PBS KIDS Powers Up with Game-Themed ‘Skillsville’ Animated Series

PBS KIDS is about to level up its children’s animation lineup with Skillsville, a new series created by Twin Cities PBS (TPT) which aims to encourage kids ages 4-8 to “power up” the skills they need for their future success by depicting the benefits of video games. The series premieres March 3 in English and Spanish.

Taking its cue from some of the best elements that gaming has to offer, the show centers on three best friends — Cora (ParCora), Dev (Devosaurus) and Rae (Racer Rae) — who love to play together, whether it’s on the playground or in their favorite digital game, Skillsville. With each episode, young viewers will enter a world of career possibilities with the goal to hone their life skills, including self-regulation and strategies to help them to feel, focus, organize, remember and think differently.

“Games aren’t just fun, they can also provide learning-rich opportunities for kids — letting them make mistakes, experiment through trial and error, pursue their goals, and remain persistent,” said Sara DeWitt, Senior Vice President & General Manager, PBS KIDS. “Skillsville will encourage kids to explore these fundamental skills in a variety of relatable situations, which will support them in building a strong foundation for achieving success in school, in the future career path they choose, and in life.”

“Skillsville uses something kids already love — gaming — to help them practice essential life skills that can shape their future,” said Carol-Lynn Parente, Executive Producer and Co-Creator, TPT. “Our goal is to empower young viewers with simple, effective self-regulation strategies as the tools they can use to overcome challenges and pursue their dreams. By combining the fun of career exploration with practical skills like pausing to think, planning, organizing and persevering through setbacks, Skillsville inspires kids to see themselves as problem-solvers and change-makers who can lean on their unique strengths to help their community.”

Each episode of Skillsville begins with Cora, Dev and Rae in the real world and focuses on one of the five life skills (feel, focus, organize, remember and think differently) they further cultivate in the game world. Once in the game, the characters appear as their avatars and summon Scout, a dog with dragonfly wings who flutters in and sniffs out trouble and supports them as they complete challenges. The players then work together and learn useful strategies to complete the task, win the game, and earn career-related badges. When they’re back in the real world, Cora, Dev and Rae use the skills and strategies they’ve acquired in Skillsville, which are essential in helping people of all ages to learn, work and manage the activities of daily living.

Logical and level-headed, Cora is a gamer through and through, and she’s always ready with a plan to solve even the toughest game challenge, even if she struggles to trust her instincts. With his vivid imagination and playful personality, Dev is an out-of-the-box thinker who creatively works his way through any problem he encounters, though he sometimes struggles to focus and manage his emotions. Born with spina bifida, Rae uses a wheelchair, and her adventurous spirit and swift action help her to tackle any challenge she encounters in Skillsville, where she also learns how to slow down so she can think things through. When Cora’s game designer mom asks them to test out her new virtual reality role-playing game, Skillsville, the three pals get to take their playtime to a whole new level.

In the game of Skillsville, players get to manage their own virtual city, populated by tiny residents called Beeples. By trying out various jobs, the gamers help keep the city running smoothly, and when things go wrong, it’s up to the three friends to develop a creative solution. They become paper plane air traffic controllers, lemonade stand entrepreneurs, rollercoaster train engineers, in addition to many more roles — learning how different jobs benefit the city of Skillsville and the Beeples who live there. And since players get to customize their very own avatars, the trio can let their inner selves shine through — Cora becomes Parkora, a parkour warrior; Dev transforms into Devosaurus, an earth-stomping dinosaur; and Rae fulfills her need for speed as Racer Rae. Of course, even the best gamers need help sometimes, especially in a world as unpredictable as Skillsville, so Scout is always ready to help troubleshoot any problem.

In addition to new episodes, Skillsville will include four upcoming games on pbskids.org and the PBS KIDS Games app, as well as learning resources available on PBS KIDS for Parents and PBS LearningMedia.

Skillsville is produced by Twin Cities PBS (Hero Elementary, SciGirls) and is created by an Emmy-winning team (Sesame Street, Hero Elementary) that includes executive producer Carol-Lynn Parente, head writer Christine Ferraro and creative director Eric Peterson. The series is animated by Sphere Media Productions (Curious George, Arthur, F Is for Family), with Judith Beauchemin and Marianne Culbert as supervising producers, and Olivier Migneron and Chris Fazio as series directors.

The show’s team of contributing writers includes TV writer and producer (NCIS) and adaptive athlete Katherine Beattie, Gemini Award-winning and WGC Award-nominated Karen Moonah (Iggy Arbuckle, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot about That!) and writing fellow Brianna Ishibashi (TPT, Sesame Workshop, Fred Rogers Productions).

Series staff at Twin Cities PBS include Momo Hayakawa, Ph.D., Project Director and Managing Director of Child Development; Dennis Ramirez, Ph.D., Digital Program Manager; and Bryce Becker, Ph.D., Research Manager. Advisors include Jennifer Curry, Ph.D., NCC, Vira Franklin and James R. Eagles Professor in the College of Human Sciences and Education at Louisiana State University; Yuko Munakata, Ph.D. Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Center for Mind and Brain at the University of California, Davis; and Lead Universal Design for Learning advisor, LaVant Consulting.

This series is funded by a Ready To Learn grant from the U.S. Department of Education with the goal of enhancing workforce readiness for young children. For additional content and conversation, follow Skillsville on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Medium.