"Walking" effect on Sesame Street - how do they do it?

[Schfifty]

I've been curious to know exactly how they achieve this effect. I've heard the most common method is the puppeteer sits on a really low stool with wheels, and they scoot along the floor while one or both of their arms is up, but there's some instances where a live-hand character (i.e. Telly, Rosita, Baby Bear) is walking and two people have to puppeteer, sometimes even four people with two characters. The camera angles make it look like the puppeteers are lying down instead of sitting, so I would imagine somebody is pulling a rope off-screen to help them move or something, because I don't think you could scoot along the floor with your hands up if you're lying down.

 

[D'Snowth]

I've been curious to know exactly how they achieve this effect. I've heard the most common method is the puppeteer sits on a really low stool with wheels, and they scoot along the floor while one or both of their arms is up, but there's some instances where a live-hand character (i.e. Telly, Rosita, Baby Bear) is walking and two people have to puppeteer, sometimes even four people with two characters.

You pretty much answered your own question there, that's pretty much how they do it. You can see for yourself in this videos:

The camera angles make it look like the puppeteers are lying down instead of sitting, so I would imagine somebody is pulling a rope off-screen to help them move or something, because I don't think you could scoot along the floor with your hands up if you're lying down.

Once again, you answered your own question. Behind the scenes of KSY on DVD show for shots with Kermit and the gang in the swamp, Steve, Joey, Bill, and John are all lying on a large, wheeled platform, that's being pulled off camera by crew.