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New $martPath Puppet Video Series Teaches Kids Important Economic Concepts
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GPB Education and the Georgia Council on Economic Education (GCEE) recently rolled out the red carpet for a special group of puppets (and people!) to announce the launch of a new $martPath video series.
In partnership with the Alpaugh Family Economics Center at the University of Cincinnati, WCET-TV, the PBS station in Cincinnati, and the Georgia Council on Economic Education, GPB added the new series that features Megan Piphus, the first Black female puppeteer on Sesame Street, and several puppet characters. The videos deliver crucial early economic concepts to children, including opportunity cost, wants and needs, scarcity, and more through fun, engaging songs and storylines.
$martPath is the brainchild of the Alpaugh Family Economics Center, the leading national nonprofit in the K-8 financial and economic education space. In addition to the award-winning and free $martPath online learning program (smartpathlearning.com).
“The new $martPath puppet video series is going to be a huge hit because the puppets do such a masterful job of explaining important economic concepts in creative and fun ways. We cannot wait to share $martPath with thousands of Georgia teachers and students in the coming months,” said Mike Raymer, Executive Director of the Georgia Council on Economic Education.
In one video, children travel to a bowling alley with the $martPath puppets to weigh the costs and benefits of starting a bowling team. In another, an adorable pair of rats run rampant through a grocery store, raiding the shelves while their friend, Scarcity Cat, tries to help them understand needs versus wants (with an incredible James Brown-inspired hook in the song). And kids will laugh and learn from a group of pirates who try to tempt Megan to break her budget by splurging on a cruise! The $martPath characters and songs are so catchy and fun, kids may not realize they’re learning, but parents will appreciate that behind the music and puppet scenes are fundamental money concepts developed and delivered by an expert team of teachers.
“Teaching important concepts through puppetry is a great way to engage kids and build their early economics skills,” said Laura Evans, GPB Director of Education. “GPB is excited to add this wonderful new series to our existing collection of free education resources.”
$martPath (smartpathlearning.com) has won five national curriculum awards and the $martPath puppet video series has won three regional Emmy awards. $martPath is free to use and provides standards-aligned financial and economic education content for students in grades K-8, with tailored resources for students with developmental disabilities, and expert-designed teacher guides for discussions on equity.
To access the new Smartpath videos, go to gpb.org/education/smartpath.
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