“Sesame Street” wants kids to take a break from parking it indoors, and head out to a park instead.
A new project has recruited Muppets Elmo and Murray to visit national parks in six short videos that encourage children ages 3 to 5 to experience the great outdoors, wherever it might be, and to apply scientific skills of inquiry to learn about these natural settings.
The product of a partnership between Sesame Workshop, the U.S. National Park Service and its philanthropic offshoot, the National Park Foundation, “Sesame Street Explores National Parks” aims to promote science learning by kids through their experiences in national parks as well as local parks and their own backyards.
“This is very child-focused, stimulating children’s natural curiosity and bringing that exploration to the natural environment,” said Rosemarie T. Truglio, Sesame Workshop’s senior vice president of education and research.
As of Tuesday the videos can be streamed on partner organizations’ websites and social media channels, and will be made available to all national parks for use in their visitor centers, along with related materials for parents, caregivers and educators that propose activities to share with children.
Each video features Elmo and Murray (in ranger regalia) as they meet with a park ranger from Grand Canyon National Park or Gateway National Recreation Area, which is located in New York and northern New Jersey.
In one video, the furry twosome are greeted by Ranger Shalini Gopie, who introduces them to the term “migrate.”
“Migrate!” Murray echoes proudly. “That’s when you get a really bad headache!”
He and Elmo soon learn otherwise from Gopie as she shows them migrating animals at Gateway such as tree swallows, redwing blackbirds and butterflies.
“Children are natural scientists,” Truglio said, “and we want to encourage them to get outside and to explore the world around them using all their senses — to explore and investigate and learn.”
While the videos portray a visit to a national park, they also aim to help kids make the connection between a national park and nature in their own neighborhood.
“We have a concern that children are losing their connection to the outdoors,” said National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis. “We want to get these kids thinking, ‘Let’s move, let’s get outside, and learn something at the same time.’”
kids will be reminded by these initial videos that there are countless local parks, yards and lawns where nature is happening constantly, just waiting to be discovered.
“Be like a ranger!” urges Murray, bringing it home. “Get outside and observe all the animals in their habitats.”
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