Craft Kids, a preschool animated series from Markle Productions, has been greenlit for development by TVO.

The series follows 6-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 into TVO’s strategy for educational programming, said 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 into it, but really reinforced…critical thinking,” Ellingson told Playback Daily. Craft Kids is also a show that parents and children can easily watch together, Ellingson said, and then be inspired to work on their own versions of the crafts the characters in the show complete.

“Parent-child engagement I think it very valuable when you can deliver on that,” Ellingson said.

Markle Productions will be developing a total of 26 x 22-minute episodes of Craft Kids. The company is currently seeking out international coproduction partners to work on the series, said executive producer Martin Markle.

“It’s going to take the participation of another production company in another country to make this happen,” Markle said.

The development of the show is being supported through TVO’s Canada Media Fund envelope.