Canada’s TVOKids has ordered a new unscripted series called Project Rube to tap into the popularity of elaborate Rube Goldberg machines and kids’ love of building. 

The 11 x 26-minute series for kids ages nine to 12 comes from Montreal-based Sphere Media Kids & Family and will be hosted by designer Morley Kert, who creates DIY content and renovation tutorials on his YouTube channel (297,000 subscribers). 

Slated to launch in early 2024, Project Rube features Kert and a group of tweens building and testing elaborate chain-reaction machines, which are designed to make a simple task as intricate and complex as possible. In one example, the kids build a contraption that eventually sets off a DIY volcano (pictured). 

Rube Goldberg machines are named after an American cartoonist and inventor who featured them in his comic strips from the beginning of the 20th century. These devices use the design process employed in engineering and can be used to teach kids to think visually and understand the planning that goes into building various tools. It’s also why the machines crop up in educational kids shows from time to time—2022 YouTube Original The Eggventurers, for example, is about a group of eggs who make these devices. 

Sphere Media Kids and Family president Marlo Miazga is executive producing Project Rube with Andrea Griffith (VP of content and development for kids and family), Kim Bondi (SVP of factual development), Corinna Lehr (VP of production) and Bruno Dubé (CEO). 

In other Sphere news, ITVX (UK) and ABC Kids (Australia) have picked up the studio’s upcoming toon Riley Rocket, a co-pro with Toronto and Miami-based Mojumbi Entertainment. TVOKids greenlit the 30 x 11-minuter and will premiere it on October 21. Riley Rocket stars a budding rockstar/superhero who flies around saving the day in a rocket-powered wheelchair. Abacus Media Rights closed the deals with ITVX and ABC.