Following the success of the Alphablocks and Numberblocks characters, preschoolers will soon get to meet a new cast of friendly shapes in Colourblocks. Commissioned by BBC CBeebies, the series all about color is once again created by the multi-award-winning team of Alphablocks Ltd. and Blue Zoo animation studios.
“Alphablocks and Numberblocks are much loved BBC CBeebies brands. We’re looking forward to introducing cool Blue and happy Yellow and the rest of the Colourblocks to our U.K. audience,” said Kate Morton, Head of BBC Children’s Commissioning & Acquistions 0-6.
Color is a touchstone learning topic for preschoolers and an instantly accessible and exciting way to explore and understand the world around them. Colourblocks aims to support preschoolers in learning about color, from rainbows and color-mixing to dark and light to Cyan, Magenta and Yellow, a.k.a. the Printing Crew.
Developed in consultation with Professor Stephen Westland and offering the same blend of entertainment and learning that has won the rest of the “Blocks Universe” millions of fans, Colourblocks is on a global mission to carve out new ways of teaching children about color through charming characters, songs, humor and adventure. Children will learn color recognition, color names, meaning and signifiers, mixing, mark making, contrasting colors, light and dark and all kinds of patterns, for a start.
Each Colourblock character personifies a color, bringing it to life for a child as they explore their black and white world, adding color to it as they go. When excitable Red finds an uncolored ladybird, she can’t wait to color it red and watch it flutter into life. Cool Blue adds his touch to the sea and the sky, then happy Yellow turns the ground into a sandy beach and colors a shining sun.

Colourblocks will build on the success of Alphablocks and Numberblocks on BBC CBeebies and BBC iPlayer where, since launch, there have been over half a billion requests. On YouTube, the shows have notched up over 5.5 billion views, and Colourblocks is set to join the other Learning Blocks shows (learningblocks.tv) as a learning resource for both parents at home and teachers in the classroom.
Season 1 launches on BBC CBeebies and BBC iPlayer on September 12 with 30 x 5′ episodes. The free companion app Meet the Colourblocks will also be available to download the same day.
Colourblocks is the brainchild of artist and creative David Bowman, who said, “As an artist, color has always been a passion of mine. Creating a colorful show that is also educational is a dream come true for me. I can’t tell you how truly proud I am of our show and my team that worked so hard with me to make it a reality.”
Co-creator Joe Elliot added, “As soon as David approached us, we knew this would be a perfect Blocks show and a really clever way to engage kids in all kinds of key skills through the lens of color. It’s been a true labour of love, a proper team effort, and one of those perfect collaborations where everything has come together beautifully.With the third show in our ever-expanding learning universe, we fully expect to grow our audience of super-engaged learners and give them a confident on-ramp into the world of art, design and creative self-expression.”