The PBh Story
An Environmental Education Journey
or “How to Be an Overnight Success in Just Under 20 Years!”
I love making Planet Bonehead, and I want kids everywhere to learn about the incredible advancements happening everyday in green technology and STEAM fields. This is the story of how PBh began, and the incredible journey through environmental education I've taken to get to this point so far.
I'm just getting started...
PART 1
Let's Make... Something
There’s no roadmap to creating an educational program that teaches kids about an issue most grown-ups prefer to ignore. My adventures on Planet Bonehead began in 2005 when I had the first conversation about a cartoon character called Bonehead with a client of mine.
Word to the wise: designing bone-shaped characters is... challenging.
We both had little kids at the time, and it turned out we both cared about the environment. So we set off to create a website community to help people become environmental activists. It was during this time I designed the original versions of Bonehead, T-Bone, and the gang (they weren't good), and started teaching myself video editing and animation.
Pretty soon there were 4 of us working on PBh, and we were trying to find a way to gain traction. Here’s a video of me and my family wandering around a college campus in pure Bonehead fashion trying to get attention for the new venture. Soon after this adventure, my original partner left Planet Bonehead. And then there were three.
PART 2
Let's Make a TV Show!
My remaining partners and I set off to create a TV show. We tried pitching it to various stations like Nickelodeon, PBS Kids, and Cartoon Network, but nobody was interested in educational content. They only wanted the next Sponge Bob. When that route became a dead end, another partner left the team, leaving just two of us.
2009
2010
Undeterred, I decided to create the show myself. My remaining partner wrote the educational portions, while I worked on the stories, animations, music, and video editing. It was a slow start. I wasn’t thrilled with the original animation style, but you have to start somewhere.
We were finally getting attention, and were able to get our videos sold on DVD to teachers and schools through educational distributors at SAFARI Montage and Learn360. Then, Fox News (I know, right?) did a segment on us. Next, Charleston, South Carolina wrote Planet Bonehead into their official science curriculum! I was certain that PBh was set to take off in no time.
I was wrong :/
2011
Charleston, SC officially included Planet Bonehead in their district-wide curriculum
PART 3
Now What?
2012
It's important to keep in perspective that we made little to no money from PBh.
In fact, at times it was costing us money to produce.
My remaining partner and I each had families with little kids.
Everything we were doing was in our “spare time”.
Thank God for my wife's unending patience putting up with me.
We had some “big breaks” that just broke.
We trusted some people who made big promises but never came through.
It would have been easy to pack it in at this point.
But I had a better idea...
PART 4
Let's Make a Better TV Show!
2014
Our distributors were transitioning from selling DVDs to streaming content into classrooms. Our new animated episodes with the revised characters began streaming into schools across North America, reaching over 300,000 kids each year. Surely “success” was just around the corner!
It wasn't. And don't call me Shirley.
My best friend Tony Walker helps me write every animated adventure, and he voices Pa Fossil too! One goal we had from the very beginning was to make an animated kids show that the grown-ups could also enjoy. So Tony and I make each episode a parody of different pop culture hits we loved as kids: Indiana Jones, Star Trek, Back to the Future, even Gilligan’s Island. This way there was fun for the kids, but also jokes and winks just for the grown-ups.
2016
We've reached the turning point in our story!
My last remaining partner departed Planet Bonehead.
This was my chance to go in a bold, new direction...
PART 5
Let's Make MY Show!
2017
I wanted Planet Bonehead to inspire kids to learn more about STEAM fields. I began immersing myself in the world of greentech, learning how much optimism there was for solving climate change, and discovering amazing advancements. I soon began to realize...
Greentech is saving the world and nobody knows about it!
I started experimenting with some new production ideas, and wanted to create a new series that focused on climate change and advancements in green technology. This video was a test-run for what PBh is today. You can watch it, and the complete "prototype" test series on the PBh YouTube Channel.
2018
2019
Planet Bonehead was evolving into a program to teach kids about greentech. The technology that exists today is amazing, and falls well within STEAM lessons and NGSS standards. Plus, these industries are starving for talented engineers, designers, communicators, and more. There are exciting careers just waiting for kids in these incredible fields, but parents and teachers don't know they exist!
I was just about ready to launch a whole new Planet Bonehead when…
// We're sorry, the world is closed //
// ERROR 2020 //
// Insert all the reasons why the pandemic pressed pause on my plans //
PART 6
Roadmap to the Future
I see Planet Bonehead in every classroom in America, and the world. Kids don’t need to be taught that the planet is important, they get that innately. The problem is, they forget it when they become grown-ups. So this program will always be here to help them remain master stewards of our one and only Planet Earth.
2033
and beyond
I’m Bobby Donohue
I help teachers teach kids about climate change
That's a tall order, considering most teachers lack either the knowledge, resources, or support (usually all three!) they need to approach topics like climate change or global warming with confidence.
I help teachers introduce kids to the amazing advancements and optimism I see in environmental science and green technology. I provide teacher resources, lessons, activities, and video series to help you prepare your students for the bright future that awaits them.
I know most “free trials” are risky, and you have to remember to cancel if it's not for you. But my “Free Forever” Free Trial allows you to access one complete unit to test drive Planet Bonehead. No credit card is required, and no need to remember to cancel anything. If YOU decide you want to upgrade, then you can. Hope that helps.