Play With Me Sesame
Thirty Minutes with Grover, Bert, Ernie, and Prairie Dawn
Sesame Workshop's half hour Sesame Street spinoff for Noggin brings old friends to a new format.
Set against vibrant backgrounds and featuring short, entertaining segments, Play With Me Sesame is perfect for toddlers and preschoolers. The show features a lot more “face time,” in which the characters are filmed up close, almost as if they are talking directly to the children. It is a bit more interactive than classic Sesame Street, but still brings the same educational value that parents and educators have come to expect from any show that features Grover. According to Noggin's website, the program helps children cultivate skills and attitudes needed to succeed in the social environment of school.
The large cast from the classic PBS show has been scaled down to four well-known characters: fuzzy, cuddly Grover monster, perennial best pals Ernie and Bert, and piano-playing Prairie Dawn. There are occasional visits from Elmo, Oscar, Big Bird, and other Sesame Street characters, but for the most part, these four have the spotlight.
The show consists of several short segments that help children develop important early-learning skills such as counting, reciting the alphabet, matching, or recognizing a pattern. There are several classic Sesame Street segments thrown in and combined with new footage. Bert makes “oatmeal art” pictures and makes patterns of pigeons on the computer. Prairie Dawn has an art show in each episode, showcasing artwork by Play With Me Sesame viewers demonstrating either a particular color or showing how different children can draw the same subject in totally different ways. Ernie and Grover are usually in charge of getting the kids up and moving. It is reminiscent of the “learning centers” that so many preschool and kindergarten classrooms incorporate; each segment works on a different skill, and the children are only there for a few minutes at a time.
There is also a fair amount of interaction. Grover and the gang will cajole the viewers into pretending to fly like an airplane, or jump, or pretend to be a piece of spaghetti. A popular recurring activity in the show has the four characters shouting “when I say 'play with me' you say 'Sesame'.” and then going back and forth with the viewers. This interaction also helps children develop listening skills, as well as the ability to follow verbal directions.
Play With Me Sesame feels like having a playdate in the comfort of your living room. The security of familiar characters, the trusted methods of Sesame Workshop, and short, vivid segments make this show a winner.
