- We are Ozomatli!

- And you're watching PBS KIDS Rocks, Behind the Scenes.

(trumpet blows) (drums beating) (saxophone tuning) - Okay!

Here we go.

Four, three, two, one.

(exciting music) ♪ How tall are you ♪ ♪ How high can you jump ♪ ♪ How much do you weigh ♪ ♪ How fast can you run ♪ ♪ If you need to answer ♪ ♪ All of these questions ♪ ♪ Measure it ♪ ♪ Here are some suggestions ♪ ♪ Use a ruler and see how tall you are ♪ - For us the song writing process has always been really collaborative.

We create grooves, we throw them out to each other, we see who responds.

- There's a collaborative process between, you know, everybody in the band as well as the people at PBS.

And some of the ideas actually came from PBS.

Are you faster than a turtle, I remember that one coming back.

So we put it in the song.

♪ Can you run faster than a turtle ♪ ♪ Turtle, turtle ♪ ♪ Measure it ♪ (claps) - That's fun.

- Being that we're so many guys in the band, we've always had to understand that the collective and the whole is so much more important than just the individual parts.

- One of the thing that keeps us together is our love of music.

(upbeat music) ♪ What do great apes and humans have in common ♪ ♪ Opposable thumbs ♪ ♪ Our fingers are opposite from and ♪ ♪ Touch the thumb ♪ ♪ Opposable thumbs ♪ ♪ If you text, throw something to me ♪ - [Raul] Writing for a younger audience really allows you to kind of get to different characters.

I think for us it puts you in perspective of being young.

- [Wil-Dog] We learn so much from doing it, it's like I don't even remember learning about opposable thumbs.

(laughs) You know, like who has opposable thumbs?

Oh, it's only apes and us, that's it.

- [Jiro] And that's the way the song starts.

♪ The list goes on and on and on ♪ ♪ What do great apes and humans have in common ♪ ♪ Opposable thumbs ♪ ♪ We can bend 'em, stretch 'em, snap 'em ♪ ♪ They're awesome ♪ ♪ Opposable thumbs ♪ (production clatter) - Writing music for PBS KIDS was a great experience for us as a band.

We had never really written music for kids and so it kind of opened a door for us into that world.

- [Producer] Four, three, two, one!

♪ We're talking pronouns ♪ ♪ We're talking pronouns ♪ ♪ Pronouns, him ♪ ♪ Pronouns, us ♪ ♪ He, them, we, she, us and it ♪ ♪ Are pronouns ♪ ♪ So let me explain ♪ ♪ It'll take thirty seconds ♪ ♪ To play this game ♪ - It's interesting how once the melody and the message, it's put to music, it not only makes the lesson go a little deeper in your brain but it kind of like, makes it, kind of stick there for a while.

♪ Play with him and her ♪ ♪ I mean Buddy and Tiny ♪ - There's lessons that I learned in elementary school that were in the melody of a song, you know, that it just sticks.

- The ABC song is a perfect example of that.

The melody, rhythm, and it's like everybody knows the ABC's.

♪ The pronoun sound is the name of the game ♪ ♪ We're talking pronouns ♪ ♪ We're talking pronouns ♪ ♪ Pronouns ♪ (crew cheers) - [Announcer] Check out more Ozomatli music videos on the PBS KIDS YouTube channel and the PBS KIDS video app.