Classic Sesame Street - Operation Playground

[disneysongtape]

The girl talking at 2:00 into the clip could EASILY play Annie on Broadway and she wouldn't even need a wig.

[sideslide23]

I wish Forkner Elementry had a playground like this.

[jahwilly]

I helped build that park. Good times. Good memories. The first day they let us kids actually get dirty and shovel and lift things. Then they got smart and all we could do was sand wood.

[colleen4ever]

I did NOT see a Dragon Elephant, or a Haunted House! The kids got gypped. You can find playgrounds like that all over, nothiong special at all. 

[maltodextrin1000]

man kids look so much different back then

[sideslide23]

its never a good playground without a slide.

[Bigben1984]

I remember a playground with a very similar design in Lexington Massachusetts unfortunately just like this one the "wood" playground was torn down and replaced with a plastic playground the only reason why I think they do is cost and liability issues so kids don't get splinters from wood and the playground doesn't rust if it was made of metal

[Termite30]

@Bigben1984 I remember when that happened at my old elementary school. Our school playground was made of old wooden telephone poles, full of holes. We got splinters all the time. It was replaced with a plastic one.

[simius77]

This playground was at P.S. 87 elementary school at 77th Street and Amsterdam Av in Manhattan. I went to school there in the '90s and it was a pretty fantastic place to play. Unfortunately about 10 years ago "the wood park," as it was called, was torn down and replaced with a different (and far less inspired) playground.

[DrummerBoy922]

Well, I previously mentioned that I walked past the playground on a visit to NYC, so that answers the first question. Bob Leathers is a well-known playground architect and there is no doubt that that is most definitely him in the video.

[MeringueKabang]

"We're gonna take all these ideas, not use a single one and end up using our own"

[colleen4ever]

@MeringueKabang AMEN!! I did NOT see any of that stuff they were talking about here.

[GASCOINE1000]

" we could have like a shoe slide...ah it looks like ah shoe but it's a slide.." love that part.

[dudeitsjoe]

Holy crap. I love YouTube! I remember this segment!!!

[sideslide23]

I wished that they did the project like this on Forkner Elementry school when I went there from Kindergarten to 6th grade.

[gameshowluvr86]

OMG!!! My childhood has officially returned!! :-D

[MenollytheBeagle]

I remember seeing this and being insanely jealous! I would have loved to do something like that!

[joejumps4fun]

I don't know where this is, but I wonder if this playground is still standing to this day...

[kantfinaname]

i saw this when i was a kid and always wished they would do this i my neighborhood. and i guess i still do because the dont have parks like this any more. they all made of the same plastic slides now...and thats about it.

[whitecrow222]

makes me wish i was a kid again....didn't see any swings though, they were always my fave thing.....anyone remember the tall rockets made out of steel that had really high up slides? we had some in l.a. but they're all gone now...replaced by cheesy plastic graffitti covered things....

[Ian16545]

I wouldn't be surprised if Steve Thomas, Norm Abram, Dean and Miriam Johnson or even Bob Vila pitched in!

[kanenite1985]

I am 23..and I remember watching this clip from sesame street, andI thought the playground designed by kids, was the coolest thing ever! I can't believe I remember this clip! thanks for posting it.

[Bigben1984]

i remember going to a playground very similar to that one in lexington mass they've must have redesinged it by now because most wooden playgrounds have been discontinued due to liability issues with splinters

[Hadra568]

@Bigben1984

Actually it was due to arsenic in the treated wood

[stardazed]

the wood park!!! so many memories!

[GroverKent]

Reminds me when I was in Grade 5, our playground was finally redesigned, it was really awesome, and all our teachers and the principal made sure we really wrote out heart-felt thank you letters (no simply "thank yous", lol).

One of my favorite bits from the old days!

[ayame316]

At the time this clip came out there was a playground in McClean Virginia, where my great aunt lived and she took me there and I swear it was modeled after this playground, the shakey bridge, the tires, the steeple and even the monster paintings were there and almost exactly like this. I went back to my gr aunts neighborhood where it was 2 years ago but the playground was all gone, and the school had been totally torn town and rebuilt in another location! I was so sad.

[krh0108]

I used to be so jealous when I was little because I never got to play on a playground that cool. The jumping part at the end looked the most fun!

[Kidsmtvslv1]

Has anyone remembered back when you where in Elementary School and your playground got re-built.

[crazymariamlr]

omg this was like my favoriteeee one!!!

[rakey20]

i completely forgot about this! i used to love it...its too bad all parks look the same now. the same plastic slide wit half ass monkey bars and teeter toots. kids dont even know wat a tire swing is

[Ntouchwithchildhood]

I think all sesame street clips were from newyork :)

I remember skiping a bar on the monkeybars! :)

I bet i loved this a lot when i was a kid cause i have always loved creativity.

That girl in the pink shirt, i always thought she was too old, like older than the other kids.

That teacher guy in the yellowshirt always scared me when i was little :)

[sisterjanet4]

Thank you! I have been looking for this for so long!!!!

[MuzikJunkyAES]

Upper West Side represent! That school is on West 77th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, and I went to middle school not far from there. Peace.

[crazylogic]

I always felt that hippie playground guy sounded like George Carlin

[DakariKingMykan]

that song that's playing durring th emaking of the Playground.

Is it an actual song?... I like it.

[BuddyBoy600]

Me too. Acording to Muppet Central Forums, The song is called "Hopscotch."

[DakariKingMykan]

Well... I can't seem to find any song called Hopscotch that's like that.

[NEUDude]

I have actually been looking for a copy of that music for ages, but haven't been able to find any success. I think I was the one who found the name of the piece.

[Nightmastercool97]

I have been looking all over for this clip thanks you tube. I remember watching this over and over again when i was six and seven years old.

[dubs19842008]

That guy was doing another playground on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, at around the same time.

[hsuehhs]

Where is this playground located? looks like its in New York right

[BuddyBoy600]

It might be. That's because Sesame Street is produced in New York.

[DrummerBoy922]

The playground is indeed in NYC. It's called Tecumseh Playground and was built by Bob Leathers, the man who is talking to the kids at the beginning of the video.

[StefanoFan27]

Wow. I Wonder If That Playground Is Still There?.

[PinkrMS]

No, it's not. I went to school here and we used to call this playground the Wood Park, but around 1997, when i was in 3rd or 4th grade, it was rebuilt into a new metal one.

[DrummerBoy922]

1997 is when I got a glimpse of Tecumseh Playground in NYC, so it must have been new then. I wonder if Leathers and Associates had any hand in designing\building it?

[hsuehhs]

do they still have a haunted house?

[Wheeloffortunefan999]

@DrummerBoy922 how do you know that?

[DrummerBoy922]

@Wheeloffortunefan999 Which part of it - whether it's in NYC or that it was built by Bob Leathers?

[Wheeloffortunefan999]

@DrummerBoy922 both

[srubi74]

@hsuehhs The little girl said she was from P.S. 87, which definitely makes it New York.

[TinyDancer500]

Thanks for bringing this one back to YT, Buddy, great stuff! My kid found it before I did, we had it memorized back in the day :-)

[Knife138]

Oh yeah, I remember watching this! I was an avid Sesame Street watcher when I was a kid. That show taught me my first ABC's... A B C D E F Cookie monster!

Years ago when I was a kid, my mom took me to this playground, just the two of us. When I was running through it, I realized the monster paintings and the structure was familiar... then I realized... I was in THIS playground! I saw this episode before and I was actually THERE!!! I swear, I was there! It was fun from what I can remember!

[BuddyBoy600]

WOW! That's nice.

[BuddyBoy600]

Anybody got The Double Dutch Jump Roping contest? I have been looking for that!

[mavw]

you're a star for uploading this!!

thanks so much :)

[iranian2222]

I remember this!!!!