This time on The Children’s Hour podcast for kids we learn about the extraordinary life of Jim Henson, the legendary puppeteer who created Sesame Street, the Muppets, and many movies, TV shows, and songs. Jim Henson’s biographer Brian Jay Jones joins the Kids Crew in an exploration of the creative genius of a guy who just wanted to be remembered as a true artist. Learn even more in our learning guide.

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The original Kermit The Frog, Jim Henson is considered one of the pioneers of modern puppetry. Whether you know the name Jim Henson or not, you have definitely seen his work and heard his voice. In this episode of The Children’s Hour, we learn about his life and work with biographer Brian Jay Jones.

Jim Henson is best known for Sesame Street, the Muppets, and many movies, but he began his career in television doing advertisements and funny sketch comedy bits on a local TV station. His original Kermit was a guest on his show called Sam & Friends. 

Eventually Jim found his way to Sesame Street, to help make children’s content on this relatively new thing called public broadcasting. Joining forces with Frank Oz and others, Sesame Street was a hit.

From Sesame Street to Hollywood, The Muppet TV show and Muppet Movie launched a new era of Jim Henson’s career. Now he was breaking into the feature length film arena, and creating even more characters using his traditional fabric and other objects, but also now robotics and remote controlled puppets. 

We hear Isaac our intern describing what makes the movie The Dark Crystal so incredibly special, and Rahm from our Kids Crew visits Jim Henson’s Creature Shop in New York City. 

This podcast for kids is packed with information about one of the greatest American artists of all time, Jim Henson. 

This episode of The Children’s Hour was written and produced by Thaniel Lentz, with production support from our intern Isaac Lacerda, Executive Producer Katie Stone, and producers Sarah Gabrielli and McKenzie Graunke. Special thanks to Rahm and his parents for the visit to the Creature Shop.

The Children’s Hour is distributed by Native Voice One: The Native American Radio Network.

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