My 5-Year-Old Loved Playing With This Sesame Street App —Why I Did Too

World Kindness Day, which is celebrated every year on November 13, celebrates little and big acts of kindness in our communities. In that spirit, Begin, a learning software company that developed Homer, has teamed up with Sesame Street for a new app called Learn With Sesame Street by Begin.

In a world that often feels divisive, I wonder how I can help foster love, empathy, and kindness in my own children. We are raising the future, after all. So when I learned about this amazing app, backed by both Begin and Sesame Street, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to give it a try with my 5-year-old and to speak to the experts behind the app.

Should you give Learn With Sesame Street a try? Read on to find out. 

What is the 'Learn With Sesame Street' App? 

One bright morning, I downloaded the Learn With Sesame Street app and found myself immediately overjoyed. The app is based around a Sesame Street-like neighborhood, complete with a library, school, and brownstones like your children might be used to seeing in their Sesame Street episodes. I invited my 5-year-old, Vee, to take part with me, and she was just as excited as I was.

When we tapped into the library, for example, there was a module called “All About Feelings,” and within it, a beautiful video about Elmo learning to articulate his feelings. This kind of emotionally sensitive content continued inside the school building, where kids can read an interactive story with Big Bird about making new friends and playing new games, sing with Marshall Grover or a little boy in a schoolyard, and identify emotions on different muppet faces. 

We played them all. Vee was thrilled. “I want to play it when I get home from school, Mommy!” she told me as she went off to school. 

I was excited to learn more from the experts at Begin–especially about the tools Learn With Sesame Street helps kids develop.

Jody LeVos, PhD, the Chief Learning Expert at Begin, says this new app is aimed at helping kids talk about their emotions. 

“The digital learning activities are designed to introduce children to new emotion vocabulary, strategies for managing big feelings, and important friendship and daily routine skills, and then to allow them to practice those skills, apply them in new situations, and transfer what they’ve learned to the real world,” she explains. 

When kids don’t know how to express themselves, big feelings can take over and lead to tantrums. I have personally experienced this with my children, and am always seeking ways to help them with their words. Muppets are familiar characters to children–fun, cuddly, and silly. Because of that, they are more understandable and can relate hard concepts for children with ease.

“We know from research that children learn better from characters that they trust, that they’ve developed a parasocial relationship with, than characters they don’t know. Sesame’s Muppets are so well known and trusted by both children and parents!” Dr. LeVos adds. 

Crucially, the app also includes “real people,” she says, which help children see themselves in certain scenarios–instead of just in muppets. 

Because the characters and environment already feel familiar to children, they are more open to complex vocabulary and thinking challenging thoughts about their own emotions. 

How was the 'Learn With Sesame Street' App Developed? 

When I used the app, I could feel how kid-friendly the Sesame Environment was. Vee had no problems navigating it, even though she can't read yet. Dr. LeVos says the child-directed experience was part of the app’s design. 

“We did a lot of kid testing to ensure children could navigate the neighborhood, select the various buildings, and find the games and activities with which they wanted to play,” she continues.

Parents have a lot going on, so the app was developed to be as navigable as possible. More importantly, Learn With Sesame Street was developed with sound research based on CASEL Standards, which prioritize social and emotional learning in children. 

“The child development and learning experts from both Sesame and Begin came together to identify the most important emotional well-being and early learning skills to address in our program,” LeVos says. 

Together, they developed a curriculum map that served as the foundation for the project and helped inform engaging and developmentally appropriate ways to bring social and emotional skills to life through activities, songs, learning games, classes, stories, and so much more. 

“We often talk about the importance of naming emotions in ourselves, but it’s also really important that children begin to recognize emotions in others as well!” LeVos adds. These skills are a “foundational part of developing empathy and being able to relate to those around us, which is a core part of our social and emotional development.”

Why is the 'Learn With Sesame Street' App Important Right Now? 

Many parents are concerned about children using apps and having a lot of screen time, and rightly so. Experts point out that having a lot of screen time might decrease cognitive, linguistic, and social-emotional growth.

Not only was Learn With Sesame Street developed with expert input, but it actively combats these gaps in social-emotional learning. 

“This app directly supports the acquisition and practice of key emotional well-being skills, including being able to name emotions in ourselves and others and to share and take turns; encouragement to try new foods and enjoy bedtime routines; and strategies we can use to manage our big feelings and to wait patiently,” LeVos points out. 

This is one app I know I won’t have to worry about my children using. In this frequently divided world we live in, I want my children to have as much access to instruction on empathy as they can. I worry about their anxiety levels. Dr. LeVos says this app’s release is timely.

“Given our current events, including a divisive election cycle and years of challenges highlighted by the pandemic, this app is so relevant right now for kids and their entire circle of care. There are also important lessons for how to be kind to others, which we certainly need more of in the world today,” she adds. 

I was so pleased to watch Vee learning from Learn With Sesame Street–and actually implement some of the language about big feelings after a long day of school. It was a win, especially now.

How Can Parents Access the App? 

If you are now champing at the bit to download this app for your little ones, Dr. LeVos says it’s easy–and thank goodness for that.

Parents can access the app at Begin's website. It does cost $39.99 to download, but it also comes with a money-back guarantee.