Sesame Street Offers “Healthy Habits for Life”

Weekdays at 7 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Now in its 36th season, Sesame Street introduces lessons highlighting the importance of a healthful lifestyle. With 26 new episodes, this new initiative addresses the growing crisis of childhood obesity and is the cornerstone of a new PBS promotion called Happy Healthy Summer.

A colorful cast of vegetable Muppets joins Elmo, Big Bird and the rest of the gang to emphasize the importance of healthy eating and active play. At the top of each episode, celebrities share “Healthy Moments” such as these:

Musician Alicia Keys teaches Elmo the benefits of moving your body fast or slow.
Joe Torre, manager of the New York Yankees, informs Elmo and Rosita that playing sports is a fun way to stay healthy.
Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin shares the importance of food for energy with Telly.

The preschool years are a crucial time in children’s lives to foster healthy habits. Tackling the critical issues of health and well-being, Sesame Workshop continues to set the benchmark in educational television with Sesame Street storylines that guide preschoolers and their caregivers through lessons related to healthy eating, the importance of active play and other key activities such as hygiene and rest.

“It was particularly important for us when dealing with a topic such as health to choose child-relevant issues such as trying new healthy foods and simple exercises,” said Dr. Lewis Bernstein, executive producer of Sesame Street. “In this fit and fun season, we also give parents and caregivers the tools to help them extend these health messages into their homes and daily routines.”

Along with “Healthy Moments,” the new season features all-new Muppet “street” scenes, new animations and original live-action films that all tout healthful activities and behaviors. Storylines include “The Healthy Foods Name Game,” hosted by Mr. Healthy Foods. In this segment, Elmo must find four healthy foods of various colors before the mouse can climb to the top of the refrigerator.

“American Fruit Stand” is the Sesame Street take on the 1950s variety series and features a singing Miles rhapsodizing about the nutritional benefits of fruits and vegetables. Another segment includes a song entitled, “A Cookie Is a Sometimes Food,” where Hoots the Owl explains that there are anytime foods and sometimes foods. Cookies are food that you can eat sometimes, but fruits are delicious and healthy anytime!

In addition to the core curriculum, Sesame Street continues to introduce preschoolers to other cultures with all-new “Global Grover” segments. This season, Grover travels to Bangladesh where he learns about fishing and toy making; to England to find out about a new sport called cricket; to Paris, where he shops in a French market for healthy items; and to the Netherlands, where he discovers that lots of people ride their bikes to get around the city.