PBS Kids has announced the premiere date for Phoebe and Jay, an animated series for children aged three to five from Phoebe and Jay Productions and Mainframe Studios. The programme follows the six‑year‑old fraternal twins, Phoebe and Jay Yarber, and introduces the types of text that preschoolers encounter in daily life, including labels, signs and posters, to support early literacy and help them understand their surroundings.
PBS Kids general manager and senior vice president Sara DeWitt said, “Every year, 40 per cent of children enter kindergarten with literacy skills one to three years behind their grade level, creating a difficult gap for them to overcome. We hope that Phoebe & Jay’s relatable characters, fun, family-centered stories, and foundational curriculum will help equip young viewers nationwide with the everyday literacy skills they need to find success in school and in life.”
Synopsis of the series: Phoebe & Jay’s literacy curriculum is designed to closely support preschoolers as they learn how to create and use the many types of functional texts that they encounter each day. As the twins uncover adventures in their new home, they use a flyer to help a neighbor find a lost pet and read clothing labels to find the right size shirt. Phoebe and Jay showcase for young viewers how they, too, can utilise these skills to explore their surroundings, pursue their interests, and accomplish tasks big and small in their own lives.
Phoebe & Jay co-creator Thy Than said, “We are grateful for the opportunity to create a show that features so many different neighbors and thinkers who laugh together, help each other, and go on fun adventures. We hope viewers recognise themselves in one of our characters and that the show inspires them to notice all the signs, symbols and texts that surround us in our daily lives. We’re very excited for families to watch and play with Phoebe and Jay together.”
Phoebe & Jay co-creator Genie Deez shared, “Growing up, my brother and I were fortunate to have a strong role model in our grandma Annie who helped raise us, and who also showed us how to think in terms of respect and resilience. Similarly, our show models executive function skills like impulse control, which encourages children to stop and think when frustrated solving a problem, and flexible thinking when switching between tasks. These strategies are crucial to teaching pre-literacy.”
In addition to new episodes, Phoebe and Jay’s Dance Party game will debut on pbskids.org and the PBS Kids games app in tandem with the series launch. Players will help the twins get ready for themed dance parties by finding inspiration at the Pass-It-On table, making posters, sorting party outfits by size, dressing up, and learning special dance moves. Additional games will continue to roll out and will be available in both English and Spanish. Resources for parents and teachers will be available on PBS Kids for parents and PBS learning media.
Phoebe & Jay is created and executive produced by Deez and Than and is produced by Phoebe & Jay Productions and Mainframe Studios. Funding for Phoebe & Jay was provided by a grant from the US Department of Education as part of the Ready To Learn Initiative and a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
