The Carousel of Science
The Carousel of Science is our format for corporate gatherings, weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, galas, and private celebrations — a science experience built for a room where people are also there to eat, drink, and talk.
It isn’t a show you sit and watch — it’s one you walk up to and steer. Experiments and curiosities line the table. Something catches your eye, you point, and a moment later it’s in your hands, with the science behind it unpacked as far as you want to take it. No seats, no schedule, no two guests getting quite the same night.
Please explore more photos of our Carousel of Science showcase here.
At your event
One guest steers at a time, and the circle around them rides along: we run each experiment with the person who chose it while pitching the science to everyone gathered — which is usually how the next volunteer finds their pick. Every half hour or so, we run a demonstration big enough to pull the whole room in at once. Between those, guests drift up and away at their own pace, so the same table gives a six-year-old and a CFO each what they came for, five minutes apart.
A single Carousel serves events up to about 200 guests. Past that, we’ll recommend adding a second facilitator.
Choose your set
Every booking brings one themed set to the table — six or seven experiments gathered around a single idea — and runs up to two hours. The Grand Carousel breaks the theme rule on purpose: the standout pieces from our entire collection, on one table.
| Tier | Price | Sets |
|---|---|---|
| Silver | $1,500 | Stargazer Secrets · Unbalanced Forces · Cryo Curiosities |
| Gold | $1,750 | Stargazer Secrets with Live Telescope Viewing · Current Events · Cryo Curiosities with Liquid-Nitrogen Ice Cream |
| Platinum | $2,200 | The Grand Carousel · Quantum Carousel (in development) |
| Custom Programming | from $1,500 | Built with you, around your event |
The sets
Stargazer Secrets
Silver · Gold with Live Telescope Viewing
The heavens, mapped and read. Chart the sky with the instruments navigators trusted for centuries, and find the motion of our own planet written in them. Raise the same physics that lets the solar wind ignite the auroras — at your fingertips. Then split light itself to read what distant stars are made of, down to the atmospheres of the planets circling them.
At the Gold tier, Stargazer adds live telescope viewing with its own dedicated facilitator, so the table never pauses: by day, watch prominences rise off the edge of the Sun through a dedicated solar telescope; after dark, the night sky. Telescope viewing is weather-dependent — if the sky doesn’t cooperate, we’ll work out a reasonable accommodation, from rescheduling to a partial refund.
Unbalanced Forces
Silver
What the world does when a force goes missing — or arrives all at once. Pump the air out of a chamber and watch familiar things misbehave in the emptiness. Then run it the other way: squeeze air hard enough, fast enough, and it lights a fire by pressure alone. Magnetic fields take the last turn — pushes and pulls with nothing touching, chained together until they accelerate steel down the table.
Current Events
Gold
Electricity, built up and let loose. Charge gathers until it has to leap — then learns to be stored and spent all at once. Power crosses open air to light a lamp with no wires anywhere. Invisible currents swirl inside plain copper and catch a falling magnet in mid-drop. And at the cold far end of the story, a superconductor carries current with no resistance at all — and locks a magnet floating in the air above it.
Cryo Curiosities
Silver · Gold with Liquid-Nitrogen Ice Cream
What cold really does. Freezing isn’t one thing: crystal by crystal, speed decides whether a frozen dessert lands on the tongue like silk or like sand. Materials trade personalities at 320 below — rubber shatters like glass, metals ring a different note. Superconductors wake up in the deep cold and float magnets in midair. And the freeze becomes a destination in its own right: the same science shaping how we’ll build homes on worlds where this cold is just the weather.
At the Gold tier, Cryo Curiosities adds liquid-nitrogen ice cream, churned in the fog for your guests.
The Grand Carousel
Platinum
The rule-breaker. Every other set goes deep on one idea; the Grand Carousel goes wide — the standout experiments from our entire collection on a single table. A dedicated second facilitator comes standard, so two experiments run at once.
Quantum Carousel
Platinum · in development
Our next set, built around quantum mechanics — the physics of the very small, designed for hands-on exploration. In development now; premiere to be announced.
Custom Programming
from $1,500
Tell us about the event and we’ll build the set around it. Pricing is finalized with the menu.
Time and add-ons
| Included time | Up to two hours |
| Additional time | $250 per hour |
| Dedicated second facilitator | $250 for the two-hour block |
| Additional time for any dedicated facilitator — included or added | $100 per facilitator, per hour |
| Liquid-nitrogen ice cream on any set | $250 |
The scientists behind it
The Carousel of Science was created by Benjamin Segal (Beaker Ben) and Christina Cutler (Chemistina). Ben is a licensed physics teacher and former Adler Planetarium educator, with a BS in Physics, an MS in Education, and more than ten years facilitating live science demonstrations. Christina brings a BS and MS in Chemistry and over 15 years in pharmaceutical science. Every Carousel is hosted by Beaker Ben.
Science Demo Tent
$560 · Up To Two Hours · Additional time and facilitators available for an additional fee · Festivals, fairs, and family days
Not every event needs the full Carousel. The Science Demo Tent is a walk-up demonstration table under our tent, with rotating hands-on science — an option for family-day corporate events, park district events, block parties, and festivals where the crowd flows past all day.
The practical details
The Carousel needs a footprint of at least 10′ × 10′. Power comes with us — everything runs on our own batteries, so there’s no outlet to find. We arrive at least an hour before start time to load in; once the equipment is in your space, setup takes about thirty minutes.
Fully insured — certificates of insurance available on request, and we can add your venue as an additional insured.
Ready to book?
Tell us your date, venue, and crowd — we’ll recommend the right set and confirm availability, usually within one business day.
Call or text: (224) 377-9741