Sesame Workshop is celebrating every person and puppet for Autism Acceptance Month! The organization kicked things off today with resources all about belonging and expressing yourself as an artist. The content has been created as a part of Sesame Workshop’s Sesame Street and Autism: See Amazing in All Children initiative.
Two new videos are out on the Sesame Street YouTube channel featuring the character Julia and her friends. “Princess Paint A Lot” features Julia, Abby, and Rosie working together to make a story about a painter princess. “Julia’s Needed” brings in fan-favorite Elmo as well as Rudy, who both need Julia’s help to paint a rainbow.
Sesame Workshop has also released some fun printables, with three pages that kids can use to create a self-portrait and then put themselves in storybook scenes. Kids can also enjoy the new storybook, Julia and the Super-Sunny Celebration, all about teamwork, available digitally now on the Sesame Workshop website.
The overall initiative will also include tie-ins with theme parks. Throughout the month of April, the Sesame Place theme parks, Busch Gardens, and SeaWorld Orlando will give away educational storybooks and host meet-and-greets with Julia and her friends. Sesame Workshop is striving to make fill April with belonging through even more events, such as the Midories performing the song “We Belong” live on Autism Awareness Day in Tokyo, Japan.
The Sesame Street and Autism: See Amazing in All Children initiative came about in 2015 with the help of more than 250 organizations and experts within the autistic community. The character Julia was introduced the same year as the first Sesame Street character with autism. Since the initiative’s inception, it has aimed to foster understanding as well as provide resources and other content to support families. The new storybook, printouts, and videos join a library of existing content for everyone to enjoy.
