Hi, Sproutlets!

 

Image from YouTube

Image from YouTube

Madeline Fretz - Most kids' shows and channels have friendly hosts that speak directly to the viewers, but don't talk down to them (Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Rogers come to mind). Sometimes, they even address the viewers by a cute little name. Sprout is no exception, calling the preschool viewers "Sproutlets."

Why were they called Sproutlets? Read this post and find out.

If you're a Sprout fan, you probably know that Sprout launched on Comcast on Demand in April 2005, five months before its cable launch on September 26th. Comcast was one of Sprout's four founders (alongside PBS, HiT Entertainment, and Sesame Workshop), and the one which announced the new channel's name. The Atlanta-based company Primal Screen ("mmm, tasty!") made both the on-demand idents and the linear channel idents, which premiered on demand in January 2006. Primal Screen also made the soon-to-be "iconic" logo, which consisted of "Sprout" in blue (of course), a green flower with "PBS Kids" in white ("PBS Kids" was removed in 2013 once PBS lost the rights to Sprout), and Sprout's then-slogan, "let's grow!" The "let's grow!" slogan was also used as the title for a series of two Sunny Side Up Show videos from HiT.

Probably as a result of the slogan, Sprout's official website, which launched probably when the VOD service did, was called Sproutletsgrow.com until December 2006. To me, this is probably why Sprout viewers (between the ages of 2 and 5) were called "Sproutlets."

Image from Cultural Organology

Oh, and I have another fan theory. Seeds sprout, which is probably what Sprout was named after, and plants that just sprouted are often called "sproutlings," or "sproutlets."

Image from Facebook

Since then, the term "Sproutlets" has been used in things such as the title of The Super Sproutlet Show and several daycares.

The 2011 version of SproutOnline.com had a section for "Sproutlets" with games and videos, while a separate section was dedicated to Grown-Up Sprouts (what Sprout called adults). A version of the Sproutlet section was utilized in the 2012 Games and Videos app.

Fan-art frenzy! Image from Facebook

Nearly everyone on Sprout's blocks and interstitial series and announcers called the viewers "Sproutlets." Well, except on The Let's Go Show maybe, where viewers were referred to as "Sprout Scouts," though Banjo did refer to the viewers as "Sproutlets" one time. Similarly, Bean of The Super Sproutlet Show referred to both the viewers and kids appearing in segments as "Super Sproutlets" as, well, that was in the show's title.

In addition, real-live kids who visited the set of The Good Night Show were referred to as Nina and Star's "Sproutlet friends," and the duo referred to kids in pictures as "Sproutlets." For example: Nina pulls out a picture of two Sproutlets with their parents from her basket, as a hint to tonight's adventure.

During Halloween season 2013 (source), Sprout launched a series of three online games known as "My Little Sproutlet," in which you could create your own kids using things such as Sprout character outfits, and have your avatar drive race cars, fly airplanes, and skateboard. I remember playing these games when they were around and creating avatars of my Sprout friends (including Kelly, Kevin, and Nina).

And finally, on the Sprout fan server on Discord (which I'm a member of as cbeebiesfan (after my old DeviantArt account)), which launched last year, they refer to non-moderator members as "Sproutlets."

As a popular YouTuber under the name of Playtime, All the Time: CBeebies Utopia (you probably know that by now), I often refer to my own viewers as "Sproutlets" in my videos. Take, for example, the above video. Similarly, I, of course, am also the founder of this blog, and I often refer to you, the reader, as "Sproutlets" in my post, just like old times.

I believe that's all the instances "Sproutlets" was used, and why they used that name for the preschool viewers. Sprout fans, if you're probably wondering why Sprout's viewers were referred to as "Sproutlets," read this post! You'll love it, I swear!

Click here to pull out a picture on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!