This April, PBS KIDS Encourages Families to Explore the Outdoors

PBS KIDS and member stations across the country will celebrate with new episodes of SPLASH AND BUBBLES, NATURE CAT and WILD KRATTS, along with games and hands-on activities for the entire family

Arlington, VA, April 4, 2018 - In celebration of Earth Month, PBS KIDS' annual Explore the Outdoors initiative encourages families to discover and connect with the natural wonders that surround them. Fans of PBS KIDS' SPLASH AND BUBBLES, WILD KRATTS and NATURE CAT will get a chance to see new episodes beginning Monday, April 23, exploring themes such as marine biology and the animal kingdom. New episodes will premiere on PBS stations (check local listings) and be available on pbskids.org, the free PBS KIDS Video App and the PBS KIDS 24/7 channel and live stream.

Kids will be inspired to learn more about the animals and natural world featured on their favorite PBS KIDS shows with new games from NATURE CAT and WILD KRATTS on the free PBS KIDS Games App and on pbskids.org. A new update to Nature Cat's Great Outdoors App is also available, now offering more than 100 daily nature adventures families can experience together.

Engaging hands-on crafts and outdoor activities are available on PBS Parents. PBS LearningMedia offers preK-12 educators a wide range of lesson plans, project-based activities, interactive games and contextualized videos supporting environmental science and STEM curriculum. These curated resources, designed to reinforce key concepts and help students make connections between timely current events and lessons discussed in the class, can be found here.

Across the country, local PBS member stations will be hosting Earth Month-related events to connect children to the environment through hands-on learning activities. Events will feature everything from local ecology to gardening, camping and exploring the local zoo. Families will also have the opportunity to dive into nature themes and environmental concepts with PBS KIDS Explore the Outdoors activities and materials.

PBS KIDS aims to spark children's curiosity and inspire off-screen learning. With new episodes of SPLASH AND BUBBLES, WILD KRATTS and NATURE CAT and a variety of games, we hope that kids will want to further explore the natural world, said Lesli Rotenberg, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Children's Media and Education, PBS. Our local stations bring this initiative to life in communities across the country, encouraging kids and families to step outside and discover new things in their own backyards and neighborhoods.

Images and additional programming information are available on PBS PressRoom.

PBS KIDS Explore the Outdoors Program Details & Air Dates (check local listings)

SPLASH AND BUBBLES

Seal Sitters/From Ray to Zee

Premieres and streams beginning April 23

Seal Sitters - Splash and Bubbles stop to visit Tidy for the day, but find him exhausted from constantly cleaning up behind the new kelp forest resident, Tyke, a young female Pacific harbor seal pup. Splash and Bubbles try to help Tidy by seal-sitting the young seal pup, and quickly learn how hard it is to keep track of their curious and fearless new mammal friend. From Ray to Zee - Splash and Bubbles realize that Zee is alone on the reef as the only shark, but when they learn that she has a distant relative in Reeftown, Zee is excited to discover who it is.

The Sea Sparkles/Tyke and Seek

Premieres April 24; streams beginning April 27

The Sea Sparkles - While camping, Splash and Bubbles admire all of the beautiful sparkles in the sky. The kids soon think that those sparkles may have fallen from the sky into the sea when they see a brand-new light show in Reeftown.

Tyke and Seek - Splash, Bubbles, Dunk and Ripple play a big game of hide and seek with Tyke, the Pacific harbor seal in the kelp forest. When they temporarily can't find Tyke, they are relieved to learn that even though she's quite independent and curious, she won't wander far from her home.

Lights Out!/Catching Some ZZZs

Premieres April 25; streams beginning May 4

Lights Out - When Lu's light goes out, Lu has trouble attracting food and seeing down in the Deep, so the kids decide to show her a world filled with light - the reef. There they realize that Lu's light didn't go out, it's just covered with mud.

Catching Some ZZZs - On a sleepover with Zee, Bubbles is fascinated to learn that Zee is nocturnal. Zee can't help it- she goes out to play and look for food at night! Bubbles is so excited about this new discovery that she tries to stay up with Zee to learn about and explore what it's like to be nocturnal.

The Job Search/Reeftowns Got Talent!

Premieres April 26; streams beginning May 11

The Job Search - When Splash and the others want to play with Dorsal, he tells them that first he needs to do his job, which that day is using his echolocation to help his group find food. Splash and the others wonder if they need jobs to do in Reeftown and try to figure out what those would be.

Reeftown's Got Talent! - To honor his talented Reeftown friends, Splash creates a talent show for everyone to show off their abilities. Splash then laments that he's got so many talented friends, but he has no talent to show. His friends remind him that his talent is making friends and organizing events like the talent show.

NATURE CAT

Let's Talk Turkey Vulture/Prescription: Nature

Premieres and streams April 23

Let's Talk Turkey Vulture - It's a crisp autumn day and Nature Cat and his pals are raking leaves in their backyard when a large creepy shadow suddenly covers them. Nature Cat looks up to see big bald birds swooping over their heads. What are those things? And what do they want? Ahhhh! The scary birds come down to introduce themselves as Tammy and Tobias. The gang learns tha

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