Daejeon kids' show alternating experiments and magic: Magician JT

On a Sunday afternoon, I took the kids to Eoullim Hall at Pyeongsong Youth Culture Center. The show was called Magician JT's Science Lab. From the name alone I worried it might be mostly science experiments and wondered if the kids would even enjoy it. But it turned out to be a 60-minute family show where you get to enjoy magic and science experiments together.

Booking, parking and seating at Pyeongsong Youth Culture Center

Magician JT's Science Lab can be booked through Naver. Searching "마술사제이티의 과학실험실" on Naver brings up the booking page. For parking, we used the Hanbat Arboretum lot near the venue — free for up to 3 hours, which was plenty of time to get there comfortably. (We ended up staying longer at the arboretum and went over by about 2 hours, so we paid ₩3,000.)

Seating is assigned on-site on a first-come, first-served basis starting 1 hour before showtime, separate from your reservation. If you want your child to get called up on stage, arriving early and sitting in the front row helps. We were a bit late and debated between a back-center seat or a front-side seat, and went with front-side — the stage felt close and the view was great. The only downside was that during the planet-rolling game near the end, the planets didn't come toward the side much, so the kids were a little disappointed. (Though I suspect the back wouldn't have gotten much either.)

Waiting before the show was not boring either

Walking into Eoullim Hall, big balloon decorations and props caught my eye first.

After checking our seats against the seating chart, we watched fun videos looping on the screen above the stage — snack-name quizzes, character-name guessing games. Alongside newer characters like Cinnamoroll, there were even old-school cartoons like Run Hani, so my husband and I ended up joining in guessing along with the kids, making the wait fly by.

The opening act is magic, not science

Before the main show, Magician JT gets the crowd hyped up with a real magic trick first — something like moving a box with a person inside. Thanks to this opener, the kids were completely locked onto the stage from the very start.

Here's what the actual science experiments were:

• Static electricity experiment
• Air pressure experiment
• "Elephant toothpaste" experiment made with hydrogen peroxide + dish soap
• Artificial cloud made with liquid nitrogen + hot water

How Magician JT ran the four science experiments on stage

Static electricity experiment plus a levitation trick

They placed aluminum foil on a round static-electricity device and turned it on — the foil fluttered up and scattered apart. Fun to watch, but right when I thought "this feels a bit small-scale for a magic show," they immediately called a kid up on stage and performed real levitation magic. The timing was perfect, and the kids' excitement hit its peak. This structure — one science experiment, one magic trick, alternating — meant there was never a dull moment.

Air pressure experiment: a dad gets called up on stage

This time, a dad from the audience got picked, first-come basis, to go up on stage. He was asked to blow up a plastic bag with his mouth, showing that while blowing normally takes a while, using air pressure can fill it instantly in 0.1 seconds. Honestly, the joke is supposed to be the dad struggling up on stage, but this particular dad was extremely fit and extremely enthusiastic. He blew it up in 5 seconds flat. (A father's love, trying to win his kid a magic prop, maybe?)

Hydrogen peroxide experiment, or making "elephant toothpaste"

Mix hydrogen peroxide, dish soap, and a catalyst substance (known to be either potassium iodide or yeast), and a toothpaste-like foam explodes upward in a massive amount almost instantly. The sheer volume is probably why it's called "elephant toothpaste."

Here's the principle: hydrogen peroxide normally decomposes slowly into water and oxygen, but adding a catalyst (potassium iodide or yeast) speeds up that decomposition dramatically. The huge burst of oxygen gets trapped by the dish soap in foam form, which is what causes all that foam to pour out. Apparently this reaction is exothermic, so the foam is warm too. You might feel tempted to touch it, but if the hydrogen peroxide concentration is high (12% or more), it can cause skin irritation or even burns, so be careful.

Making an artificial cloud on stage

This time, a mom went up with the kids to help with the experiment. My kids tried desperately to push me up onto the stage, but thankfully I lost at rock-paper-scissors against JT, so I didn't have to go up (lol). The final experiment was making clouds by pouring hot water onto liquid nitrogen.

Watching this, I got a little nervous, worrying that mixing such hot water with something that cold might cause an explosion. Turns out it's just a physical change — heat transferring and causing the liquid to turn into gas — not a chemical reaction, so there's no bang or flying debris. As long as it's not in an enclosed space, there's no explosion risk. The hot water generates a burst of steam, and when that steam meets the freezing air around the liquid nitrogen (close to -196°C), it condenses instantly into tiny water droplets, pouring out like a visible cloud. "Hot steam + extremely cold air = instant condensation."

Still, liquid nitrogen itself is a hazardous material to handle, so I want to note that this is an experiment you should only watch on stage with a trained professional running it. Both my kids kept going "whoa" as the cloud billowed out across the stage.

What did the kids like most? Magic over science

Honestly, "I liked the magic more than the science experiments" was the shared verdict from both my kids. After the levitation trick especially, their eyes went round and they kept asking, "How do they actually do that?" over and over. I guess to kids, seeing someone float right in front of their eyes is more striking than anything else. As a mom, I thought it was great that science was woven in naturally between the magic tricks the kids already loved.

Planet balloon game and the laser show encore

After all four science experiments were done, they rolled giant planet-shaped balloons out into the audience for everyone to play with together. The stage lighting combined with the planet balloons made for a great photo moment too.

Next came the encore performance: a laser show. One note here — there was an announcement that filming the laser show head-on with your phone camera could damage the screen. So I filmed carefully from the side. (My phone is precious to me.) By the way, this show allows photo and video filming completely freely from start to finish. A lot of kids' shows I've been to say "no filming," which is always disappointing, so this was definitely a plus.

As the laser lights swept over the audience, kids and adults alike waved their hands and had fun together. After the show, everyone got a little illusion-based magic item as a gift, and my kids kept playing with theirs long after we got home.

Worried an hour of science experiments will drag for kids?

Before going, I honestly worried that a show with only science experiments might get boring. Watching it, that concern turned out to be completely unfounded. Thanks to the structure of magic tricks constantly slipping in between experiments like static electricity, air pressure, elephant toothpaste, and cloud-making, there was never a dragging moment from start to finish. Science alone would've been dull, magic alone would've been flat — but mixing the two struck just the right balance.

Magician JT's Science Lab / Runtime: 60 minutes / Rating: all ages / Reservation: Naver booking

Nationwide tour dates for Magician JT's Science Lab (as listed in the original post)

• October 4, 2026, Busan — Sohakdae Hall, Jeonggwan Edu Park
• October 10, 2026, Gangwon-do — 2nd floor main auditorium, Inje Cultural Center
• November 8, 2026, Daegu — Scientree Hall, National Daegu Science Museum
• November 15, 2026, Jeonnam·Gwangju — Seo-gu Culture Center performance hall
• November 22, 2026, Namyangju — 4th floor multipurpose hall, Children's Vision Center
• November 29, 2026, Yangsan, Gyeongnam — Woongsang Culture and Sports Center performance hall
• December 20 & 27, 2026, Seoul — Performance Hall, Dream Forest Arts Center