The Wiggles and Sesame Street are hits with preschool aged children around the world. So there’s nothing better than a Sesame Street and Wiggles collaboration. Join Emma, Lachy, Simon, Anthony from The Wiggles and Elmo, Abby Cadabby and Cookie Monster from Sesame Street as they sing and dance together some of your favourite tunes, featuring Fruit Salad, Do the Propeller and The ABCs of Moving You.
Fruit Salad
‘Fruit salad, yummy, yummy!’. Cookie Monster loves to eat cookies, but today is joining the Wiggles as they sing Fruit Salad. Sing-along with the Wiggles and their friends Elmo, Abby Cadabby and Cookie Monster from Sesame Street.
Do the Propeller
‘Do the propeller, do the propeller, do the propeller, around and around!’ Elmo, Abby Cadabby and Cookie Monster join the Wiggles as they sing and dance along to ‘Do the Propeller’ with Simon, Emma, Anthony and Lachy.
The ABCs of Moving You
‘The alphabet are your ABCs! And they can help you move, so get up and dance with me!’ The Wiggles join together with Elmo, Abby Cadabby and Cookie Monster as they sing the alphabet song. Dance and wiggle along as Elmo, Abby, and Cookie Monster sing ‘The ABCs of Moving You’ with the Wiggles!
Who doesn’t love puppets? Throughout the years puppet movies and television shows have enlightened and entertained, featuring memorable characters that offer positive messages through puppetry and storytelling to children. With the prevalence of CGI special effects in television and film production today, the art of puppetry and animatronics is becoming rarer. From Jim Henson’s cute and furry Muppet characters in Sesame Street; to sock puppet, Lamb Chop; and wooden marionette puppet with strings, Pinocchio; to hand puppet, Sooty; here’s some of our favourite puppets throughout pop culture history.
Sesame Street
Sesame Street is one of the most popular and longest running educational children’s television shows, featuring live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. Jim Henson’s Muppet characters are adored by children and instantly recognizable to generations of viewers, some of our favourites are Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, Abby Cadabby, Zoe, Julia, Count von Count, Mr. Snuffleupagus, Bert and Ernie. Behind every memorable character is a human performer, a puppeteer tasked with juggling the technical demands of operating the puppet without losing the humour and heart that makes these furry loveable characters so memorable.
Pinocchio
Pinocchio is an animated fantasy film produced by Disney. The story features an old Italian woodcarver named Geppetto who carves a wooden marionette puppet named Pinocchio. The puppet is brought to life by a blue fairy, who informs him that he can become a real boy if he proves himself to be ‘brave, truthful, and unselfish’. Pinocchio is led astray by con-artist fox Honest John and his henchcat Gideon the Cat, who convinces him to join Stromboli’s puppet show, despite Jiminy Cricket’s objections.
The Muppets
The Muppets are an ensemble cast of puppet characters created by Jim Henson in 1955. The Muppet characters feature Kermit the Frog; Miss Piggy; Fozzie Bear; Gonzo; Rowlf the Dog; Scooter; Rizzo the Rat; Pepe the King Prawn; Dr. Bunsen Honeydew; Beaker; Statler and Waldorf; the Swedish Chef; Sam Eagle; Camilla the Chicken; Walter; Dr. Teeth, Animal, Floyd Pepper, Janice, Zoot, and Lips. As well as The Muppet Show, the characters are popular for their appearances on Sesame Street, The Jim Henson Hour, Bear in the Big Blue House and more. Most of the Muppets are designed as hand puppets made from felt-like material and the performer holds the character above their head or in front of their body, with one hand operating the head and mouth and the other manipulating the hands and arms with invisible strings are used to manipulate these puppets.
Alf
ALF was a hit family sitcom, whose star of the show was a hand-operated puppet. The show premiered in 1990, following the suburban Tanner family and the extraterrestrial ALF, an ‘alien life form’ that crash landed into their home. ALF is short, brown, big-nosed furry alien that is obnoxious, highly confident, wisecracking couch potato who just wanted to have fun and eat the family’s cat. ALF was performed by puppeteer Paul Fusco.
Sooty
Sooty is a mute yellow bear puppet with black ears and nose, who is kind-hearted but also cheeky, and performs magic tricks and practical jokes, and infamously squirts people with his iconic water pistol. The star of the children’s television series, The Sooty Show, was created in the 1950’s alongside his glove puppet friends, the dim-witted but good-natured dog, Sweep; and the sweet, shy, and responsible panda bear, Soo. The Sooty Show offered family-friendly entertainment for young children in a sketch-based format featuring comedy, music and stories, and additional sequels followed with Sooty & Co. and an educational series, Learn With Sooty.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is the story of young Elliot’s adventures with a visitor from outer space and is beloved around the world. E.T. is the star of the movie and this animatronic puppet was controlled by a team of puppeteers to create E.T.’s facial expressions with animatronics. The puppet was created in three months at the cost of $1.5 million.
Gremlins
Gizmo is an adorable, very kind Mogwai from the comedy horror film, Gremlins. Back in 1984 when the film was created there was no CGI, and the special effects relied mainly on puppetry. Gizmo and the Gremlin creatures were animatronic puppets, which consisted of small rubber puppets, some of which were mechanical, used to portray Gizmo and the gremlins. A few marionettes were also used. An enlarged Gizmo puppet was also used for the scene where Gizmo multiplies. The new mogwai that popped out of Gizmo’s body as small, furry balls that started to grow, were balloons and expanded.
Lamb Chop’s Play-Along
Lamb Chop is a sock puppet sheep that was created by puppeteer and ventriloquist Shari Lewis and starred in the preschool children’s television series, Lamb Chop’s Play-Along alongside puppet characters, Charlie Horse and Hush Puppy. In 1992 Lamb Chop’s Play-Along premiered, hosted by Shari Lewis and thrilled millions of children as they followed the adventures of an enthusiastic singing lady and her puppet animal friends.
Jurassic Park
Steven Spielberg’s, Jurassic Park used a number of hydraulically controlled animatronics, puppets, and elaborate costuming to create the prehistoric cast of dinosaurs, making them as realistic as possible. The Brachiosaurus was the first dinosaur encountered by the park’s visitors in the film and the dinosaur’s head and upper neck was the largest puppet without hydraulics built for the film, a seven and a half foot tall puppet. The Brachiosaurus was operated by six puppeteers, with someone puppeteering the eyes, someone on the tongue, another on the jaw movement and someone on the lips, another on the neck and another puppeteer working the head.
The Never Ending Story
The NeverEnding Story fantasy film was released in 1984 when puppetry and live models were more popular than CGI special effects. The fantastical characters were brought to life using practical special effects and puppetry. Each of the puppets required a team of puppeteers, who mastered intricate coordination prior to production. A team of about 25 puppeteers brought the magic of Falcor to life, with multiple people assigned to facial expressions alone – one puppeteer responsible for operating Falcor’s nose, another for eyebrows, and another for the upper lip and another for the lower lip.
Mr. Squiggle and Friends
Mr. Squiggle, the main character of the Australian children’s television series from the 1990’s, is a marionette puppet with a pencil for a nose. Children would write in with their ‘squiggles’ and Mr. Squiggle transformed them into recognisable drawings with his pencil nose. More often than not, the picture would be drawn upside down, and then Mr. Squiggle would gleefully declare, ‘Upside down! Upside down!’ and his assistant would turn the picture the right way up to reveal the completed drawing. Mr. Squiggle was accompanied by other puppet characters featuring, the grumpy Blackboard that Mr. Squiggle uses for an easel, Gus the Snail and Bill the Steam Shovel.
Tell us your favourite puppet movies and television shows in the comments below.
Sesame Street first hit screens in 1969 and children’s television was forever changed. For over 50 years the colorful community of Muppets has touched the hearts of children all over the world.
The Sesame Street children’s television series was created by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett and is produced by Sesame Workshop and features a combination of live-action, animation and puppetry.
Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Grover, Abby Cadabby, Bert, Ernie and the growing list of characters have entertained and educated preschool children, as they prepare young children for school.
Sesame Workshop’s mission is to help kids everywhere grow smarter, stronger, and kinder. The creators of Sesame Street understood that children tend to imitate what they watch of television and through the program’s characters demonstrated positive behaviours of inquisitiveness and the enjoyment of learning using repetition and humour.
For children that enjoy watching Big Bird, Elmo, Abby Cadabby and friends, you can encourage children’s learning and development with Sesame Street themed educational toys as they will relate to the characters and evoke emotion with their familiarity to them.
Soft Toys
Stuffed animals and soft toys are cute and cuddly, but is there really any educational value to your child’s development and well being? Babies learn about the world around them through their senses, one important sense being the sensation of touch. The soft fur, embroidered features and costumes worn by the muppet characters offer many different textures. Consequently, these textures to stimulate their senses and assist in development.
As babies grow into toddlers, plush soft toys of the Sesame Street characters can help children learn and recognise familiar words, like the names of the characters ‘Elmo’, ‘Big Bird’ and ‘Cookie Monster’ and identify and learn colors, like the colour of their fur and describe the character’s personalities. Stuffed toys can become constant companions for children. A stuffed toy offers emotional support whereby behaviors and experiences can be joined with their cuddly friends and mimicked to overcome challenging situations and comfort them, like bedtime and feeding routines.
As children grow toys are thrown about, dragged, hugged, kissed and cuddled. As pre-schoolers, children engage in more imaginative play. Children can re-enact a skit they’ve watched from an episode of Sesame Street or any event they imagine and develop their own story and have elaborate conversations with their toys, where toys may experience everything a child experiences.
Electronic Toys
Good quality electronic toys and gadgets do more than entertain too. With sounds, colours and interactive buttons, an electronic toy can make learning fun, especially those that feature Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Cookie Monster, Julia, Grover, Oscar the Grouch and more of the characters on Sesame Street that children bond with.
Music and sounds stimulate brain activity. Toys that play tunes, songs and talking toys boost cognitive development in children. Studies have shown that babies and toddlers that are exposed to music, tend to have more advanced skills in learning, critical and logical thinking and problem solving skills than their peers. A Sesame Street toy that talks, sings or plays music can also enhance memory and develop language skills. Through the repetition of music and phrases, children remember the words and improve memory storage and processing.
Interactive electronic toys can teach children important skills such as learning colours, numbers, word recognition and phonics. Toys designed with the muppets from Sesame Street have easily recognisable faces, sounds and music that make learning familiar and lots of fun for children.
Artist and designer, KAWS, has delivered dozens of great collaborations throughout the years, however his Sesame Street collection with Uniqlo remains a fan favorite.
The collection of adorable character plushies features Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie and was originally released on November 19th, 2018 in Uniqlo stores globally and on the Uniqlo online store.
The five loveable plush toys resemble characters from the iconic children’s TV show, Sesame Street, and their characters’ eyes have been replaced by KAWS’ signature “X” motif button eyes.
The KAWS Sesame Street collection of plushies accompanies a clothing line that includes T-shirts, hoodies, and sweatshirts.
The collectibles were available as a set in a special branded box or available to be purchased individually.
KAWS Sesame Street Plush Toy CollectionKAWS Sesame Street Big Bird Plush ToyKAWS Sesame Street Cookie Monster Plush ToyKAWS Sesame Street Elmo Plush ToyKAWS Sesame Street ErniePlush ToyKAWS Sesame Street Bert Plush Toy
“Sunny day, sweepin’ the clouds away
On my way, to where the air is sweet
Can you tell me how to get… how to get to Sesame Street?”
Enjoy fun photos and images of Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Zoe, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch toys and all your friends in the photo gallery, as they play games and learn together and we celebrate in pictures this iconic brand that has entertained and educated children for over forty-eight years.
Elmo
The lovable three-and-a half year old furry red monster with a contagious giggle is Elmo. Elmo lives with his mother Mae and his father Louie with a pet goldfish named Dorothy in an apartment on Sesame Street and is best friends with Abby Cadabby and Zoe. As the star of Elmo’s World and Elmo the Musical, little Elmo teaches children everything he knows about the world around him.
Abby Cadabby
The adorable three-year-old fairy-in-training that lives on Sesame Street is Abby Cadabby, with magical powers that allow her to pop in and out of thin air, float when she’s happy, and turn things into pumpkins. Abby’s name comes from the magic word Abracadabra and this little fairy is so amazed to learn to draw letters and count that she says her catchphrase, ‘That’s so magical!’ when she learns something new.
Zoe
The three year old orange monster is Zoe. Obsessed with ballet, Zoe loves to dance and often wears a pink tutu. Zoe has a pet rock named, Rocco, much to Elmo’s dismay and often travels around Sesame Street in a go-cart style car called the Zoemobile. Zoe’s best friends with Elmo and AbbyCadabby and often says the catchphrase ‘Don’t joke me!’
Cookie Monster
The blue furry monster with googly eyes that eats everything and anything is the Cookie Monster. Cookie Monster educates children about healthy eating habits and enjoys eating fruits and eggplant, but most of all he prefers to eat cookies and his favorite are chocolate chip cookies. With a mouth full of food, Cookie Monster often says ‘Me want cookie!’ ‘Me eat cookie!’ and ‘Om nom nom nom’.
Big Bird
The tall and friendly bright yellow canary that lives in a large nest behind the 123 Sesame Street brownstone is Big Bird. With many talents and the leading character of the children’s television series, Big Bird can sing, dance, draw, write poetry, roller skate, ice skate, and even ride a unicycle. Big Bird teaches children about life, the alphabet, and numbers, helping them to feel comfortable not knowing everything and encouraging them to learn, saying ‘Asking questions is a good way of finding things out!’.
Oscar the Grouch
Next to Big Bird, and living in a trash can, is the green furry monster, Oscar the Grouch. The grouch’s passion in life is trash and sings, ‘I Love Trash’. Just like all Grouches, Oscar’s mission in life is to be as miserable and grouchy as possible, grumpily greeting visitors and complaining that he wants to be left alone. Oscar has a pet worm, called Slimey and a girlfriend, also a Grouch, named Grundgetta.
