and showed cloud-making using liquid nitrogen.

Can a 5-year-old sit through 70 minutes?

Samkku watched the stage pretty attentively at first, but got a little bored around the middle of the show, haha. Given the show runs about 1 hour and 10 minutes, I felt that might be a bit long for a 5-year-old to stay focused from start to finish. She'd perk back up for flashy magic or experiments where you could immediately see something happening, like the foam-making.

Rather than fully understanding the scientific principles, it works as a show for enjoying science with an "Oh, that's a thing? How neat!" attitude — and as that, it was worth watching even with a 5-year-old.

Magician JT's Science Lab dates in other cities

The Daejeon run has ended, but shows in other regions are apparently planned. Magician JT's science magic show will be in Busan, Inje, Daegu, Gwangju, Namyangju, Yangsan, and Seoul, so if you haven't seen it yet, keep that in mind!

5-year-old Samkku's focus dipped a bit partway through, haha, but the fact that she still remembered the 'elephant poop' experiment as the most fun part even after the show ended shows it left a real impression. If you want to introduce your kid to science as a fun show rather than a lesson, this is worth considering for a weekend outing with kids :)