As children head back to school, PBS KIDS makes it easy for families to stay healthy and active with the PBS KIDS Eat Smart for a Great Start initiative. Studies have shown that poor nutrition and lack of exercise can negatively impact children’s academic performance. To help start the school year off right, PBS KIDS has developed themed television programming, online content, and partnerships with Allrecipes.com and Produce for Kids® -- to provide kids and parents with resources that support health and physical activity. These resources are available on PBSPARENTS.org/eatsmart.
“Our mission is to nurture the whole child – helping kids learn and grow,” said Lesli Rotenberg, Senior Vice President, Children’s Media, PBS. “Research shows that eating nutritious foods and staying active are critical for school success, so we’ve developed resources to help make these healthy lifestyle habits easy for families to integrate into their daily lives.”
PBS KIDS will also support healthy living with food and exercise-themed episodes on-air throughout the fall (check local listings). Popular series, including THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THAT!, CURIOUS GEORGE, SID THE SCIENCE KID, SESAME STREET and ARTHUR will encourage kids to get moving and to learn about healthy eating. These episodes explore health and nutrition, demonstrating the importance of healthy choices, and modeling activities and behaviors to that will help kids eat smart and get off to a great start.
PBS KIDS and PBS Parents have developed online resources to support health and nutrition. Kids can play educational games and watch related clips and episodes on PBSKIDS.org/eatsmart. And the PBSPARENTS.org/eatsmart site offers printable activity sheets, such as recipe templates and placemats, featuring PBS KIDS characters. Parents are invited to stop by the PBS Parents site to find new ideas and advice to promote health and nutrition for families. Tips will be provided by healthy cooking experts from PBS Parents blog Kitchen Explorers, PBS KIDS GO! character Professor Fizzy, of FIZZY’S LUNCH LAB, as well as from partners Allrecipes.com and Produce for Kids.
Allrecipes.com will feature PBS KIDS characters on their site, including PBS KIDS GO! web-original series FIZZY’S LUNCH LAB, to help promote healthy and nutritious kid-pleasing foods for the back to school season.
For the fifth year in a row, Produce for Kids is featuring the PBS KIDS Eat Smart for a Great Start campaign in more than 1,000 grocery stores nationwide. The campaign runs from August through October, and offers a consumer and educator sweepstakes, the Play with Your Produce Challenge, and awards prizing including PBS KIDS merchandise, grocery gift cards and cash rewards for winning classrooms. In addition, a portion of the proceeds from the sales of participating fresh produce products are donated to PBS KIDS. More information is available online at produceforkids.org.
The campaign will be featured in grocery retailers such as Stop & Shop (New England), GIANT and MARTIN’s Food Stores (Northeast), Giant Landover (Baltimore/D.C area), United Texas and Meijer stores (mid-west).
