From the official announcement: Produced by Spiffy Pictures, NATURE CAT follows Fred, a house cat who dreams of exploring the great outdoors. In each episode, once his family leaves for the day, Fred transforms into Nature Cat, “backyard explorer extraordinaire.” Nature Cat can't wait to get outside for a day of backyard nature excursions and bravery, but there’s one problem: He’s still a house cat with no instincts for nature. Like many of today’s kids, Nature Cat is eager and enthusiastic about outside activities, but is at times intimidated by them. With the help of his animal friends, Nature Cat embarks on action-packed adventures that include exciting missions full of nature investigation, “aha” discovery moments and humor, all while inspiring children to go outside and “play the show.”
Each episode of NATURE CAT will feature two 11-minute stories, as well as a live-action interstitial. In each 11-minute story, the characters model age-appropriate reasoning skills that can be applied to real-world exploration, such as classifying, counting and measuring. The stories will explore these themes through different lenses, encouraging young children to engage with the subject in different ways. The interstitials will build on the themes as well. Each one will demonstrate a variety of ways to experience nature — from “how to go hiking” to “how to pack a backpack.”
Grounded in a multifaceted science curriculum, NATURE CAT aims to expose children to a variety of nature concepts and systems, encourage shared discoveries and experiences as viewers explore the natural world and give parents and teachers ideas for nature-based activities.
NATURE CAT will demonstrate that discovery can happen anywhere – a backyard, a local park, the beach and even amidst the cracks of a city sidewalk. Nature Cat’s adventures take him through his family’s big backyard, into the woods and then into the “four corners” of his natural world: parks, ponds, caves, gardens, marshes, ravines, swamps, canyons, nature preserves and mountains. As they join Nature Cat and his friends on their adventures, young viewers will learn that to experience nature all they need to do is open the door, step outside and prime their senses.
