| Category | Details |
| Episode Number | 0054 |
| Season | Season 1 (1969-1970) |
| Air Date | January 22, 1970 |
| Primary Theme | Oscar's Baking & Mr. Hooper's Invention |
| Letters of the Day | P, U, Q |
| Number of the Day | 10 |
| Educational Focus | Rhyming, Sequence (What Happens Next), Counting to 11 |
| Muppet Highlights | Cookie Monster eats alphabet blocks; Ernie's logic game |
| Human Cast | Susan, Gordon, Bob, Mr. Hooper |
| Celebrity Guest | Jackie Robinson (The Alphabet) |
| Literature | The Story Grandmother Told by Martha Alexander |
| Key Inventions | Hooper's Super Duper Ten Machine |
| Musical Tracks | "I Am a Fine Musician", "Good Morning Starshine" |
| Sponsors | P, Q, U, 10, CTW |
Summary
Mr. Hooper shows you his Super Duper Ten Machine. This device basically turns one object into ten. He wants to teach you about the number ten. Big Bird messes up. He points the machine at a trash can. Ten large bins appear. The machine can't handle the weight. You can see the result of multiplying a heavy object.
Oscar the Grouch tries to bake. He makes a cake for his friend Herbie. The cake says "Rotten Birthday." Oscar puts ten candles on the cake. He adds a trick gift with snakes on springs. Susan watches him work. She says Oscar follows the steps of baking but stays mean. You learn that people have different ways of celebrating.
Alphabet Bates flies a plane in the sky. He writes the letter P with smoke. Jackie Robinson recites the alphabet. He uses a strong voice to list every letter. These segments show you the different shapes and sounds of your language. Gordon and Big Bird play a rhyming game. They look at the parts of a flower while music plays. This helps you learn through sight and sound.
Cookie Monster shows up during a love song. Jack has blocks with letters on them. Cookie Monster eats the blocks. This shows that a monster's hunger can strike at any time. You get to see the letters one last time before they're gone.
Parent's Guide
Mr. Hooper shows you a machine that turns one object into ten. He uses small jellybeans to show how it works. Big Bird points the machine at a garbage can by mistake. Ten heavy cans show up and make a mess. This gives you a visual idea of quantity. When they see one thing become ten, it makes math feel real for them. Hey, why not try playing a machine game at home? Just grab a cardboard box and get creative! Have your child put one block inside. You pour out ten blocks to show them the scale of the number ten. This makes counting to double digits fun.
Oscar the Grouch bakes a rotten cake for his friend. He writes a mean poem on the top. He uses ten candles to show that Herbie is ten years old. This activity uses humor to help you recognize numbers. The candles make it easy to count. People have different perspectives, you know. Oscar's into things that Susan says are no-good. Ask your child why Oscar wants a rotten cake. This helps them understand that everyone has different preferences.
Alphabet Bates writes the letter P in the sky with his plane. Mr. Hooper lists words like pilot and pin. This focuses on getting the letter formation right. A child follows the lines with their eyes as the plane moves. You can practice skywriting in the air with your finger. This helps your brain learn the alphabet.
Gordon and Chris play a rhyming game. Big Bird joins the game. He has a hard time rhyming until they bring up flowers. Big Bird loves flowers, so he finds the right word. Rhyming helps kids hear different sounds in a word. This skill is key for reading. Try using topics your child is interested in to help them rhyme. If they like cars, use words that rhyme with truck. Their brains make phonetic connections faster when they're interested.
Ernie asks Bert to guess what happens next in a picture. They see a person with an umbrella near a cloud. This helps build logic and teaches cause and effect. It's important to be able to predict outcomes. You can do this while reading a book. Just stop before you turn the page. Ask your child what they think will happen next. This helps with reading comprehension.
Ernie counted eleven cookies and one egg. Cookie Monster eats everything right away. This is a lesson in one-to-one correspondence. Count each cookie before it disappears. This helps kids understand that a number represents a specific thing in the real world.