/  animation   /  Saving Money with Educational Animation for Children

Anyone can agree that a well-honed education is vital to the prosperity of a child’s future, and so delivering effective, quality educational content that kids can enjoy and understand is important. It’s also well understood that educating can be expensive.

Animation and interactive content can do the job of educating well. It’s obvious to anyone that kids find cartoons fun and entertaining. Any parent can tell you stories of sitting a child in front of the TV and coming back to hear they learned something new. Even if that something new wasn’t what a parent intended, it happens.

There is even something called “The Sesame Street Effect”. A well-documented study showed the impact of Sesame Street on early education for kids.

It was concluded that Sesame Street increased readiness for youth entering kindergarten or elementary school.  It was also shown to give an especially great boost to early education for young black men, which is great news.

Sesame Street was originally designed to target inner city youth and people of color, and it’s great to see the affect established for the audience they were trying to help the most.

From The Atlantic:
“Only 40 percent of 4-year-olds nationwide are enrolled in publicly funded preschool programs, a good chunk of which are considered to be low-quality. According to a growing body of research, this contributes to great inequality in academic achievement. And although comprehensive data on the long-term benefits of preschool is hard to come by, experts tend to agree that having a quality early-education experience can have a significant impact on the first chapter of a kid’s life. The payoff appears to be especially strong for disadvantaged children, who might not otherwise have exposure to the stuff emphasized in quality preschools, such as vocabulary and good nutrition.”

Another great advantage about Sesame Street’s impact on early childhood education what the cost effectiveness of its production. It cost mere penny’s on the dollar to educate and get kids ready for school. This is opposed to the HEADSTART program implemented in 1969. What cost the government $7,600 annually to educate children, Sesame Street could do for a mere $5 per child.

This is the advantage of television and broadcast media in the modern era.

Although it’s often hard to come draw conclusions on the long-term impact of educational shows like Sesame Street. It cannot be denied that the budget and effectiveness in educational content using video and animation saves money for educators in the long haul.

* – Header image is copyright Sesame Street and respective owners.