Afghan children in Herat province listen to Baghch-e-Simsim with their mothers.

While Sesame Workshop is best known for the educational television programs we produce both in the United States and around the world, we believe many forms of technology, both old and new, can be an effective way of bringing learning and laughter to children. That’s why an accompanying radio production has been a big part of the success of Baghch-e-Simsim, the Afghan version of Sesame Street. In Afghanistan many households don’t have television; the radio broadcast allows us to ensure that lessons about literacy, numeracy and cultural understanding reach as many children in the country as possible.

In the United States, when we mention iconic Sesame Street Muppets like Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie, images of the characters immediately come to mind. But for the children whose only contact with the characters is the Baghch-e-Simsim radio program, they have to imagine what the characters look like. Periodically, around special events like festivals or the New Year, Afghan children send in drawings of Baghch-e-Simsim to the radio stations it airs on and we get a chance to see how their imaginations have brought the show to life. Equal Access, Sesame Workshop’s Afghanistan based radio production partner of Baghch-e-Simsim, sent us some of the children’s drawings they had received, and we wanted to share them with you.

A drawing by Noorina Atta Zada in Kabul province.

A drawing sent in by Jalal ud din in Nangarhar province

Drawings by Nazifa and Shafiq, children in the Nanagar province of Afghanistan.

A drawing of the classic Sesame Street characters by Muhammad Imran, a child in Kapisa, Afghanistan.

A drawing by Kamran and Umer, two children from Nangarhar province.

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The fun and imaginative wall art was created by our Creative Services team:

• Graphic Designer Molly Hein (Bert and Ernie in the Subway, Ernie bowling, Gluten Free),
• Associate Art Director Evan Cheng (Bert and Ernie in the Subway, Ernie Bowling, Gluten Free, Grover Michael Jackson)
• Senior Design Director Vanessa Germosen (Bert and Ernie in the Subway)
• Creative Director Kip Rathke (Super Grover)
• Creative Director Janis Beauchamp (Elmo Peaking in)
• Vice President Creative Director Theresa Fitzgerald (Super Grover)
• Louis Henry Mitchell (Full Cast Welcome Sign, Elmo/Big Bird/Cookie Monster Welcome Sign, Herry)

Each of the artists brings his or her own style and technique to the portrayal of Sesame Street’s iconic Muppets^TM. The entire Sesame Workshop team loves the chalk drawings so much that we decided it was about time we shared them with everyone.

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To celebrate the release of our “Singing with the Stars” DVD, Sesame Workshop artist Diana Leto created a parody of the cover of the Beatles iconic album, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Diana and Art Director Mark Magner pulled from Sesame Street’s vast library of characters to create an intricate reimagining of the album’s cover art.

In the middle of the poster stand Oscar the Grouch, Abby Cadabby, Cookie Monster and Elmo. They’re placed exactly where John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr stood, their fur color matching the color of the suit of the corresponding Beatle.

There are plenty of other winks and references throughout the piece. Near the bottom right of the original cover stands an unidentified bust from the house of John Lennon. Diana and Mark switched it out with a bust of composer Joe Raposo, who wrote the Sesame Street theme song among other classic songs from the show. To the left of the Beatles is an image of the fab four from their mop top days. In our poster, we replaced them with old school versions of Cookie, Big Bird and Oscar. Bert and Ernie take the place that the great comedic duo Laurel and Hardy took on the original cover. Just to their right, where Lewis Carroll, author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, stands on the original cover, is a black and white image of a “Mad Hatter” Grover. Forgetful Jones, always donning his trusty cowboy hat, stands in place of Tom Mix, a star in many early Hollywood Westerns.

Lead Artist Diana Leto works on the poster.

Not every character on our version references the cover of “Sgt. Pepper’s.” Diana and Mark wanted to make sure as many characters as possible were included. But there are plenty of inside jokes and subtle references to the original cover that we haven’t mentioned. See how many you can find!

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