Children give full attention to the stage during the launch of new resources for military families by Sesame Workshop. Activities were hosted at Joint Base Myer Henderson Hall, Va., Nov. 5. (Sesame Workshop photo by Evy Mages)

“Let it Out” is the title of a new music video, and fun catch-phrase, created by Sesame Workshop to help military children express their feelings about deployed parents, multiple moves, holidays without loved ones and a whole host of unique emotional issues military families face.

New resources from Sesame Workshop, with characters from Sesame Street and The Electric Company, will help elementary school-aged children in military families let their emotions out in positive and creative ways, and stay connected to their loved ones while they’re deployed. The just-launched initiative is a result of on-going collaboration between Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) and the nonprofit Sesame Workshop to help military families cope with challenging transitions.

The new bilingual website for military families, Military Families Near and Far, is designed to offer a safe, fun place for families to “create, communicate and stay connected.” On the site, there are seven ways you and your child can make that happen:

1. Create a personal profile page so you have a home on the site. Customize it with pictures, wallpaper, color and your creativity.
2. Compose a letter, make a notebook entry, write a story or create a greeting card message.
3. If you don’t know the words, choose emoticons to help express how you’re feeling that day and make notes to keep track of them in your notebook.
4. Make art and combine it with stickers, family photos, art you previously created, or characters from Sesame Street or The Electric Company.
5. Record your own music mashup using beats, vocals and your own recordings.
6. Populate your family scrapbook page with your art, messages, music and video to share with family members and friends near and far.
7. Check out resources for families addressing grief, self-expression, deployments, homecomings and more.

Adding to Sesame’s collection are two more resources to help “let it out:”

8. Feel Electric! – a free mobile application that encourages kids to explore and express their emotions; available for iPad, iPhone and Android users
9. The Electric Company magazine for kids – an online tool to encourage expression and help kids cope with challenging situations

And Sesame has a new product for educators your child will benefit from:

10. The Electric Company Extended Learning Program – after school learning resources educators can use to extend learning opportunities in literacy and math through activities, games and tips; for more information about the extended learning curriculum, email militaryfamilies@sesame.org.

The only thing left for you to do is to make your way to the new website and start creating, communicating and connecting.