We're excited to introduce the new PBS KIDS program WORK IT OUT WOMBATS!, a new animated series for kids ages 3-6 from GBH Kids and Pipeline Studios. This series stars Malik, Zadie, and Zeke—three energetic and creative marsupial siblings who live with their grandmother in her treehouse apartment complex. The playful trio will demonstrate computational thinking for preschoolers, which is a way of thinking that enables them to solve problems, express themselves, and accomplish tasks using the practices, processes and ideas at the core of computer science.
Produced by GBH Kids and Pipeline Studios, WORK IT OUT WOMBATS! takes place in the Treeborhood, the biggest treehouse in existence—with secret passageways, gondolas, and rope swings. The residents of the Treeborhood—wombats, snakes, moose, kangaroos, iguanas, fish, tarsiers, and eagles—bring varied skills and abilities, assorted ways of thinking, and different family structures and traditions to this diverse and vibrant community of neighbors, a place where even the adults join in the play.
In each story, the Wombats demonstrate computational thinking for preschoolers, learning as they go. Their aspirations will sometimes exceed their proficiency. But, eventually they’ll stop, take a breath, put their heads together and figure out a fix—using the design process, sequencing, debugging, and other key elements of computational thinking.
The series is being developed as part of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and PBS Ready To Learn Initiative with funding from the U.S. Department of Education. The Ready To Learn Initiative is a federal program that supports the development of innovative educational television and digital media targeted to preschool and early elementary school children and their families.
