Work It Out Wombats!
Work It Out Wombats! is a children's animated television series that premiered on February 6, 2023, on PBS Kids. The series is produced by GBH Kids and Pipeline Studios. The series also has a podcast, which premiered on January 4, 2024. Reception to the series has been mostly positive. The series was renewed for a second season that premiered on June 9, 2025.
Premise
In the land of the Treeborhood, the series follows marsupials Malik, Zadie and Zeke living with their grandmother in her apartment complex. Every episode features them encountering a problem of some kind and using computational thinking to solve it.In-between each of the episodes is a 90-second music video, similar to other shows on PBS,. This is replaced by short stories showing computer-generated puppet versions of Zeke and Snout in Season 2.
Characters
Main
Malik is a playful and curious 8-year-old grey wombat and the oldest of the siblings. He is meticulous and organized, but nonetheless likes having fun with his siblings.Zadie is a 6-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.Zeke is a playful 4-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. Super 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. She has a brother named Duper who lives in another town miles away. She has many friends which include Beatrice Beaver and Chanáa.Recurring
Mr. E is an iguana 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.Ellie is a moose of Jamaican descent who is the Treeborhood's EMT. She is reliable and very kind-hearted. Some of her interests include fitness and jumping on a trampoline.Louisa is an intelligent 4-year-old adopted pink tarsier 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 from the next show.Leiko and Duffy are a pair of kangaroos who are a lesbian 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 is an 8-year-old orange laid-back emerald tree boa snake with Puerto Rican heritage. He always wears a red cap, and is good friends with Malik.Quique, real name Enrique is the father of Sammy. He is a teacher at the Starlight Room. He has a wife named Yolanda whom he had divorced but still remains contact by taking turns in taking care of their son.JunJun is a playful 6-year-old Philippine Eagle who likes singing and playing guitar. He occasionally speaks Tagalog words. He is good friends with Zadie.Kaya is JunJun's 17-year-old sister. She is a waitress at the Eat 'N Greet and a social media influencer.Amado is JunJun and Kaya's father. He is the arborist of the Treeborhood and frequently cuts topiary trees. He wears a red barong tagalog.Gabriela is JunJun and Kaya's grandmother. She is the local mail carrier.Carly, CeCe, and Clyde, Kat, and Kit are a green fiddler 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 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 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 is Malik, Zadie, and Zeke’s granduncle and Super’s brother. Buckley is a beaver and the wombats' friend.Yolanda is the ex-wife of Quique and Sammy’s mother. She lives in the Flowerhood, a place with giant flowers.Benito is Sammy’s younger but taller cousin. Benito speaks Spanish in the English version and English in the Spanish version.
Episodes
Series overview
Season 2 (2025–)
Nylan Parthipan replaced Ian Ho in the role of Malik.Related media
Games
These games were released on the PBS Kids website, as well as the PBS Kids Games App.- Step It Out!
- Road Repair
- Story Emporium
- Toy Maker
- Pattern Palooza Fair!
Development
The themes and ideas of the show were previously covered in Aha Island, a WGBH multimedia project about monkeys who use computational thinking.Some elements from Aha Island were recycled for Work It Out Wombats!, such as the existence of the Everything Emporium.
The series was greenlit in October 2020, under the working title of Wombats! Wombats were chosen as the species of the main characters because they are underused in media.
Early-career writers were granted fellowships so they could bring diverse viewpoints and BIPOC representation to the series.
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 are Philippine eagles, while Ellie is a moose; an animal not found in Jamaica.