Sesame Street’s Powerful Ability to Help Children

Sesame Street’s resident puppets have been giving young viewers an academic head start for decades, a new study suggests. (Photo: AF Archive/Alamy)

Since 1969, Sesame Street has been making kids laugh while teaching them lessons about cooperation, self-esteem, and of course, their ABCs.

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And though previous studies have shown that Cookie Monster, Grover, and the rest of the human and puppet crew helped children raise their test scores by mastering numbers and letters, a new research paper reveals that Sesame Street had a longer-term academic effect: as young viewers entered school, it helped them perform at the right grade level for their age.

The new study found that kids who watched Sesame Street when it first debuted (only two-thirds of American kids could get the show on their family TV back in those pre-cable days) were 14 percent less likely to fall behind in school, compared to kids who attended school before the show hit the air.

And the effect was strongest for boys, African Americans, and underprivileged kids—demographic groups show creators especially hoped to reach.

“The study demonstrates that the creators of the show fulfilled their goal, which was to help kids learn, particularly kids from disadvantaged backgrounds,” Melissa Kearney, study coauthor and professor of economics at the University of Maryland, tells Yahoo Parenting.

Though the study looked at kids who were in school decades ago, the results suggest that children between ages 2 and 5 (the age group the show is primarily geared toward) who watch Sesame Street today will get the same educational leg up, says Kearney.

“The lesson from the study is that the educational content of television can have a strong positive impact,” says Kearney. “The typical preschooler today watches four hours of TV a day, so if parents are going to allow that screen time, it might as well be a show that’s shown to be educational.”

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What made Sesame Street so effective—and such an instant hit? Besides monsters who acted like children themselves as well as appealing adult characters, Sesame Street featured scenarios that toddlers and preschoolers could relate to.

“Sesame Street is developmentally appropriate for kids in this age group, which relates to concrete things: the playground, family situations, things that have meaning in their world,” Claire Lerner, child development specialist at Zero to Three, tells Yahoo Parenting. “This new study validates other research showing that Sesame Street has educational benefits.”

Sesame Street’s educational focus was no accident. Show creators did extensive research on how young kids learn, so they could take the right approach when it came to introducing early reading and math skills, says Kearney.

Four decades later, Sesame Street’s mix of entertainment and education has largely stayed the same, Kearney says, with a few changes that reflect more contemporary parenting ideas.

“Oscar the Grouch started out just as a grouch—now he’s used as a lesson in anger management,” says Kearney. Cookie Monster once wolfed down cookies with goofy glee, but since childhood obesity rates are so high these days, he now only has cookies as a “sometime” treat. “Eating too many introduces to kids the importance of self-control,” she says.

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