McDONALD’S HOUSTON PARTNERS WITH PEANUTS FOR STEM CAREER DAY AT SPACE CENTER HOUSTON ON SEP. 6
Discover Space with Snoopy Happy Meals land in McDonald’s restaurants across the US with STEM books and toys celebrating Apollo 11 50th Anniversary
McDonald’s Houston is teaming up with Peanuts to create a special STEM education event for children and families at Space Center Houston on Friday, September 6 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. The “career day” event allows families to hear about the exciting work that NASA does each and every day followed by a unique meet-and-greet opportunity with a number of space exploration subject matter experts.
Guests can also have their picture taken with Peanuts character Snoopy, wearing his very own space suit. McDonald’s characters Grimace, Birdie and the Hamburglar will also be on-site.
Families will be treated to Happy Meals provided by McDonald’s Houston featuring ‘Discover Space with Snoopy’ themed books and toys. Space is limited at this free event and tickets are required. Register at bit.ly/CareerDayHou.
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the lunar landing, as well as the 50th anniversary of Apollo 10, which featured lunar module Snoopy and command module Charlie Brown, McDonald’s and Peanuts Worldwide created a set of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) focused books and toys.
Each book includes special pages with interactive activities that take readers to the moon and beyond, and each toy comes with a STEM card with fun facts about space exploration.
The Happy Meal books available are:
- Snoopy Blasts Off!: Snoopy prepares for his blast-off into space, with a special surprise pop-up in the middle of the book
- Snoopy’s Constellation Quest: Go along with Snoopy as he explores the galaxy and search for hidden images on the moon
- Snoopy The Mars Rover: Ride along with Snoopy as he travels around Mars, and learn fun facts through a magical reveal wand
- Snoopy to the Moon: Explore the moon’s surface with Snoopy and build your own moon display
The Happy Meal toys available are:
- Rocket Propeller: Create the force that will launch Snoopy from NASA’s new Space Launch System or SLS rocket, which has more than 31 times the total thrust of a 747 jet
- Space Buggy: Take a ride with Snoopy on NASA’s Mars rover, named Curiosity, as he explores the rocky terrain of the Red Planet
- Dance Mover: Moon walk with Snoopy in his spacesuit, which astronauts nicknamed “pumpkin suits” because of their bright orange color
- Take-off Launcher: Help Snoopy launch into deep space in the Orion spacecraft with NASA’s Space Launch System, the world’s most powerful rocket ever built
“Happy Meals mean happy kids and happy families, and we hope these new STEM education books and toys from Peanuts will spark the joy of learning and discovery,” said Carla Moore, president of the McDonald’s owner/operators of Greater Houston. “We’re so excited to work with Peanuts to inspire young Houstonians to explore a career in STEM.”
“In July of 2018, Peanuts signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA and committed to working to bring the joys of space exploration and STEM into the lives of today’s kids, and to honor the legacy of Snoopy’s history with NASA,” said Roz Nowicki, Executive Vice President, Peanuts Worldwide. “We are excited that to help bring the joy of learning to the Houston area, along with McDonald’s for this special event.”
As part of the nationwide celebration, McDonald’s is donating 100,000 Happy Meal books to Reading Is Fundamental’s (RIF) literacy efforts and programs across the country. RIF has created a collection of online games and puzzles to help parents and teachers incorporate additional fun and learning from the books.
They are available at: rif.org/literacy-central/collections/mcdonalds. McDonald’s Happy Meal Book promotion is among a list of the company’s actions supporting a commitment to promote children’s well-being by inspiring kids to engage in active and imaginative play in a fun way and help develop a sense of community.
Photos courtesy of McDonald’s Houston