Animation Monday: PBS Kids Peg + Cat

By Nathan Young on October 14, 2013

PBS Kids is wanting to move into the age of computers and smartphones with their kids programming. Remember when Sesame Street first premiered and some people were saying parents were not going to put their kids in front of a TV screen to learn? Well, over 40 years later, the show is still going strong and is popular with all ages! Now, PBS is hoping Peg + Cat will become popular. Here is the opening intro song to the series, it’s very catchy!

Peg + Cat is a new, math-themed cartoon that premiered on PBS Kids last week. The series is created by Billy Aronson and Jennifer Oxley and produced by The Fred Rogers Company. The series stars Peg as a spunky little girl who loves to play her ukulele, you will see her playing a lot of music in this series. The cat is a talking blue cat who loves joining Peg on her adventures. This series is funded in part by a $72 million Department of Education Ready to Learn Grant. So PBS is hoping for a hit here.

Each episode features Peg and Cat in some very interesting places. In the first episodes, they were in home in the sky with giants, in outer space, on a farm, in a bedroom, and even in a medieval feature. The pair faces problems that require the use of mathematical concepts. In the show, you notice that everything is animated with graph paper lines. And everything except for the characters are behind the graph paper lines. The animation is childlike with plenty of watercolors, crayons, colored pencils, and markers. Peg will also write and draw on the background with kid like writing skills. Remember, this is a show aimed for little kids. The animation is perfect for little kids!

The show will featuring a lot of counting! This is good for kids who needs to learn math skills. This series will also feature a lot of original music as well. More animated shows are moving towards having more original music, and that’s a good thing! The show is developed with guidance by education experts, behavioral scientists and artists. So when your kids watch Peg + Cat, they are going to learn something great! Here’s a video talking about the inspiration behind the show.

Peg + Cat is the first show from PBS to simultaneously release online content and a new TV show. Online, there will be plenty of games and online videos to keep kids entertained on computers and smartphones. And some of these features will also show up in schools for the kids to enjoy. The good thing about this show is how it’s animated. Most cartoons today is 100% animated with a computer. Peg + Cat is still hand-drawn and scanned into the computer. More shows should do that! By the way, Peg is voiced by 10 year-old Hayley.

PBS is hoping kids will play games related to Peg + Cat versus games like Angry Birds. We will see how entertaining the games will be. But judging by the TV show, PBS is going to have another hit on their hands, Peg + Cat is a show that kids will love! And parents will also enjoy watching this show with their kids. No, adults will not have to cover their ears and roll their eyes at this show! Problem Solved! Learn more about Peg + Cat at: http://pbskids.org/peg/

All images / videos copyright from PBS