Boldly Go where No one has Gone Before ahead of the release of Star Trek Beyond – Beyond Excited: Star Trek and Your Kids
Parents, a reckoning is upon you, the likes of which you have not seen since at least last summer. Have you prepared your children well? Taught them right? Have you done a good job, Parents? Have you?
Do they understand, truly understand, the difference between "Star Trek" and "Star Wars"?
"Star Trek Beyond" will hit theaters this summer on July 22nd. Properly prepared offspring will have no trouble differentiating the various awesomenesses of franchises steered by J.J. Abrams. If somehow this task has been heretofore overlooked, if you neglected to clothe them in Star Trek onesies LIKE YOU SHOULD HAVE, here are four ways to get them ready:
Watch Together
Where to start? There are a lot of lists out there. Here are a few. Nerdy with Children's Top 10 episodes list. Lots of parents have related their tales, try this one with a 9 year old. Try bingeflexing the animated series. (Yes, bingeflexing is a word. Why? Because I just used it and you totally knew what I meant.) TrekMovie features plenty of great posts on Trek for Kids and is a good place to start researching if your kids don't know that resistance is futile. Also READ. There are books. For kids. Starfleet Academy, check it out.
Play Together
Games and puzzles are good. There are video games and board games. There are trivia quizzes. And then there are jigsaw puzzles. Or for kids on the younger end, create a Star Trek-themed word puzzle for your kids to complete. It will print out looking totally pro. You type in the words relevant — say TRIBBLES and GAGH and PON FARR... OK, maybe not PON FARR. How old are your kids? Anyway. It's educational!
Be Inspired Together
For online inspiration, scroll through the gallery of projects dreamed up by kids around the country for NASA's Star Trek Replicator challenge. And if there is a library makerspace anywhere near you, you might be able to add a little summer STEAM learning on a 3D printer.
If you live anywhere near New York City, or are planning to visit, or are planning to leave the house for any reason at all this summer, head to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum for the Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Experience. It opens ahead of the movie, on July 9th. If that doesn't overexcite them... (shakes head, sighs)
Eat Together
Star Trek-themed food and drinks, mm mm. Here's a Primer to Star Trek Food and Drink on Serious Eats, and a fun Tumblr called Food Replicator. Think Geek has aprons for you, and pizza cutter in the shape of a starship. That's right, pizza is totally a Star Trek food, which simplifies the evening considerably. A vegetarian recipe for gagh on Twice Cooked, an apparent true fan's blog, might add that touch of Klingon grodiness without digging up worms from the garden.
Do all of these things, or some of these things, or at least one, maybe, and your whole family will be on board for a "Star Trek Beyond" summer. Or just let your kids watch the trailer. Really. They are going to want to go.
(FYI, it looks like it's going to be action-packed, and the rumble is that it's different. Lots of scary action can be scary, especially for younger kids -- but you know that. Go! Teach your children!)
#GoBeyond
STAR TREK BEYOND HITS CINEMAS ON JULY 22
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