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Work It Out Wombats!
Genre	Preschool Educational Comedy
Created by	Kathy Waugh Marcy Gunther Robby Hoffman Marisa Wolsky
Voices of	Ian Ho Nylan Parthipan Mia Swami-Nathan Rain Janjua Yanna McIntosh
Theme music composer	Bill Sherman Nina Woodford-Wells
Opening theme	"Work It Out Wombats! Theme"
Ending theme	"Work It Out Wombats! Theme" (instrumental)
Composers	Steve D'Angelo Lorenzo Castelli Terry Tompkins Asher Lenz Fabiola Mendez Stephen Skratt
Country of origin	United States Canada
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	48 (96 segments)
Production
Executive producers	Marcy Gunther Marisa Wolsky Luis Lopez Juan Lopez
Running time	22 minutes (11 minutes per segment)
Production companies	Pipeline Studios GBH Kids
Original release
Network	PBS Kids(United States) TVOKids/Knowledge Kids(Canada)
Release	February 6, 2023 (2023-02-06) – present

Work It Out Wombats! is achildren'sanimated television series that premiered on February 6, 2023, onPBS Kids. The series is produced byGBH Kids and Pipeline Studios.^[1] The series also has apodcast, which premiered on January 4, 2024.^[2][3] Reception to the series has been mostly positive. The series was renewed for a second season that premiered on June 9, 2025.

In the land of the Treeborhood, the series followsmarsupials Malik, Zadie and Zeke living with their grandmother (Super) in her apartment complex.^[4] Every episode features them encountering a problem of some kind and usingcomputational thinking to solve it.^[5]

In-between each of the episodes is a 90-second music video, similar toother shows on PBS, (except for steps to play or do something). This is replaced by short stories showing computer-generated puppet versions of Zeke and Snout in Season 2.

• Malik (voiced by Ian Ho in Season 1 and Nylan Parthipan in Season 2)^{[citation needed]} is a playful and curious 8-year-old (starting off at a 7 year old) greywombat and the oldest of the siblings. He is meticulous and organized, but nonetheless likes having fun with his siblings.^[6]
• Zadie (voiced by Mia SwamiNathan) is a 6-year-old (later 7-year-old) purple wombat and the middle child of the siblings. She likes to create fantastical ideas that are shown in a cardboard/puffball/popsicle stick art style.^[7]
• Zeke (voiced by Rain Janjua) is a playful 4-year-old (later 5-year-old) yellow wombat and the youngest of the siblings. He usually carries a stuffed animal named Snout with him, and is fond of asking lots of questions and talking nonstop.^[8]
• Super (voiced byYanna McIntosh) is a fifty-something pink-haired cyan wombat who is the wombats' grandmother as well as the superintendent of the Treeborhood. She is open minded and encourages her grandchildren to make mistakes.^[9] She has a brother named Duper who lives in another town miles away. She has many friends which include Beatrice Beaver and Chanáa.

• Mr. E (voiced byJoseph Motiki) is aniguana who owns the Everything Emporium. He is very organized and does care for the wombats but doesn't like their antics. He has a crush on Ellie, and she is the only person that he is openly affectionate towards.^[10]
• Ellie (voiced by Tymika Tafari) is amoose ofJamaican descent who is the Treeborhood'sEMT. She is reliable and very kind-hearted. Some of her interests include fitness and jumping on a trampoline.^[11][12]
• Louisa (voiced by Claire Mackness) is an intelligent 4-year-old adopted pinktarsier who wants to know everything. Her catchphrase is "Did/do you not know?". She is good friends with Zeke. She shares a name with another character with the same name fromthe next show.
• Leiko and Duffy (voiced by Ana Sani and Shoshana Sperling, respectively) are a pair ofkangaroos who are alesbian couple and the adoptive mothers of Louisa. They used to be in a rock music duo together. Duffy works at Eat 'N Greet, while Leiko is the COO of the Creation Station.
• Sammy (voiced by Baeyen Hoffman) is an 8-year-old (starting off at a 7 year old) orange laid-backemerald tree boa snake withPuerto Rican heritage.^[12] He always wears a red cap, and is good friends with Malik.
• Quique, real name Enrique (voiced by B'atz' Recinos) is the father of Sammy. He is a teacher at the Starlight Room.^[13] He has a wife named Yolanda whom he had divorced but still remains contact by taking turns in taking care of their son.
• JunJun (voiced by Roman Pesino in Season 1, and Elijah-Justus Lewis in Season 2) is a playful 6-year-oldPhilippine Eagle who likes singing and playing guitar. He occasionally speaksTagalog words. He is good friends with Zadie.
• Kaya (voiced by Gianelle Miranda) is JunJun's 17-year-old (starting off at 16 years old) sister. She is a waitress at the Eat 'N Greet and a social media influencer.
• Amado (voiced by Mark Andrada) is JunJun and Kaya's father. He is the arborist of the Treeborhood and frequently cuts topiary trees. He wears a redbarong tagalog.
• Gabriela (voiced by Carolyn Fe) is JunJun and Kaya's grandmother. She is the local mail carrier.
• Carly, CeCe, and Clyde (all voiced by Julie Lemieux), Kat (voiced byAthena Karkanis), and Kit (voiced by Dan Chameroy) are a greenfiddler crab family who are farmers at the Sow 'N Grow. They are rather timid. Carly, CeCe, and Clyde are triplets who function as a single character. Carly wears red, CeCe wears green, and Clyde wears blue. Also, Cece is the only crab who wears square glasses while Kit, Kat, Carly and Clyde wear round glasses. Kit and Kat are their father and mother.
• Fergus and Felicia Fishman (voiced by Michael Gordin Shore andAthena Karkanis, respectively) are a married couple of fish entrepreneurs who live in a tank near the top of the Treeborhood.
  • Flip, Frannie, and Finn Fishman are the three children of Fergus and Felicia. Because they are only just babies, they do not talk.
• Sylvia (voiced by Paloma Nuñez) is a white cow with lavender spots, dark blue glasses, and curly maroon hair. She wears a purple button-up shirt. She drives a train that runs on the ground instead of on rails.
• Duper (also known as Great Uncle Duper, voiced byMartin Roach) is Malik, Zadie, and Zeke’s granduncle and Super’s brother.
• Buckley (voiced by Jayd Deroché) is a beaver and the wombats' friend.
• Yolanda (voiced by Margarita Varderrama) is the ex-wife of Quique and Sammy’s mother. She lives in the Flowerhood, a place with giant flowers.
• Benito (voiced by Juan Pablo Romero) is Sammy’s younger but taller cousin. Benito speaks Spanish in the English version and English in the Spanish version.

Nylan Parthipan replaced Ian Ho in the role of Malik.

These games were released on the PBS Kids website, as well as the PBS Kids Games App.

1. Step It Out!
2. Road Repair
3. Story Emporium
4. Toy Maker
5. Pattern Palooza Fair!

The themes and ideas of the show were previously covered inAha Island, a WGBH multimedia project about monkeys who use computational thinking.

Some elements fromAha Island were recycled forWork It Out Wombats!, such as the existence of the Everything Emporium.^[33]

The series was greenlit in October 2020, under the working title ofWombats!^[34] Wombats were chosen as the species of the main characters because they are underused in media.^[35]

Early-career writers were granted fellowships so they could bring diverse viewpoints and BIPOC representation to the series.^[36]

The production team worked to ensure authentic representations of names, language, and some of the cultural origins found with the animals themselves, while keeping in mind that animals are not a proxy for race and ethnicity.

For example, JunJun and his family arePhilippine eagles, while Ellie is amoose; an animal not found inJamaica.^[37]

The producers deliberately sought out voice actors that match the ethnicity of the characters to ensure authenticity.^[38] Rain Janjua, the voice of Zeke, originally auditioned for the role of Malik for being asked to try out for Zeke. To create the voice, Janjua tried to recall how his voice sounded between four and five years old.^[39]

The characters are animated using complicated rigging systems that allow the animators to draw things by hand, thus giving each character their own nuances and walk cycles. The designs of the characters and settings are rounded in order to create a friendly, welcoming feel.Curvilinear perspective and hazing is used for the backgrounds to make the characters stand out.^[40]

Work It Out Wombats! achieved 23 million streams on PBS Kids video platforms within its first two weeks, as well as over 1.7 million views onYouTube.^[41]

The series was praised for its positive messages, educational value, and high-energy characters. Writing forCommon Sense Media, Diondra Brown rated it 5/5 stars, saying "The show's quality matches -- actually, exceeds, the high expectations viewers have for PBS Kids programming."^[42]

The lesbian characters of Leiko and Duffy caused the series to be controversial among some parents. In May 2023, the Governor ofOklahoma,Kevin Stitt, vetoed a measure to provide state funding toOklahoma Educational Television Authority for three years, due to their broadcasting ofWork It Out Wombats! (and ofClifford the Big Red Dog, which also features same-sex parents) and the claims that it "overly sexualizing" kids.^[43]

To promote the series, a walkaroundmascot of Zeke traveled to different places in theBoston area from February 22 to February 24, under the title "Zeke's Big Boston Adventure." Zeke went to theBoston Children's Museum, theFranklin Park Zoo, and theBoston Public Library. The Mayor of Boston,Michelle Wu, declaredFebruary 21 as "Work It Out Wombats! Day."^[45]

• List of programs broadcast by PBS Kids

• Official website
• Work It Out Wombats! atIMDb

• 2020s American animated comedy television series
• 2020s American children's comedy television series
• 2023 American animated television series debuts
• 2020s Canadian animated comedy television series
• 2020s Canadian children's television series
• 2023 Canadian animated television series debuts
• 2020s preschool education television series
• American children's animated adventure television series
• American children's animated comedy television series
• American children's animated musical television series
• American flash animated television series
• American preschool education television series
• Animated preschool education television series
• Canadian children's animated adventure television series
• Canadian children's animated comedy television series
• Canadian children's animated musical television series
• Canadian flash animated television series
• Canadian preschool education television series
• American animated television series about children
• Animated television series about mammals
• Animated television series about siblings
• Fictional wombats
• American English-language television shows
• Canadian English-language television shows
• Knowledge Network original programming
• TVO original programming
• PBS Kids shows
• PBS animated television series
• Television series by WGBH
• LGBTQ-related animated series
• LGBTQ-related controversies in television
• LGBTQ-related controversies in animation
• Children's television series about talking animals

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