A new grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will help Sesame Workshop expand its Healthy Habits for Life initiative, which aims to help child care providers integrate nutritional and physical activity for preschoolers.

The grant will support Sesame’s English- and Spanish-language study to evaluate the effectiveness of its Healthy Habits messages and strategies to help combat childhood obesity in the US.

In the meantime, 13,000 bilingual Sesame Street Healthy Habits for Life: Child Care Resource Kits will be distributed through the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) in Alabama, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee. Produced in partnership with Nemours Health & Prevention Services and KidsHealth.org, the kit includes a 100-page print guide with strategies and hands-on activities, along with an original Sesame Street DVD entitled The Get Healthy Now Show with a companion children’s activity book. Components will also be available on the Workshop’s site at www.sesameworkshop.org/healthyhabits.