Craft Kids, an animated preschool series from Canada’s Markle Productions, has been greenlit for development by provincial pubcaster TVO.
The series follows six-year-old Kian and her best friend Luca as they use objects they come across in their daily lives to build crafts. The subject matter of the series, and the learning outcomes it aimed to achieve, fit well with TVO’s strategy for educational programming, says Pat Ellingson, creative head of children’s and parents’ media, TVO.
“Honestly, we have been looking for a show like this for a while that had the art aspect woven into it, but really reinforced critical thinking,” Ellingson says. Craft Kids is also a show that parents and children can easily watch together, and then be inspired to work on their own versions of the crafts that they see in the show, she adds.
“Parent-child engagement – I think it very valuable when you can deliver on that,” Ellingson says.
Markle Productions will be developing a total of 26 x 22-minute episodes of Craft Kids. The company is currently seeking international co-production partners to work on the series, says executive producer Martin Markle.
“It’s going to take the participation of another production company in another country to make this happen,” Markle says.
The development of the show is being supported through TVO’s Canada Media Fund envelope.
From Playback Online