Children Create Episode Of Nick Jr. UK's "Olive The Ostrich"

From Female First:

Children Create Episode Of New Cartoon

While most kids’ artwork ends up on mum and dad’s fridge, pinned between postcards from friends and family far and wide, lucky pupils from across the UK have had their drawings and creativities used in a prime time cartoon. Not only that, the cartoon is narrated by the wobble-board whistling children’s favourite Rolf Harris!

Pupils from 46 UK schools got their hands dirty to create Olive the Ostrich, a cartoon that sees the long legged bird travel on fantastical adventures to somewhere new while solving problems and helping friends along the way.

To help her, children used drawings, beads and anything they could find to create the artwork and story lines that appear in the show.

Laura Ellison, the voice of Olive, visited all the schools, working with 6 to 9 year-olds, to develop the show using their unique, creative and youthful approach to the project - with surprising results!

All took part in workshops with the creators, cast and crew of the show, to come up with everything from guest characters to places and objects that Olive encounters.

Supported by the Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts, the idea behind the project came because thousands of children leave school having never set foot in an art gallery, or having watched a performance in a theatre or listened to an orchestra play - all while it’s known that early engagement with the arts has a positive impact on young people (raising aspirations, increasing confidence, improving communication skills and unlocking creativity).

The Prince’s Foundation helped the shows’ creators to identify schools in areas that don’t often have regular access to arts funding, giving the children opportunities they might not normally have.

The first of its kind production on this scale was a joint initiative between the Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts, Blue-Zoo Productions, and Nickelodeon’s award winning pre-school channel Nick Jnr.

Olive the Ostrich is being shown on Nick Jnr. every week day from now and through October.