united states | healthy habits for life
Showing childhood obesity who's boss
In 2004, Sesame Workshop launched the Healthy Habits for Life initiative in response to findings that there are twice as many obese children today than there were a generation ago.
To reverse this trend, we’re working to bring health education to preschoolers as they form their eating and exercise habits, putting them on track for a lifetime of wellness. Since 2004, we’ve integrated messages about nutrition and physical activity (as well as other healthy behaviors such as hygiene and rest) into Sesame Street as part of our Healthy Habits for Life initiative. The effort spans TV segments — featuring Cookie Monster, Elmo, and celebrity guests such as First Lady Michelle Obama — and outreach kits distributed to millions of child-care centers and directly to families most at risk. Read more about the project.
Through activities, storybooks, simple recipes, and “The Get Healthy Now Show!” DVD hosted by Elmo and the Big Tomato, our kits deliver fun lessons about healthy eating and exercise that families take to heart. Research shows that parents used more Sesame language, such as a “sometime food” (a cookie) and an “anytime food” (an apple, the healthier option), to motivate their kids to make better choices.1 What’s more, 98 percent of child-care providers reported that children either “improved” or “greatly improved” their food choices during participation in the initiative.2 Now that’s a healthy impact.
Major support for Healthy Habits for Life is provided by Nemours Health and Prevention Services and KidsHealth and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Additional support provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Content also distributed through WebMD.
2 KidPoint LLC. (2009). Healthy Habits for Life Child Care Resource Kit Evaluation Report. Unpublished report.
