Educational Childrens Show Concept
A group of kids discover a mysterious barn full of lost and stolen items. They work together to return each one to its rightful owner. Along the way, they solve mysteries, learn new skills, and uncover the stories behind every item they return.
Overview
Set in Picton, Ontario, this animated adventure series follows four tweens from vastly different backgrounds who discover a hidden barn filled with historical artifacts stolen from across time. When tech genius Renata reveals she has secretly built a working time machine, the group makes a bold choice to return every object to its rightful place in history.
Each mission sends them to a new era where they must navigate unfamiliar cultures, avoid disrupting the timeline, and outsmart the original thief. Along the way, they uncover not just what these artifacts are, but why they matter.
Though often chaotic and in over their heads, the four form a fiercely loyal team, combining engineering skill, historical knowledge, creative problem solving, and instinct to restore history piece by piece. Blending high stakes adventure with humour and heart, the series explores curiosity and teamwork.
Format & Audience
Format: Animated series
Genre: Adventure/Sci-Fi/Education
Target Audience: 8-10 years old
This series is designed for children who crave independence, action, and stories where kids drive the narrative. At this age, viewers understand cause and effect, cultural identity, and emotional complexity, while still embracing imaginative worlds and fast-paced storytelling.
Why This Show Matters
Many children experience history class as distant and boring, reduced to years and names to memorize. The Lost and Founders reimagines history as lived experience, weaving little timbits of knowledge into high-stakes adventures. Instead of formal lessons, information is absorbed through humour, curiosity, and discovery. The goal is not to teach everything. It is to spark curiosity. If an episode inspires a child to ask a question, look something up, or see the past differently, it has succeeded.
Equally important is representation. The team reflects different cultures, thinking styles, and abilities. They clash, misunderstand one another, and grow. Their differences are not obstacles but the reason they succeed. At its core, the series celebrates curiosity, empathy, and collaboration, reminding kids that these qualities can change the world.
Visual Moodboard
Meet The Characters
Renata Chiang Guerrero
Tech Genius & Inventor
Renata is a sharp, fast-moving 12-year-old inventor and the mastermind behind the team’s time travel technology. Raised in a Mexican and Chinese Peruvian household, she learned early how to adapt and move between cultures with ease. Fluent in English and Spanish, she brings both technical brilliance and cultural awareness to every mission.
A natural tinkerer, Renata codes, builds robots, and repurposes scrap into working inventions. Though she claims to prefer machines over people, she is fiercely protective of her friends and family.
Strengths: Quick improviser, quiet leader, exceptional visual memory
Weaknesses: Overly skeptical, struggles to rely on others, shuts down under pressure
Luis “L.C.” Chiang Guerrero
Chaotic Sidekick with Unbelievable Luck
L.C., Renata’s eight-year-old brother, isn’t officially part of the team but he always finds a way to join missions. Small, smiley, and endlessly curious, he carries a backpack of random treasures that somehow become useful at just the right moment.
Clumsy and impulsive, L.C. often stumbles into trouble and somehow out of it. Sharp observation skills and pure luck give him a knack for saving the day. He copies everything Renata does, desperate to prove he belongs with the “big kids,” much to her frustration.
Strengths: Bilingual, charming, fearless, unexpectedly observant
Weaknesses: Impulsive, distractible, easily fooled, smaller and slower than his peers
Anja Guap
jack-of-all-trades creative
Anja is the emotional core and forward thinker of the group. Deeply empathetic and intuitive, they often notice what others miss. Rooted in Sámi traditions, Anja feels a strong connection to nature and animals.
A natural daydreamer, they sometimes appear spaced out, but their imagination drives their brilliance. They see patterns others overlook and solve problems by blending artistry with clever, unconventional thinking.
Strengths: Empathetic, intuitive, strong pattern recognition, great with animals and inventive problem solver
Weaknesses: Forgetful, easily overwhelmed by instructions, impulsive and retreats into imagination under stress
Lerôi Jean-Louis
Researcher & Historian
Lerôi is the team’s storyteller and historian. Raised in a Haitian household rich with music and oral tradition, he believes stories are the most valuable currency, fueling his love of history and strong sense of identity.
Athletic and academic, he speaks French and Haitian Creole, devours books, and keeps detailed journals and maps. In the field, his quick reflexes and research skills make him a steady presence.
Beneath his confidence, Lerôi manages anxiety, but his emotional awareness ultimately strengthens the team.
Strengths: Booksmart, multilingual, athletic, quick reflexes, strong cultural and historical knowledge
Weaknesses: Avoids conflict, acts impulsively when protecting others, struggles to share when anxious
The Collector
The Antagonist
The Collector is the elusive villain who originally gathered all the lost items now stored in the barn. He wears a dark cloak concealing his identity while lurking in the shadows. He follows the Lost and founders when they travel back in time, trying to stop them from returning the artifacts, but his plans almost always backfire and end up helping them instead. He is more bumbling than dangerous, an incompetent antagonist. Subtle hints suggest he may be connected to Mr. O’Brien, creating an ongoing thread of suspicion and intrigue.
Mr. O’Brien
Their Teacher
(Collin) Mr. O’Brien is Renata, Anja & LeRoi’s fun yet slightly mysterious teacher, originally from St. John’s, Newfoundland, with Irish roots and a light Newfie accent. He adapts lessons to each student while gently nudging them out of their comfort zones. He takes real interest in their hobbies, bringing Renata old gadgets, asking Anja about new projects, and chatting with LeRoi about his research. He’s a supportive, steady presence in the classroom, but he clearly knows something the kids don’t, leaving room for future intrigue.
Friends & Classmates
Honorary Members of ‘The Lost & Founders’
Occasionally, joining the Lost and Founders is a rotating group of curious kids who bring significant perspectives to each adventure. They aren’t core members, but their unique interests or cultural backgrounds will spark new missions.
Springboards
The team finds a beautiful violin bow in the barn, and Anja insists they return it since they’re learning to play the violin. The record book reveals it belongs to Antonio Vivaldi, the famous composer and violinist, in 1712 Venice. After travelling back in time, the shadowy figure appears, trying to snatch the bow, but his movements inadvertently lead the team to a music shop. There, they learn how bows are made from wood and horsehair, and the shop owner tells them about Vivaldi’s show. At a concert hall, they discover Vivaldi frantic over his missing bow. The team returns it just in time, and he invites them to stay for the rehearsal before heading home.
It’s the start of March, L.C. notices his Macedonian classmate wearing a Martinka bracelet and learns it’s worn for the month to bring good health, later placed in a tree for birds to use in their nests. Curious, he contacts LeRoi using Renata’s new communication watch to check the barn’s records, discovering the string used to make the bracelets. L.C. convinces his friend to visit the barn, and the team travels back to Macedonia in 1941, where they meet a grandmother searching for the string to make Martinkas for her grandchildren. As they help her, a shadowy figure briefly appears, attempting to interfere, and Renata notices his distinct Newfie accent, strikingly similar to their teacher, Mr. O’Brien. Grateful, the grandmother makes Martinkas for each team member. Back in the present, spring arrives, and the team watches as their classmate and the 1941 family place Martinkas in trees, while a bird takes one to its nest.
After months of returning lost items, it is beginning to get cold in the abandoned barn. When Anja rummages through the barn to find something warm, they find a luhkka, a Sami winter garment. They wish to return this, and the others agree. They arrive in 1500s Norway, and they initially meet locals who tell them where the Sami people reside. A mysterious figure tells them to stay away. They travel as far as the Sami people were forced to migrate. They fish with some of the people and then meet a young girl whose luhkka was lost. Anja fishes with this girl and is given a gift. They cannot stay long as they must get back to the present. Anja tells them to be wary of the mysterious man and to stay safe.
Application
Inspiration
The series was born from a mash up of Indiana Jones and Wild Kratts. I was drawn to the high stakes, artifact driven adventure of Indiana Jones, but wanted to flip its premise. Instead of removing objects from history, my characters return stolen artifacts to their rightful cultures and time periods.
From Wild Kratts, I was inspired by its seamless blend of education and adventure, imaginative technology, and strong team dynamic. I applied that same curiosity driven energy to history, creating a series that combines time travel, problem solving, and character based humour in a way that feels both entertaining and meaningful.
Credits
Story Development:
Austrud Robichaud, Victoria Di Carlo, Janna Jhirad, Aveen Damghan, & Keira Chan
Character Development:
Aveen Damghan & Victoria Di Carlo
Character Art:
Aveen Damghan
Audience Research:
Janna Jhirad
Logline & Synopsis:
Keira Chan
Springboards:
Austrud Robichaud & Victoria Di Carlo
Initial Concept Idea:
Victoria Di Carlo
Other Images:
Were sourced off the internet and belong to their respective owners