It’s out of this world! In celebration of NASA’s 2020 Mars Perseverance rover, a new display has landed at LEGOLAND Florida Resort. The life-size LEGO astronaut model consists of almost 66,000 LEGO bricks.
In addition, LEGOLAND Florida guests will also be treated to a moon landing-inspired mosaic background created from more than 44,000 LEGO bricks.
The models were built last year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. These LEGO models have been on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Complex since their construction.
Starting today, space and LEGO fans can enjoy this awesome replica moon lander and giant astronaut in their permanent home in the Imagination Zone at LEGOLAND Florida Resort.
Some interesting facts about the LEGO model and mosaic include:
One model designer spent 143 hours designing the astronaut model
Five model builders spent a combined 450 hours building the astronaut model
Approximately 65,600 LEGO bricks were used to construct the astronaut model
One model designer spent 58 hours designing the mosaic
Six model builders spent a combined 480 hours building the mosaic
Approximately 44,500 LEGO bricks and 23 different colors were used to complete the mosaic
Since reopening on Jun. 1, LEGOLAND Florida Resort has introduced a range of new health and safety measures, including reduced capacity, cashless payments, temperature checks upon arrival, and enhanced cleaning practices. Guests can read more about how LEGOLAND is making it safe to play at https://www.legoland.com/florida/ways-we-are-making-it-safe-to-visit/.
The American Museum of Natural History is hosting an online day of live events in honor of the Red Planet. MarsFest will celebrate Friday’s scheduled launch of NASA’s mission to Mars. Beginning at 10 a.m. ET on Wed., Jul. 29, MarsFest at Home will offer a varied slate of programming, including: a special edition of the Museum’s Scientists at Home program with Museum Curator and meteoriticist Denton Ebel on what to expect from the latest mission in NASA’s Mars Exploration Program; a live guided virtual flight with Caltech professor and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Research Scientist Bethany L. Ehlmann and the Museum’s Director of Astrovisualization Carter Emmart to the locations on Mars that Perseverance is targeting; and a space comedy jam featuring Marcia Belsky, Jay Jurden, Pooja Reddy, Chris Duffy, and Karen Chee.
MarsFest programming, which will be accessible via individual links available at amnh.org/calendar/mars-fest and below, includes:
10 am: Scientists at Home: Mars 2020—Live Watch Party: On July 30, NASA is planning to launch the Mars 2020 mission and send the Perseverance rover to collect samples from the Red Planet’s rocky surface in search of signs of ancient life. Join a live session with Museum Curator Denton Ebel, chair of the Division of Earth and Planetary Sciences, to find out what to expect from the latest, long-awaited mission in NASA’s Mars Exploration Program—including how it may help advance human exploration of our neighboring planet.
1 pm: Field Trip–Mars 2020: As part of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission, the Perseverance rover will launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida. What could this mission tell us about water and life on the Red Planet? Caltech professor and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Research Scientist Bethany L. Ehlmann will lead us on a virtual field trip to the very locations that Perseverance is targeting to help answer these questions. Dr. Ehlmann will be joined by the Museum’s Director of Astrovisualization Carter Emmart and scientists in the chat to answer your questions live on YouTube.
8 pm: Space Comedy Jam: Tune in to a livestream comedy show celebrating all things space! As part of MarsFest, a stellar lineup of comedians will perform stand-up and funny songs, as well as play space-related games with you, the audience—all from the comfort of your own home! The program features Marcia Belsky, Jay Jurden, Pooja Reddy, and Chris Duffy and is hosted by Karen Chee. Viewers should register for this Zoom event.
—Jennifer Swartvagher
Featured photo: American Museum of Natural History
Looking for new ways to spice up your homeschool science curriculum? Even though the Kennedy Space Center is temporarily closed, they are offering a new roster of free online content for children from elementary school to high school. This educational resource will continue to be available throughout May 2020.
Many of the topics also include an interactive at-home activity to keep kids excited and engaged.
Following is the new schedule of featured topics for upcoming virtual lessons:
Back in March LEGO went into their archives and assembled a team of designers, creative and play experts to come up with new ways to help families stay creative and connected. Daily play challenges, new play ideas and live build-a-longs have been shared on social media. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day LEGO and NASA are inviting everyone to take part in their “Build a Planet” challenge.
Born out of the LEGO and NASA partnership to celebrate the organization’s impact on the study and preservation of our Earth, the “Build A Planet” challenge is part of the LEGO #LetsBuildTogether platform. On the heels of a ‘second earth’ being discovered 300 light years away from us, LEGO and NASA are challenging everyone to think globally and build a planet of their choice! Whether it’s Earth, Mars, or better yet, Kepler-1649c – the mysterious new planet among the stars.
The challenge is launching Apr. 22 across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Stories so no one will have to wait 300 light years or 11.6 million years to fuel their curiosity. Look for the hashtags #LetsBuildTogether and #EarthDayAtHome.
Since you can’t get to the parks right now, you can still experience a trip around Disneyland Park. Disney+ has curated park-inspired watchlists to entertain your family. From a whole new world to a galaxy far, far away, to Main Street, U.S.A., you can experience the magic of Disney right from your couch.
Main Street U.S.A.
America’s Heart and Soul
America’s National Parks
Encore!, ep 112 “Ragtime”
Glory Road
Invincible
Lady and the Tramp
Lady and the Tramp (Live-Action)
Mary Poppins
Miracle
Old Yeller
Pollyanna
Remember the Titans
Secretariat
The Greatest Game Ever Played
The Rookie
Tomorrowland
Apollo: Missions to the Moon
Expedition Mars: Spirit & Opportunity
Finding Dory
Finding Nemo
Mars Inside Spacex
Miles from Tomorrowland
Mission to the Sun
Phil of the Future
Science Fair
The Rocketeer
Toy Story 1-4
Tron
Tron: Legacy
WALL-E
Year Million
Zenon Girl of the 21st Century
Fantasyland
Aladdin
Alice in Wonderland
Babes in Toyland
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Dumbo
Escape to Witch Mountain
Fantasia
Frozen 1-2
Onward (Streaming April 3)
Pete’s Dragon (1977)
Peter Pan
Pinocchio
Sleeping Beauty
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Tangled
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
The Little Mermaid
The Sword in the Stone
Frontierland
Davy Crockett: And the River Pirates
Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier
Encore!, ep 105 “Annie Get Your Gun”
Encore!, ep 106 “Oklahoma!”
Pocahontas
Sheriff Callie’s Wild West
Spin and Marty
Tall Tale: The Unbelievable Adventure
The Adventures of Huck Finn
The Journey of Natty Gann
Those Calloways
Tom and Huck
White Fang
Mickey’s Toontown
A Goofy Movie
An Extremely Goofy Movie
Chef Donald
Chip ‘n’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers
Donald’s Tire Trouble
DuckTales (1990)
DuckTales (2017)
Fun and Fancy Free
Goof Troop
Hawaiian Holiday
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Pluto and the Gopher
Steamboat Willie
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Star Wars: A New Hope
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
Star Wars: Rebels
Star Wars: Resistance
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
The Mandalorian
Critter Country
A Bug’s Life
Bambi
Brother Bear
Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet
Piglet’s Big Movie
The Fox & the Hound
The Incredible Dr. Pol
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Unlikely Animal Friends (Season 1–2)
Winnie the Pooh
Zootopia
New Orleans Square
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
During the past week while you have been socially distancing yourself and unexpectedly homeschooling, you may have been searching for fun and educational things for the kids to access online. Now you can set aside an hour or two for yourself this afternoon. John Legend will live-stream a concert from his home on his Instagram page at 4 pm ET/1 pm PT.
On Twitter, Legend shared that he was inspired by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. He wrote, “My friend Chris Martin did a lovely little concert from home today. I’ll be doing one tomorrow at 1pm Pacific time. See you soon. We’ll try to get through this together!”
Legends wife, Chrissy Teigan announced on her Twitter that she would be there too. She writes, “I’ll be there!! because I literally have no choice.”
While you will be tuning in to hear Legend’s popular hits, he will also be performing the Office theme song, the Kars4Kids jingle, and Vanderpump Rules star Scheana Shay’s song, “Good as Gold.”
John Legend will perform a livestreamed solo concert today as part of “Together, at Home,” a new series of online concerts presented by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Global Citizen. Together, the organizations have launched a campaign called the Solidarity Response Fund that aims to raise $675 million throughout the month of April towards COVID-19 relief. Coldplay frontman, Martin kicked off the series Monday, performing his own song “Yellow” as well as a cover of David Bowie’s “Life on Mars?”
We always hear interesting responses when we talk about why news is a fascinating way for kids to discover the world. Reactions range between “Isn’t the world scary enough already?” to “Do kids even care?” to our favorite, which is, “That’s so true. What can we do about it?”
News isn’t always “scary” or “bad.” News is also about fantastic events, accomplishments, and the evolution of our world. And we are so excited for 2020 to kick into gear because we believe this will be the most interesting year to connect kids with the news. Here are five good reasons:
The Olympics: How many Summer Olympics do you get to watch with your kids, while they are still kids? Only about four, which makes them a pretty special event. Nothing matches the excitement of watching hairline finishes, near-perfect performances, and national pride in the biggest sporting event in the world. With more than 200 countries competing, the Summer Olympics starts in July and is sure to thrill sports fans the world over!
The 2020 highlight: Five new sports including skateboarding, sports climbing, surfing, baseball, and karate added to the mix this year. Other sports, for the first time, will have women’s events and mixed events as well! These include rowing, shooting, canoeing, and boxing. This year, it will be interesting to discuss why there are new rules about how athletes can protest—hot tip: taking a knee or raising your fist are now allowed!
Climate Change: It seems like not a week goes by without the topic of climate change coming up in the news. If anything demonstrated the power of youth activism this past year, it was the Climate March and the influence of Greta Thunberg. Last year, we heard from youth across the nation who participated in the march, and this year we’ll be talking about this event for the third year in a row, which has inspired kids everywhere to sit up, listen, and ask questions.
What’s happening in 2020? From the United Nations to Davos, activists continue to push for real action. If 2019 was the year companies announced steps like eliminating straws in coffeehouses or tiny bottles of shampoos in hotels, will 2020 be the year that governments step it up around the globe? 2020 began by witnessing the impact of the fires had in Australia, but will this be the year countries decide to tackle climate change with broader, stricter policies?
Elections: Interestingly, we started Xyza because we were inspired by the 2016 elections and all of the conversations we heard among students, teachers, and parents. In 2020, presidential elections will take place in the United States as well as in other countries around the world. Elections are a great time to talk about candidates, leadership, voting, and how people decide on candidates.
2020 highlights: The United States Presidential elections will continue to be a hot topic as we enter the year talking about impeachment, two powerful women candidates, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobucher and the first openly gay presidential candidate, Pete Buttigieg. We expect quite a few family dinner table conversations to turn towards politics and elections this year!
Space, Space, Space: Talk about out-of-this-world experiences! The world has a stupendous year of space exploration planned and we cannot wait. For every kid interested in space, science, astronauts, rockets, and everything in between, 2019 was an interesting year of the first all-female spacewalk, moon landing attempts, and the adventures of the Mars Rover Opportunity. But 2020 is expected to be bigger and better.
2020 highlights: ExoMars, or the alignment of Mars and Earth, makes it a spectacular year for Mars exploration, for one. In fact, more than four missions to Mars is expected to happen in 2020 alone! Could this be the year NASA launches astronauts in space with companies like SpaceX and Boeing? We hope so. Additionally, thousands of satellites will be launched in 2020 by different organizations, which brings up an interesting question for the family dinner table: How crowded can space get? (In fact, it’s already getting rather crowded!
Women in Hollywood: Did you know that the most anticipated blockbusters of 2020 are based on female leads, and…wait for it…they’re also directed by women? As a parent, you’ve probably had (or will have) at least one conversation explaining “boy” and “girl” stereotypes to your kids, or about why women are still fighting for rights to equal opportunities and pay.
2020 highlights: 2020 will likely be a year of women’s achievements in Hollywood (what kid doesn’t love a good movie?). Movies like Wonder Woman 1984, Black Widow, The Eternals, Mulan and Birds of Prey will be out this year, all directed by women!
We will be tracking the news for kids, inviting our Junior Reporters to share their thoughts, and connecting kids with the world through news in 2020. What other events in 2020 do you think we should cover?
We're two perfectly imperfect moms who have five very different kids between the two of us. We believe that topics in news are a fantastic way to spark conversations in families. That's why we started the Dinner Table Conversation series here at Xyza: News for Kids. Won't you join us in the conversation?
Now your kiddo can hear a story from space! The Story Time from Space program was launched several years ago (by the Global Space Foundation) to bring an out-of-this-world experience to kids right here on Earth.
Even though story time at your local library is enough to keep the littles busy all afternoon, Story Time from Space adds an extra element of science-filled excitement.
So how can your child listen to a book read from space? The Global Space Education Foundation sends child-friendly picks to the International Space Station. Astronauts videotape themselves reading the books and the Story Time from Space website posts the clips.
If you’re wondering whether your child’s fave reads are on the “Books Approved for Launch” list, as of now titles such as Khalifa and Amal Go To Space, Astronaut Annie, Ada Twist, Scientist, Mousetronaut, Max Goes to mars, Luciana, Braving the Deep, The Mission to Cataria, A Moon of My Own, Notable Notebooks, Next Time You See a Sunset, Max Goes to the International Space Station and Rosie Revere, Engineer are among the top story time picks.
Something special is coming to Walt Disney World Resort in 2020. Mars Retail Group recently announced the relocation of the M&M’s experiential store from its current Orlando location to Disney Springs!
The new store, which is one of five locations around the globe, will join experiential M&M’s stores in New York, Las Vegas, London and Shanghai.
Patrick McIntyre, Director of Global Retail at Mars Retail Group, said in a press release, “Disney Springs is one of the most popular retail destinations in the country, making it the perfect location for our new M&M’S experiential store.” McIntyre continued, “Guests will be fully immersed into an interactive chocolate experience that will create more moments and more smiles through the colorful fun of M&M’S.”
With construction slated to start ASAP, the state-of-the-art store will move into the West Side of Disney Springs sometime next year. As of now, there’s no exact opening date.
Fans of the Hallmark Channel’s “Countdown to Christmas” have something new to look forward to this year. In honor of the iconic holiday network event’s 10th anniversary, the Hallmark Channel will hold its first Christmas Con!
So what exactly is a Christmas Con? To start with, it’s pure holiday happiness. The three-day event will include major merriment and so much more.
Fans of the channel can experience just about everything you’d expect in a Christmas-themed convention. The Con is set to include a Christmas Market with homemade gifts, goodies and decor, a musical performance by Alicia Witt, photo-taking with none other than Mr. Claus himself and meet and greets with some of your fave Hallmark Channel Stars—including Lacey Chabert, Jonathan Bennett, Chad Michael Murray, Cameron Mathison and more.
The Christmas Con takes place in Edison, New Jersey from Nov. 8 through the 10. One-day pas tickets range from $35 to $45 for adults (depending on the day) and $10 to $20 for kids ages four through 10. You can also buy weekend passes or tickets for the Alicia Witt Concert.
Click here to view pricing options and buy your Christmas Con tickets today.