Ideal Toys Kermit puppet

Ideal produced the very first hand puppets of Rowlf and Kermit in 1965. Both puppets are quite scarce.

The Rowlf handpuppet has a hole in his back for performing. Unlike the real Rowlf, the Ideal puppet has a felt tongue and a tail.

The Kermit handpuppet has feet instead of flippers (Kermit was not yet a frog in these days), and wears a red sweater. He has a hole in his back for performing, and a metal rod for moving his arms from the inside.

A Snerf puppet was featured in advertisements, but never actually sold.

Jim Henson created the commercials for the Ideal dolls, featuring lyrics like: "Oh buy us, oh buy us, please buy us we beg / For if you don't buy us, we'll bite you in the leg!"