SESAME STREET"

Children's education has always been an interest for me. Being a

father and now a grandfather, I guess it's natural. The first ten years in a child's life establish the foundations of learning for the rest of their lives. We must never downplay the importance of these formative years.

PBS' Sesame Street has broken ground in educational approaches since its beginnings 44 years ago. They made learning for young children fun. The creators of Sesame Street used every creative tool at their disposal including puppets, animation and music. If repetition or memorization was required they did it with humour, silliness and a spirit of engaging playfulness. Sesame Street was part of my own children's early education experience from 1978-1985.

Now, decades later, Sesame Street still creatively introduces very young children to counting, arithmetic, the alphabet, the natural world, etc. An example is the short segment below about the letter N. It is simple creative brilliance. (The voice accompanying the animation is that of my grandson).