NCA is proud to have Sesame Street in Communities as a National Ally. We have partnered together to create creditable recipes for use in your CACFP menus and materials to help celebrate CACFP Week. We also share a variety of their resources on our partner resources blog. You can find all of these ways in which we partner with SSIC organized below.
Sesame Street in Communities has been a partner in celebrating CACFP Week, which is celebrated the third week of March each year. Below are some of the free and member-only resources that have been part of the campaign. Not an NCA member? Join today!
Activities & Nutrition Education
Sample Menus
Supporting Families Through Emergencies
Our partners at Sesame Street in Communities have developed resources to support community providers and caregivers who serve families and help children face challenges, big and small. When a natural disaster strikes, caregivers and providers look for the right thing to say or do.
Spark Curiosity
Curiosity is the key to learning. When you encourage children to ask lots of questions, you’re helping them build their natural curiosity and think like scientists. Our partners at Sesame Street in Communities have great resources to help you encourage curiosity with those in your care.
Autism Acceptance Month
April is Autism Acceptance Month! Our partners at Sesame Street in Communities have created new bilingual (English and Spanish) resources to help foster autistic children’s sense of creativity as well as support parents and providers in helping discover and support children’s unique perspective and personality.
Movement for Healthy Bodies
Physical skills and healthy bodies can be built through everyday activities and movement. As a caring grown-up in a child’s life, you can facilitate movement and learning, and our partners at Sesame Street are here to help. Their worksheet provides fun ideas to get kids moving. Remember, there’s always an opportunity to move!
Parental Addiction
Our partners at Sesame Workshop have partnered with the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts to create new resources to support caring adults supporting children impacted by parental addiction. Building on the library of parental addiction resources on Sesame.org, the new resources include a curated professional development course for providers.
Sofia the Feelings Helper
This video from our partners at Sesame Street in Communities is for all children, whether or not they’re seeing a therapist or counselor! Children can learn along with Elmo and Karli to understand the job of “feelings helpers”—professionals who help children (and grown-ups too) when big feelings get too big, too often.
Stretch, Breathe, Move!
Our bodies can teach us a lot about our feelings, and our bodies can also help us understand and manage our feelings. Our partners at Sesame Street in Communities have resources to help you encourage children to notice the “clues” their bodies give them about what they may be feeling (for instance, a stomachache may be a sign that they’re feeling worried). Then, show them how to use their bodies to help them manage their feelings.
Emergency Response
Our partners at Sesame Street in Communities have developed resources to support community providers and caregivers who serve families and help children face challenges, big and small. When a natural disaster strikes or there is an act of violence in the community, caregivers and providers look for the right thing to say or do.
Belonging and Responsibility
With the help of caring adults, little ones can feel empowered and encouraged to find ways to be helpful, kind, and contribute to their communities. Our partners at Sesame Street in Communities have created new bilingual resources to help children instill a sense of belonging and responsibility in the world. New resources include four videos, two articles, six printables, and a volunteer tip sheet.
Get Moving Together
Looking to incorporate more movement in your child care for Physical Fitness Month? You can join in on the fun too! Our partners at Sesame Street in Communities have resources to help get you and the kids moving.
Learn and Grow: Inside, Outside, On the Go
Whether inside, outside, or on the go, children can move their bodies, explore basic concepts in math and science, build language skills, and develop social skills. Out partners at Sesame Street in Communities have new bilingual (English and Spanish) resources including a set of activity cards and a new interactive game.
Shared Reading
Language is a key part of early childhood education and helps lay the foundation for success in school. Reading storybooks and discussing them has been proven to enhance caregiver-child literacy interactions, ignite children’s reading enthusiasm, and develop their literacy skills. Our partners at Sesame Street in Communities have new bilingual resources to help with shared reading.
Seasons of Grief
Use these resources from Sesame Street in Communities to help children, and the adults who care for them, learn ways to manage the emotions and changes that come with grief after someone close to them dies.
Emotional Well-Being
Through a slew of new Sesame Street in Communities (SSIC) bilingual , research-based resources and engaging content, trusted adults can help children develop a foundation of essential skills they need to understand and manage their feelings. With a focus on the mind-body connection, SSIC’s latest resources support emotional awareness and understanding, and demonstrate techniques to promote healthy minds and bodies.
Family, Friend, and Neighbor Care Resources
As a child care provider, it’s important to build strong connections with those you serve, including the children in your care and their families. Our partners at Sesame Street in Communities have developed resources to help prepare children for daily transitions, and support positive communication with caregivers and providers.
Prepare for Emergencies
Our partners at Sesame Street in Communities have resources to help children and families cope with disasters and prepare for the unexpected. Their Emergencies topic page has videos, printable activities, and articles to support families after experiencing a natural disaster.
School Readiness: Learning Circles
Learning can happen anywhere, anytime with help from the adults in a child’s circle of care who keep them safe and well. Sesame Street in Communities’ new bilingual (English and Spanish) resources leverage the power of building social-emotional skills and healthy relationships.
Health Equity: Build on Families’ Strengths
There are many ways grown-ups can help children take care of their physical, social, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Our partners at Sesame Street in Communities have created new resources to help all families build healthy habits as a foundation for lifelong well-being.
Emotional Well-being for Military and Caregiving Families
The pandemic disruption over the last three years has been challenging for all children and caregivers, with added stressors affecting their emotional well-being. This is especially true for military families and caregiving families who experience additional stress. That’s why our partners at Sesame Street in Communities have created 5 new videos highlighting simple strategies for self-care and emotional well-being that families can watch together.
Healthy Teams
Healthy teams are made up of all the people who work together to keep children growing healthy and strong, like caregivers, doctors, and teachers. Our partners at Sesame Street in Communities have created new materials that focus on the importance of healthy teams.
Whole Child Well-Being
Sesame Street in Communities added new resources to their Staying Healthy topic page to help all families build healthy habits as a foundation for lifelong well-being.
Moving Our Bodies Tips and Activities
Our friends at Sesame Street in Communities have created useful tips and activities as part of their Moving Our Bodies initiative. Check out these ideas below to get children moving their bodies every day.
Ready for School? Resources to Reinforce Learning
With the school year approaching, Sesame Street in Communities added new resources to its School Readiness topic page to help all kids and families get ready for school.
Healthy Habits for All
Sesame Street in Communities has created the Healthy Habits for All webinar to discuss the importance of healthy habits for young children and families.
Summer Sips
As part of the Eating Well Initiative, Sesame Street in Communities recently released the storybook Summer Sips. This storybook includes creative tips, recipes, and facts about healthy drinks for children.
Moving Our Bodies
Sesame Street in Communites has created ways to incorporate readying or math with physical activity.
Partner Resource: Everyday Moments Activity Cards
Everyday activity cards from Sesame Street in Communities are optimized for mobile and promote brain development.
Craft + Connect: Make a Mood Monster
Check out this fun activity for children from Sesame Street in Communities.
Eating Well
Get excited about healthy eating with new resources from Sesame Street in Communities.
Let’s Play: A Children’s Activity Book
These pages from Sesame Street in Communities are filled with movement games, drawing activities, and a storybook for you to share with children one-on-one, in small groups, or in large groups.
Grow Healthy Brains
Help influence healthy habits to grow healthy brains with Sesame Street in Communities.
Reading & Writing Activities
Sesame Street in Communities has reading and writing activities for you to use in the classroom and at home.
Little Neighbors Launch
Sesame Street in Communites has launched a new initiative to help nurture children’s early understanding of community.
Many Right Ways: Exploring Quality in Family Child Care
Check out this interactive course that explores the many ways that family child care providers and all caregivers can ensure high-quality care in their settings from Sesame Street in Communities and the National Association for Family Child Care.
Positive Affirmations for Confidence Building
Sesame Street in Communities is helping children build confidence wth affirmation cards.
The ABC’s of Racial Literacy
Sesame Street in Communities is here to help you develop children’s understanding, curiosity, resilience, and empathy.
Sesame Street in Communities has been a partner in celebrating CACFP Week, which is celebrated the third week of March each year. Below are some of the free and member-only resources that have been part of the campaign. Not an NCA member? Join today!
On-Demand Webinars
All kids need a strong individual and group identity, but racism hurts the healthy development of both. Providers can begin building racial literacy in their little ones by engaging openly and honestly in these conversations. Join Sesame Street in Communities to explore resources that celebrate race, stand tall and address racism!
Children receive nutritious meals through CACFP. Get to know Wes & Elijah as they have a healthy snack and take their usual afternoon walk. Learn about new resources featuring furry friends from your favorite Street to support healthy habits for everyone in the neighborhood.
Learn how to menu plan with tips from our friends at the Sesame Street Workshop and discover why serving healthy meals is crucial for children ages 0-5.