TVO Kids has commissioned Now You Know, a hybrid preschool series from Little Engine Moving Pictures and Sinking Ship Entertainment.

The live-action/animation series was created by Ben Mazzotta and Maria Kennedy of Toronto-based Little Engine and will debut on the educational pubcaster in early 2015.

The series, comprising 13 half-hours, has a question-and-answer format aimed at 2- to 5-year-olds as it portrays young Howie and his best friend, a monkey named Baboo.

They are featured with custom-built puppets designed by Mazzotta, and which participate in adventures in imaginary animated worlds, whether under the sea, in outer space or on a safari.

Each segment hinges on a real-life question: how do fish breathe underwater, does the moon have holes, or how do snakes move without legs?

Howie and Baboo then meet with real-life experts to help answer those questions.

Now You Know is executive-produced by Mazzotta, Kennedy, J.J. Johnson, and Blair Powers.

The preschool series is financed in part by the Canada Media Fund, the Shaw Rocket Fund, and TVO Kids.

Sinking Ship Entertainment’s distribution arm will shop the worldwide TV, DVD, digital, format, merchandising and licensing rights to Now You Know, which are shared with Little Engine.