Sprouterrific Playdate

Image from Facebook

Madeline Fretz - Back in 2008, Sprout was available in over fifty million homes and cable providers such as Time Warner Cable were begging for it, but was still a small channel with a pretty low budget. Compare it to the larger budget they had in later years. To promote the channel, Sprout Please was launched, encouraging families to request Sprout in their areas. But that's another story.

Also in 2008, Sprout launched the Sprout Mall Tour, probably also to promote the channel to viewers who were either (or both?) new to the name or to get them to request the channel in their areas.

Pictures and videos of the Mall Tour are still up on sites like YouTube and Facebook, so give me a favor and go check them out for yourselves! A few of these pictures (if not all?) are from a Facebook page from 2010.

Image from Facebook

 Here, kids could get their picture taken with Barney the Dinosaur, a regular of Sprout programming, in front of an inflatable background featuring the Sprout logo and a link to SproutOnline.com, and upload their photos to a website called SproutMallTour.com. Please note that the above picture says SproutOnline.com instead of SproutMallTour.com.

A popular part of this Mall Tour was that kids could get to meet Chica and a Sunny Side Up Show host in front of an inflatable replica of the Sunshine Barn and tell the weather. Families could also upload videos of their weather reports to SproutMallTour.com.

Now for something I may have talked about in a previous post on this blog, and I'm deeply sorry if I did. In 2008 and 2009, Sprout held a Preschool Weather Reporter contest in which they would select a lucky kid who took part in the Mall Tour Weather Reports and have them tell the weather live on The Sunny Side Up Show. The winners ended up being Tampa's Mikey Letts in 2009 and St. Louis' Maddyx Poulin in 2010, but I'm pretty sure Daniel, the boy with Liz and Chica in one of the pictures, was the winner of another Weather Reporter Contest in 2011.

While kids waited to meet their favorite characters, they were treated to a variety of characters. In addition, there was a television screen that played clips from Sprout shows such as Wiggly Waffle.

The Mall Tour kept going, touring different cities across the US, until at least 2010 or 2011.

Anyways, this was a pretty nice way to promote the Sprout brand to newcomers. They should've kept this up and done similar things!

Click here to tour different cities on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

Sprout Memories

Madeline Fretz - This post is kind of like My Life as a Sprout Fan, except only with some of my favorite Sprout memories, even some that were in the post. Last month, I hosted a series on my Instagram account (@Playtimeallthetimecbeebiesfan) called Sprout-vent Calendar, in which I would share some Sprout memories on the twenty-four days leading up to Christmas, and some of those memories are posted here. Anyways, enjoy!

The Sunny Side Up Show:

Image from the Wayback Machine

If you read My Life as a Sprout Fan, you know that I went on SproutOnline.com on the computers in preschool (it was the 2011 website). I remember going on the Sunny Side Up Show website that had Kelly and Chica in the Sunshine Barn on the Flash(?) menu. This menu was also used in the Games and Videos app. Judging from a picture I remember seeing years ago (on Pinterest maybe?), there was also a variant of this menu that had Sean. I also recall seeing some Sunny videos and clips on the website and on-demand (and maybe on the channel?) as well, and here are several.

• Dennisha and Chica's Mom (who would later appear on The Chica Show and be given more of a character) singing "Five Little Chicas," a cute little variant on "Five Little Ducks." We don't have any footage or pictures of this segment yet, but we do have one of Kelly's version.
• Wasn't Chica's Mom also in a Hooray for Mother's Day Sweepstakes promo?
• Kelly (or was it another host?) and Chica played with a Sprout character spinning wheel and pretended to do the Baby Bop Hop, dive like Olly, and climb up a beanstalk like Super WHY!.
• Sean and Chica singing "If You're Kind and You Know It" with Baby Chick. I remember watching this with my dad and using a Barney plush as Baby Chick. The song has also been sung by Kaitlin twice, Tim and Ruth B, and in a Sprout music video.
• Barney the Dinosaur was on The Sunny Side Up Show in August 2010 for Dinosaurs Week, and answered viewers' phone calls with Kelly and Chica. I remember seeing a video of the appearance years ago at my house (well, my old one. We moved away in 2018) and Kelly mentioned a girl named "Sarah."
• Liz and Chica playing with real-life baby chicks.
• From 2007 to maybe 2011, the hosts also did "All This Week" videos where they would explain what they would be talking about all week on the show. I remember seeing one of them(?) on the computer in preschool in which Chica and "First Mate" Sean were pirates, presumably for Pirates Week.
• I don't remember Liz that much prior to becoming a Sprout historian, but I remember seeing her and Chica once at the end of a Wiggly Waffle broadcast. You see, at the end of each Wiggly Waffle, the Wiggles would talk to Chica and the hosts about what they're doing today in the barn.
• I remember seeing a TV promo for Elmo's appearance on The Sunny Side Up Show (2011 maybe?). Man, 2011 was the world's biggest year!
• I also remember seeing a promo for Noodle and Doodle that had Noodle in the Sunshine Barn with Sean and Chica.
• According to My Life as a Sprout Fan, I owned most of the mobile apps Sprout made (under Children's Network LLC). One of my favorites was Games and Videos, which had a Sprout Tunes section based on both the TV segments of the same name and the "Music Maker" online game. The section featured songs from Sprout shows and blocks, including The Sunny Side Up Show.
• Some of the Sunny songs that I remember were on "Tunes" were the following: "Jim Along Josie and "All Around the Kitchen" (Carly and Chica with Dan Zanes and Sonia de los Santos, "We Try, We Don't Cry" (Tim and Chica), "Numbers in the Ocean" (Carly and Chica), and "Where is Chica?" (Kaitlin and Chica with Rico). "We Try, We Don't Cry" was a song about trying new things, and opened with Tim telling Chica that they're going to play with Kaitlin next week.
• There was one segment in which a girl named Yori Honablue showed Tim and Chica a story she made using paper.
• I remember seeing a promo for Emily's debut on the 2013-2015 website.
• Speaking of the 2013-2015 website, they had a Sunny Side Up Show section called The Host Corner which had videos and articles about the hosts. There were several articles in which hosts Dennisha, Carly, Darryl, Tim, Kaitlin, and Emily talked about their lives as kids ("When I was a Sproutlet").
• I remember seeing a video on SproutOnline.com in either 2015 or 2016 (the latter is probably more likely) in which Emily and Chica encouraged Sproutlets to send in birthday wishes for Baby Chick. The video was released prior to Sprout's anniversary on September 26th, so I believe that was the reason why it was made.
• I watched The Sunny Side Up Show one day in 2015. Carly and Chica were hosting and I remember seeing Bob the Builder that day, shortly before Sprout got rid of the series and other remaining PBS and HiT Entertainment content. I remember that day Carly and Chica sang a song called "We're a Couple of Cowgirls" before linking into Ruff-Ruff. Tweet, and Dave. I don’t know what the theme was for that week, but I believe they were dressed as superheroes and cowgirls, so it could be Dress Up Week.
• Okay, now for something I've said many times on this blog and my Instagram in the past, but I remember sending in content such as Sproutlet Stories games and even birthday cards and wishes to The Sunny Side Up Show via SproutOnline.com and the Send to Sprout app. They told me to watch Sunny every day to see my submissions on TV. I never did, and I was only 7-9 years old when I submitted content, so I don’t know if they got on. 
• Host Hunt was a contest held in 2013 to search for new Sunny Side Up Show hosts. I watched the videos a lot even after 2013 ended, and I made my own audition video in 2016(?) with a ladybug pillow pet as my "Chica" and I mentioned ZOOM, which wasn't a Sprout show. I have the video uploaded on my YouTube channel, and I will talk about it on here later.
• And lastly for one of my own inspired memories. At the start of 2017, I pretended to host my own Sunny Side Up-inspired morning show also taking place in a city apartment with a toy robot co-host.

The Good Night Show:

Image from Facebook

• I remember watching the Sunny Side Up Show "Today's Birthdays" segments during the block, and remember that one time Nina hosted the segment. I couldn't get enough that I demanded more once Thomas & Friends and the other shows came on.
• I remember watching the one and only broadcast of 2011's live A Sweet Goodnight Treat. I remember the Kipper ghost episode aired that night, and that Chica was dressed as a ghost.
• I first discovered Sprout's Snooze-a-Thon one night after watching Barney & Friends, which I had already watched that day. Mom turned it on-demand and I found it a bit weird, but am mesmerized nowadays.
• I remember watching The Good Night Show at a friend's house in 2015. You see, I was a big Wiggles fan at the time, and requested we watch The Wiggles Show (or was it Lights Camera Action?) on demand, but after a while I wanted to watch the Sprout channel, and The Chica Show was on. I remember the split-screen credits telling me The Good Night Show was next, a Sprout Control Room segment followed, and then the Good Night broadcast. I don't know what the "adventure" (what Nina and Star were talking about) was that night. I remember seeing The Berenstain Bears, Today's Birthdays, and Ruff-Ruff, Tweet, and Dave that night, and turned off the TV after the second Today's Birthdays airing (Carly and Chica were hosting that night). You see, I was afraid the Snooze-a-Thon would come on at 9PM after The Good Night Show ended, but after I became a Sprout historian I was proved wrong. I have also written about this experience on my answers to the Great Sprout Survey.

SproutOnline.com:

• I remember seeing a version of "If You're Kind and You Know It" on the website, and I remember it had Olive the Ostrich.
• I remember that Barney the Dinosaur was one of the characters on the 2011 website, and he said "Hi, Sproutlets! It's me, Barney!"
• I remember that at the bottom the 2015 website, a character on a trampoline (usually one from a new show) would take you back up to the top.

Other:

• Remember the Sprout Diner Time to Create digital podcasts on iTunes? I sure hope you do. I remember watching them long after Sprout Diner was discontinued, and that one episode had a Sprout Sharing Show promo and maybe Sprout is Always Here for You.
• Back in 2015, I created and hosted a new sequel channel called Sprout 2, and sang Sprout Around the Clock.
• Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies was a PBS show that aired on Sprout during The Sprout Sharing Show, The Let's Go Show, and The Good Night Show from 2009 to 2012. I remember said show had a character named Barney, and that the "Barney" variant of the Rain opening played before Mirabelle once.
• I remember seeing a video of a Sprout Please commercial on some website, but it wasn't YouTube, and I remember it had Cookie Monster from Sesame Street saying "Sprout Please" slowly.
• I remember seeing a video of Pajanimals on (again) a non-YouTube website, and it opened with the 2005 Bedtime ident and a female announcer's voice.
• I believe watching Sprout on Demand is how I first discovered Sprout. Two of the shows I remember seeing on there were Caillou and Sesame Street. Both shows ended with a promo about the show on Sprout's three ventures (On Demand, on TV, and online). The promos also aired on the channel after the shows were over (i.e, Barney & Friends, Bob the Builder, OG Angelina Ballerina). The Caillou one we have, but the Sesame one we don't. All we have is a promo for the latter show's Spanish co-production Plaza Sesamo, which aired on Sprout on Demand.
• There was a promo for Christmas/Winter happenings on Sprout, including Cheer in the New Year, which I mentioned here. It was basically this promo except with Cheer in the New Year.
• I remember the Live Sprout and Sprout Viewer Circle promos, and thinking they were the same thing. They may be how I was first exposed to Sprout's blocks.

And there you have it! Some Sprout memories of mine.

Click here to be mesmerized nowadays on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

Hopes for a Sprouterrific 2022!

 

Madeline Fretz - Well, it's 2022, Sproutlets! As a Sprout fan, I have lots of hopes for this year, and here they are!

Apple TV+ acquiring Sprout library and ordering new original series

I know I've been saying this for months now after the Yo Gabba Gabba! announcement. It’s unlikely it will ever happen, but I say never say never. This will give us a chance to see old and rare Sprout content we've never seen before, plus see new original content with some of the old gang back. Plus with that holiday message video, it feels like some of them really want the Sprout name back. NBCUniversal, Apple TV+, make that happen! Support the petition!

Sprout Reunion

A few Sprout people important to Sprout's history were in Steven's holiday message video this year, but weren’t together. This year I would love to see them reunited for a video chat or even a special or other content. Pratt, Filios, Gawel, Barnes, and Eisner weren’t in the video, so this would be a great chance to see them again. Everyone! 🎵 Together again, gee it’s good to be together again, I just can’t imagine that you’ve ever been gone, it’s not starting over, it’s just going on… 🎶

No one from Sprout dead

A lot of people I’m familiar with or have known for years died in 2021, so I hope no one from Sprout dies or passes away in 2022. It’s unlikely that will ever happen, since some of them are probably still young.

A start to filming the Sesame Street movie

The new Sesame Street movie with Anne Hathaway and Chance the Rapper is supposed to start filming this month, so I hope it happens. From what we have heard, this is going to be a movie about the Muppets getting lost in New York - a mix between Follow That Bird and the Muppet movies (the ones with Kermit's side of the family). This would give us a great chance to see behind-the-scenes pictures and more information about the movie. Sesame Workshop, make it happen!

A start to filming the Barney movie

Speaking of new Sprout show movies, it was announced in 2019 that Daniel Kaluuya of Get Out was making a movie starring the iconic purple dinosaur. I hope this movie is more Dora and the Lost City of Gold and less Barney's Great Adventure, Elmo in Grouchland, and Thomas and the Magic Railroad - a movie for people who grew up watching the show with references to the original show. If it happens, I’ll definitely go see it and will probably like it more than the original show. I wonder what this movie is going to be about and when it’s going to be shot…

Fanfiction

The Sprout team sleeping in hammocks after cleaning the theater.

As you probably know, I'm writing a sequel to my Sprout fanfic. While the latter was about getting the Sprout characters and hosts back together again since I wanted Apple TV+ to bring back Sprout, the former is about Nina and Star and Miles and Banjo touring with The Wiggles during Nina and Miles' anniversary trip to Los Angeles, and everyone else setting off to find them and bring them back home. I think I'll probably add adjustments and fix mistakes to my first fic. YouTube's Marcus Blackwell suggested I add a lullaby to the scene where everyone's sleeping in hammocks and rafters above the stage in the Dominion Energy Center, and Nina and I have a nighttime chat. Well, the scene does include the Goodnight Song and the Hush the Fish poem. 🙄

Another great year for Parents and Kids Share Together!

Most people hated 2020, and 2021 was a fairly decent year, especially for Parents and Kids Share Together. I hope 2022 is just as great for PAKST as the past two years were. Peace out (or should I say Peace Sprout?)!

Click here to have a great 2022 on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

Maddie Takes Manhattan

 

Madeline Fretz - I knew what would happen once I saw this puzzle on Christmas Day. I've been to the Big Apple, the city that never sleeps, New York City twice prior (once for Spring Break 2018, once at the start of 2020), but now I would be going again. On my first trip, we took a train, on our second, we took a bus, but this time we'd be going on an airplane. I have previously been on planes to Orlando in 2013, Key Largo in 2016, and Las Vegas in April, but this would be the first time I’d fly to NYC. Santa gave my sisters and I headphones, suitcases, and jackets since we would be flying there anyways.

I just got home, and I’m sharing some pictures from this trip just for you, I know this is a Sprout blog, but don’t worry, there’s a bit of Sprout in this post. I promise.

We stayed in the Lotte New York Palace, which is where Season One of the show Gossip Girl was filmed. Here’s the amazing view from our room!

Holding up the world!

This is Radio City Music Hall. Barney LIVE! in New York City filmed here in 1994 and Elmopalooza, the Sesame Street 30th anniversary special, in 1999.

At an iconic train station I don’t know the name of.

Me with the huge ornaments by Radio City.

Pizza!

Me with a milkshake at Max Brenner.

This is me with my mom with a light show.

My sisters and I saw the Statue of Liberty on a ferry to Staten Island.

This is me with a sign at the largest store ever(?) and the home of the thanksgiving day parade - Macy's. I had to go to the bathroom, so we went there, and even rode the world's oldest escalator.

Us with the pretty views of city lights at Roosevelt Island, where took a tram both to and from.

…and finally this is me with 30 Rockefeller Center, where they filmed The Sunny Side Up Show as of 2014.

Other things my family did on the trip were the following: Dad and my sisters saw The Music Man on Broadway (on my first trip, we saw Wicked, on our second, we saw Frozen) while Mom and I went to the M&Ms Store, Dad and my sister Abbie went to trapeze school while Mom, Ella, and I went to Strand and Max Brenner's, and we went ice skating, though I didn’t want to, and I had hot chocolate. 

Overall, great trip, even though New York is not my kinda place. Ya know, too cold, too many people, a lot of walking…

Barney's Christmas Star

 

Barney's Christmas Star is a 2002 Christmas special starring Barney the Dinosaur as he looks for a Christmas tree star in his friend's attic.

The special aired on Sprout from 2010 to 2014, during both Elmo's Movie Merry-Thon and Merry Movies.

Click here to look for a Christmas tree star on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

My Week with Birthdays: A Very Special Birthday

 

You know how they have costumed versions of children's characters and people dressed up as Disney princesses and superheroes at kids' birthday parties? (Side note: I know Yo Gabba Gabba! never aired on Sprout, but I posted the last video on here for fun). In 2010, Sprout did something similar.

Image from MySavings

A birthday sweepstakes was held in which kids could receive a visit from Barney the Dinosaur, Chica, and Kelly Vrooman at their birthday parties and win a weekly prize - Barney and Chica dolls. Sounds pretty fun if you ask me. 

My Week with On Demand: Yours to Share

 

If you turn on PBS, you'll find happy puppets telling kids how great life can be. You know what's great? Sprout! And you know what's also great? This promo I posted above. I remember seeing it before episodes of Caillou on demand and it also played after Sunny Side Up Show clips (such as this and this).

The promo is all about Sprout's ventures on TV, online, on demand, and on your iPhone, using clips from the Elmo's World segments on Sesame Street, Barney & Friends, and Caillou, as well as the Sprout logo on flowers (as used on Sproutonline.com and in the "Rain" opening). It was made by Trace Pictures (who also did Sprout's second generation idents and openings) in early 2009, supposedly a few months before the rebrand that year.

My Week with 2011: He's Awake!

 It's not every day you see Barney and Elmo in the same room.

The red monster and purple dinosaur only appeared together once, and that was in the above commercial, made just for Sprout in 2011 (I don't know if the two were really in the same room or if it were green screen). The commercial also featured appearances by Super WHY!, Fireman Sam, Kelly Vrooman and Chica, Roary the Racing Car, and Caillou, plus The Good Night Show is seen on TV at the end. In the commercial, Barney, Elmo, Super WHY!, and Fireman Sam are in a boy named Brody's room, waiting for him to wake up. When he does, Super WHY! alters his mom and flies by Vrooman and Chica, ruining their craft in the process.

Another similar commercial was made featuring Barney, Bob the Builder, Angelina Ballerina, Kelly Vrooman, Sean Roach, and Chica, and a clip from The Good Night Show on TV.

In addition, several tie-in online banner ads were made, featuring the same characters from the two commercials.

My Week with The Sunny Side Up Show: When a Celebrity Comes to Visit

 

Images from 2015

Madeline Fretz - Back in the early days, The Sunny Side Up Show often had guest appearances from Sprout characters. According to this Sprout for Parents article, when Team Sprout came up with the theme for each week, they brainstormed the guest ideas they would like to have. They tried to book a guest as far in advance as possible, usually a few months before their actual appearance, because their schedules tended to fill up very quickly.

Let's start with the Sesame Street appearances. Sesame Street had the most guest appearances on the block.

Image from Muppet Wiki

Image from Nolan Hong

Image from Jeremy Wintroub

• Big Bird (Matt Vogel, who currently plays him to this day) was the first guest. He appeared in the pilot from September 2007 and in a few promo pictures.
• Prairie Dawn (Fran Brill, who played her until 2014) appeared for Valentine's Day 2008 with Kelly Vrooman and Chica. Viewers could get to call her live.
• Oscar the Grouch (Caroll Spinney, who played him until 2018) appeared for Earth Day 2008 with Sean Roach and Chica. The character returned for Oscar Weekend 2014 where he and Chica gave Dennisha Pratt a manicure, and again in 2015 with Kaitlin Becker and Chica (he was performed by Eric Jacobson, who currently plays him to this day, here). The latter was the last time a Sesame Muppet appeared on the block, as the show stopped airing later that year.
• Super Grover (Eric Jacobson, who currently plays him to this day) appeared for New Year's Eve 2008 and Day 2009 with Kelly Vrooman and Chica. They sang a song to the tune of "Turkey and the Straw" about New Year’s resolutions - Grover's included discovering a new breed of blue apple, tying his shoes, dancing with a penguin, and eating hot chocolate with a dove. He thanked his family when he was given the "Super" Good Egg Award.
• Elmo (Kevin Clash, who played him until 2012) appeared on December 15, 2009 with Sean Roach and Chica, where he answered viewers' phone calls, read birthday cards, played in a color game show and sang songs such as "Blue Kazoo Blues" and "Kwanzaa Candles." The character returned on November 30, 2010 for Food and Cooking Week with Kelly Vrooman and Chica, and again on Christmas Eve that year. He once again returned on December 13, 2011 with Liz Filios and Chica, where a dreidel hit his puppeteer. The character returned in 2016 with Cookie Monster to promote their new show The Furchester Hotel.
• Abby Cadabby (Leslie Carrara-Rudolph) appeared on January 4, 2012 for Weather Week with Liz Filios and Chica.

Now for Barney.

• The big purple dinosaur himself appeared for Thanksgiving 2007 with The Good Night Show's Nina (Michele Lepe) and Chica, and later that day he hosted a marathon of his show where he presented hand turkeys from Sprout characters. The character returned for Valentine's Day in 2009 with Sean Roach and Chica, Dinosaurs Week in August 2010 with Kelly Vrooman and Chica, Valentine's Day 2011 with Roach and Chica, and Thanksgiving 2011 with Liz Filios and Chica.
• Riff (Michaela Dietz (who also voiced Amethyst from Steven Universe)) appeared for Friends Week on March 31, 2011 with Liz Filios and Chica to promote Season 10 episodes of the show coming to Sprout.

The Wiggles also appeared, but I'm not counting them since they're performers with a children's show and direct-to-videos, not a fictional world.

Now for LazyTown.

• Sportacus (Magnus Scheving, the creator of the show) appeared for Good Sports Week on July 27th, 2012 with Sean Roach and Chica.
• Stephanie (Chloe Lang) appeared in 2012 with Kelly Vrooman and Chica. They sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" and made a healthy pizza.

Zack from Zerby Derby appeared in 2014 with Tim Kubart and Chica, and again in 2015 with Carly Ciarrocchi and Chica.

Noodle from Noodle and Doodle appeared to promote the show in 2010 with Sean Roach (who hosted the show) and Chica, again the same year with Liz Filios and Chica. She was also present at a pajama party with Filios and Chica the same year. 

Mr. and Mrs. C from The Chica Show appeared several times - once together to promote the show in 2012 with Sean Roach and Chica. Mr. C often appeared for Father’s Day, and Mrs. C made appearances before The Chica Show even began, albeit with a yellow necklace.

Now for Pajanimals.

• Squacky appeared for Fall Week 2011 with Kelly Vrooman and Chica, and again in 2012 with Dennisha Pratt and Chica.
• Sweetpea Sue appeared for Valentine's Day 2013 and helped Sean Roach and Chica make Valentine's Day cards.
• Granny Pearl appeared for Grandparents' Day 2012.

Now for the blocks.

• Nina (Michele Lepe) from The Good Night Show has guest hosted several times, probably a lot more before they hired Sean Roach (who I’m friends with on Facebook). A few instances were Thanksgiving 2007 with Barney (see above), New Adventures Week on September 21st, 2009 (to promote her fifth season), and for Scrambled April Fun Day 2011, where she and Star played a Sink and Float Game with Kelly Vrooman and Chica. Star himself also appeared multiple times - once for Space Week 2010 with Kelly Vrooman and Chica, and at a pajama party the same year with Liz Filios and Chica.
• The characters from The Sprout Sharing Show appeared in 2008 and again in 2010 with Dennisha Pratt and Chica. Patty appeared alongside Elmo in 2010, and at a pajama party with Liz Filios and Chica. Curtis E. Owl and Otis appeared in 2012 for Chica's birthday party.
• Miles (Milton Barnes) from The Let's Go Show appeared for New Year's Eve 2007 and Day 2008.
• Bean from The Super Sproutlet Show appeared for Valentine's Day 2012 with Liz Filios and Chica, which was also the day the block premiered (SURPRISE!)
• Meeka and M'Goats from Sprout Control Room appeared in 2014 to promote the premiere of Astroblast!.

Animated characters also appeared, but rarely. From what I have heard, Super WHY! appeared in 2011 to promote his show with Liz Filios and Chica, and the titular characters from Ruff-Ruff, Tweet, and Dave appeared to promote their show in 2015 with Emily Borromeo and Chica.

My Week with Kindness Counts: PSAs

 Hello friends. This week I’m going to be covering a promotion Sprout had about kindness: Kindness Counts. Because small acts matter big!

The promotion started in 2011, launching with four PSAs featuring Sprout talent and characters.

Let's start off with this one. Big Bird from Sesame Street is on the swings, all alone. Two kids (including actress Adriana Camposano) invite him to play with them (which adds to the Kindness Counter), and Ann Curry interviews them. Brian Williams adds "Kindness, how touching." Go Ann and Brian!

In this one, our friend Barney the Dinosaur is at a family's house for dinner, but has trouble reaching a slice of bread. A girl named Kaylee hands him the bread, and Barney tells her that doing something kind adds to the Kindness Counter.

In this one, Kelly Vrooman watches as Chica plays with her friends.

Some more Kindness Counts PSAs were made for NBC's "The More You Know" in 2014. These new PSAs featured Nina, the Sunny Side Up Show hosts, and characters from Astroblast!.