Production has started on the new DHX Television and Sinking Ship Entertainment preschool series Playdate.

The 13 x 30 minute series will mix live action with puppets as it follows the adventures of group of stuffed animals that come to life when their child owners are away. The series will bow this fall on Family Junior.

The live action-focused nature of Playdate allows DHX Television to move outside the realm of animation as the team prepares for the launch of Family Junior (rebranded from Disney Junior), said Michael Goldsmith, director of original programming at DHX Television.

“We’re really keen to build up our original slate. You can expect to see some new and interesting content from us,” Goldsmith told Playback Daily. He added that as the industry shifts towards “aging up” preschool programming, Playdate, which is targeted at the 3-to-5-year-old range, focuses more on what he calls “core preschool.”

Promotion for the preschool series will include digital advertising.

While not wanting to give away too much, Goldsmith said that having puppets would provide DHX with different ways to connect to audiences.

“It’s going to look and feel really different [and] it’s going to give us a lot of flexibility in terms of how we program it [and] how we promote it,” he said.

Commissioned by DHX Television and produced by Toronto-based Sinking Ship Entertainment, Playdate was created by puppeteers Dina and Frank Meschkuleit, and developed by J.J. Johnson (who also directs) and Christin Simms.

Sinking Ship also recently won three Daytime Emmy Awards for children’s series Odd Squad and Dino Dan: Trek’s Adventures.