‘Sesame Street’ Characters Are Now Teaching Kids How To Cope With Trauma

In a powerful new initiative launched by the creators of ‘Sesame Street’, the show’s beloved Muppets are teaching kids how to cope with trauma and stress.

Rosita shows how punching a pillow can help relieve pent-up frustration, and the Count describes how counting helps calm his nerves.

Big Bird is seen in one video learning to use his imagination to find his “safe place,” and Elmo shares how he builds blanket forts to seek solace when he’s scared.

The video series is part of a wider Sesame Workshop initiative - which includes free online reading materials, games and activities in both Spanish and English - aimed at equipping children, caregivers and social workers with tools to help kids overcome traumatic experiences.

The project was launched on Friday 6 October 2017, days after the massacre in Las Vegas, the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.

It was released the same day that new survey was published showing almost half of all American children under age 18 have encountered at least one adverse childhood experience, or ACE, in their lifetime. ACEs are defined as stressful or traumatic events, and can include physical or emotional violence, poverty, natural disasters and terrorism.

ACEs have been linked to “risky health behaviours, chronic health conditions, low life potential and early death,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Several psychologists, educators and ACE experts are listed as advisers to the Sesame Workshop initiative. One of them - Ann Thomas, CEO of The Children’s Place in Kansas, US, - told NPR that she hopes the materials will help create a “sense of safety, consistency and predictability” for kids who are feeling scared and under stress, and will also empower adults to connect better with children experiencing trauma.

“I think one of the biggest values of this material is as a bridge for adults to take grown-up issues and put them in developmentally appropriate words to help children heal,” Thomas said. “When it’s your child, you don’t want them to hurt. Sometimes we want to say, ‘get over it.’ It’s hard to be with a child in that pain.”

Learn more about the “Traumatic Experiences” initiative on the “Sesame Street in Communities” website here.

This story was originally published on the US version of HuffPost.

Before You Go

Yes, You CAN Make A Family Walk Fun

Don't say 'who wants to go for a walk?'(01 of08)

Reframe a walk so it's enticing and exciting using words like explore, play, adventure.Who wants to climb a castle or who wants to find some treasure or skim stones? (credit:Alexander Nicholson via Getty Images)

Don't plod in a straight line - and back again.(02 of08)

Choose a wiggly walk and terrain made for adventuring. "It's all about keeping children's minds off putting one foot in front of another," says Clare Lewis. (credit:Stephen Lux via Getty Images)

Always have an appealing destination - and make pit-stops along the way.(03 of08)

It could be a café with their favourite hot chocolate or their 'secret' place like a climbing tree. Make regular stops to admire natural curiosities, make a den, whittle a stick or play in water or whatever you fancy. Encourage your kids to take photos. Clare Lewis's family always take 'scroggin'; a New Zealand name for a hikers' mix of nuts and seeds, dried fruit and chocolate to keep energy levels up. (credit:ArtMarie via Getty Images)

Join forces with another family or get the kids to bring their friends.(04 of08)

Children love the sociability of a walk and bringing friends increases their activity as they challenge each other to jump the highest or widest, splash in puddles, climb trees or find the best stick. (credit:Alistair Berg via Getty Images)

Walk together in a chatty clod, not a single line with you barking 'come on, keep up'(05 of08)

There may be times you have to walk in a line, but take turns with who's the leader. Also, let your children choose the route (within reason!). (credit:Bounce via Getty Images)

Play games as you go.(06 of08)

Hide-and-seek, capture the flag or ambushes - sending kids on ahead so they can jump out on you - are all favourites. Bring a ball or a Frisbee to play with too. (credit:JLPH via Getty Images)

Turn your walk into a treasure hunt. Or an obstacle course.(07 of08)

Children love places to clamber over like a rocky beach or challenges like climbing trees or jumping over streams. Challenge children to touch that tree and run back, hopscotch between the pavement cracks or run along the low wall. "You could go on a shape walk, finding stones, shells and leaves that are all the same shape," suggests Clare Lewis, co-author of Adventure Walks for Families in and Around London. (credit:Imgorthand via Getty Images)

End on a high.(08 of08)

Match a walk to your kids' ages. You don't want want to leave them exhausted. Talk up what fun you had, so next time you suggest an adventure walk they leap at the chance. (credit:ArtMarie via Getty Images)