Every year since the Sesame Street characters have found new and fun ways to educate young children about everything from letters and numbers to practicing good hygiene and eating healthy.

Every year since the Sesame Street characters have found new and fun ways to educate young children about everything from letters and numbers to practicing good hygiene and eating healthy.

CHANG: "Sesame Street" was a destination if you had made it. AGRELO: Absolutely. And, you know, now there are grandparents who grew up learning to read and learning about numbers from "Sesame ...

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with filmmaker Marilyn Agrelo, who directed "Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street".

It was that... CHANG: Yeah. AGRELO: ...Wildly successful. CHANG: “Sesame Street” was a destination if you had made it. AGRELO: Absolutely. And, you know, now there are grandparents who grew up ...

Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch and the Cookie Monster first debuted on the small screen in 1969. Every year since the Sesame Street characters have found new and fun ways to educate young children about ...