Michelle Obama – The Next Kid Thing

Sesame Street Introduces New Gardening Line

April 20, 2010 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

Last year, Michelle Obama visited Sesame Street to tout the importance of fresh fruits and vegetables. Later in the year, the First Lady cultivated her own organic garden at the White House to further emphasize the value of healthy eating and gardening.

Since then, announcing her Let’s Move campaign, which focuses on combatting childhood obesity, Mrs. Obama has made it her mission to educate families and kids about making healthy choices, including cultivating your own seeds—figuratively and literally.

So, when Sesame Street, together with Ferry Morse, introduced their new line of gardening products geared to kids, the marketplace area at the Annual Easter Egg Roll was an impeccably-timed venue to help even more kids learn about gardening first hand. The kid and I had a fun time learning how to plant watermelon seeds, or um, excuse me—wataaaahmelons.

The Muppets of Sesame Street can be seen on packets of watermelon, pepper, sunflower, pumpkin, garden beans and tomato seeds, for parents and children to plant together. The new product line also features Sesame Street-themed gardening totes complete with an activity booklet, seeds, tools, labeling stakes and stickers, a mini garden kit and a mini greenhouse with recipe card.

Sesame Street’s new gardening line is a perfect way to encourage kids to be green while going green. As part of Sesame Street’s My World is Green and Growing initiative designed to support children’s innate curiosity about nature, each product includes educational materials that teach children how fruits and vegetables begin with seeds and grow to become food for the table. Additionally, it compliments Sesame Street’s ongoing Healthy Habits for Life initiative, helping children develop healthy lifestyles they can practice forever through fun and simple every day activities. Materials include a booklet with activities for children, planting tips for parents and healthy recipes parents and children can make and enjoy together. The following items are available now:

Seed Packets – $1.99
My First Mini Greenhouse – $4.99
My First Mini Garden – $5.99
My First Gardening Kit (tote) – $10.99

“Research shows that introducing young children to the natural world is the first step towards helping them develop a caring attitude towards the environment,” said Maura Regan, Sesame Workshop’s Senior Vice President and General Manager of Global Licensing states.

Be sure to head to Lowe’s to grab a few gardening items for the kids. I found them at the back of the store, close to the garden center. Though I wasn’t too impressed with the plastic Sesame Street gardening tools (though, they’d be perfect for the littlest gardeners), the kits do look cool. Even if you don’t pick up the tote or kits, the seed packets are reasonably priced at $1.99. We’ve got some peppers, sunflowers and green beans to plant! Let’s hope they fare better than our watermelon seeds which didn’t make it back from DC in tact!

Fill the Easter Basket with These Sweet Treats

April 1, 2010April 2, 2010 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

Easter is upon us, which means it’s that fun time of year when the Easter Bunny fills the kids’ baskets with loads of goodies.

Easter is second to Halloween as the most important candy-eating occasion of the year. A 2009 Nielsen survey reported that consumers were expected to buy more than 120 million pounds of candy in the week leading up to Easter.

That’s a lot of candy!

With Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution creating waves, in addition to Mrs. Obama’s Let’s Move campaign, healthier eating for kids is a topic that’s important to me and my loved ones, as I’m sure it is to all of you. Like many others, I’m learning so much from this new revolution that I’m happily campaigning by sharing here on NKT, on Twitter and to whomever will listen.

LSU AgCenter nutritionist Beth Reames suggests: “For Easter this year, think beyond the usual sweet treats.”

For kids, sometimes a new and interesting “treat” is just as good, or maybe even better than the usual sweet treats. My agenda this year for filling the Easter basket is to go beyond the candy aisle. Believe me, I love candy, especially Easter candy a little too much, which is EXACTLY why it’s important to me to put more thought into treats for the kid. There are more sweet treats than Cadbury Creme Eggs and Solid Chocolate Bunnies!

First Lady Honored with Big Help Award from KCA

March 28, 2010 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

Saturday nights definitely aren’t like they used to be. This past Saturday, we tuned in to watch Nickelodeon’s 23rd Annual Kids’ Choice Awards. I love awards shows to begin with, so watching one with the kid made it much more fun. Even after the kid went to bed, I had to watch to see if any of my favorites took home the top kid honors.

First Lady Launches Let’s Move

February 10, 2010February 10, 2010 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

Yesterday, our First Lady, Michelle Obama, unveiled the nationwide campaign Let’s Move, which aims to tackle childhood obesity. This campaign is geared to engage every sector that impacts the health of our kids, giving schools, families and communities the tools to help everyone be more active, eat better and get healthy.

Mrs. Obama unofficially initiated this campaign when she broke ground on the White House organic Garden last year. In a NYT article, Mrs. Obama said, the main purpose of the garden will be to educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at a time when obesity and diabetes have become a national concern.

Soon after, Mrs. Obama appeared on an episode of Sesame Street touting the importance of fruits and vegetables, as well as healthy eating habits.

The Let’s Move Campaign will emphasize four major facets, all of which underline the changes needed to combat childhood obesity:

Helping Parents Make Healthy Family Choices

Serving Healthier Food in Schools

Accessing Healthy, Affordable Food

Increasing Physical Activity

Read More

Michelle Obama visits Sesame Street

May 11, 2009May 11, 2009 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

Michelle Obama Sesame Street In between meeting with diplomats and helping to promote the President’s new foreign policies, the First Lady took some time out last week to visit Elmo and the gang at Sesame Street. Michelle Obama visited Sesame Street to tape a Public Service Announcement with Elmo as part of Sesame Workshop’s Healthy Habits For Life initiative. Mrs. Obama and Elmo discussed eating right, exercising regularly and being a healthy and positive role model for children.

“If you want your child to have healthy habits, practice healthy habits, because you’re your child’s role model,” The First Lady suggests in the PSA.

I thought the news about planting an organic garden at the White House was pretty cool, but Mrs. Obama’s visit to Sesame Street is just as much a highlight for her, as it is for her fans!

(photo credit: Richard Termine)