Backyardigans Pencil Case

The Backyardigans is a Canadian/American 3-D CGI-animated children's TV series, created by Janice Burgess. It features five animal children, who imagine that their backyard becomes an adventure place. It is a coproduction of Treehouse TV, and the Canadian animation studio Nelvana. Debuting on October 11, 2004, it was originally directed by Robert Scull. Dave Palmer began directing the show in the middle of season one, and has directed all episodes since. It aired on CBS from October 2004 until September 2006. Music for the show is written by Evan Lurie, of The Lounge Lizards, and Douglas Wieselman. The characters were designed by children's book author and illustrator Dan Yaccarino.
On April 30, 2006, Nelvana and Nickelodeon jointly announced that twenty new episodes were ordered for the upcoming fall schedule. In the UK, the second season debuted on October 30, 2006. The third season was released in Canada in March 2008, and the series made its Australian debut in the same year. A fourth season has been produced and is currently being released in Canada as of February 22, 2010. Six DVDs from this series were released on October 13, 2009 (Robot Repairman), January 5, 2010 (Join the Adventurer's Club), March 30 (Escape From the Tower), July 14, 2010 (Operation Elephant Drop), October 5, 2010 (Christmas With the Backyardigans) and March 8, 2011 (We Arrrr Pirates!). The We Arrrr Pirates! DVD also includes the, as yet unbroadcast, episode The Tale of the Not-So-Nice Dragon which is a sequel to the season 3 episode Tale of the Mighty Knights and also the season 4 and series finale.However, another episode, "Love of Socks", premiered on November 27, 2011.
It airs on Treehouse TV Canada and Nick Jr. (formerly Noggin).
Characters and voice cast

Each of the five characters on the show has two vocal actors: one for the speaking parts, and one for the singing parts. In the United States and Canada, the voice actors are all actual children.
The dancing on the show is first performed by live-action dancers, and their movements are later transported to animation. Choreographer Beth Bogush describes the process: "What we do is we film live footage in the studio and then they send that off and they do a Leica, and then they send it to the animators. And the animators just watch, and they're pretty precise. What we film for that day is pretty close to what you see in the character."

Uniqua
A curious, self-confident and high-spirited pink character of no existing real-life species (the series uses the name "Uniqua" for both the character and her species) wearing pink polka-dotted overalls. She has a pair of antennae on top of her head, the function of which is unknown. She is almost always sweet and friendly, though her strong opinions and occasional stubbornness get in the way of her relationships. She is more of a tomboy unlike her friend Tasha; where Tasha would like to have a tea party, she'd rather explore a cave or climb a mountain. She often imagines herself in roles requiring brains and fortitude (scientist, pirate captain, etc.), and loves books (as seen in episodes such as "The Masked Retriever"), but she can sometimes be more feminine like Tasha in a few episodes. She is the only character to be seen in every episode.
Creator Janice Burgess describes Uniqua as 'the child she wishes she was like as child'. She has been called simply "Uniqua, the pink" in Knights Are Brave And Strong.
Speaking voice: LaShawn Tináh Jefferies (Seasons 1-4)
Singing voice: Jamia Simone Nash (Seasons 1-3), Avion Baker (Season 4)
Dancer: Hattie May Williams (Seasons 1-4)

Pablo
Pablo, a yellow-beaked blue and yellow penguin wearing a blue bow tie and a blue and yellow propeller beanie, is the one who most often has the ideas and tends to be the most excitable and the smallest of the group. Due to his energy and impetuousness, he takes the lead in many situations, but often goes into a "panic attack" when he faces an obstacle, running around in circles flapping his flippers and telling everyone not to panic until someone interrupts him to propose a solution by calling his name and then shouting it, at which point he stops, turns to the character and asks "Yeah?". The number of panic attacks decreased considerably after the first season, though in the Fourth Season episode The Flipper! his propensity for getting overexcited is actually a major point of the episode. Pablo has appeared in every episode of The Backyardigans with the exception of Chichen-Itza Pizza.
Speaking voice: Zach Tyler Eisen (Season 1), Jake Goldberg (Seasons 2-4)
Singing voice: Sean Curley (Seasons 1-4)
Dancer: Tasha Cooper (Seasons 1-3), Steven Konopelski (Season 4)

Tyrone
A good-natured (and sometimes fearful) red-haired orange moose wearing a red and blue striped long-sleeve shirt, is Pablo's best friend, and almost his complete opposite in terms of personality. He is laid-back, cool-headed, and known for his ironic comments. At the end of every episode, he remarks, "That was an excellent (type) adventure, don't you think?", though if he is absent from an episode, Pablo or Tasha takes the responsibility. While Pablo's best friend, they appear on opposing sides occasionally, such as International Super Spy, The Action Elves Save Christmas Eve and Blazing Paddles.
Despite not appearing to wear trousers (except on rare occasions, such as "Race Around the World"), Tyrone somehow manages to put his hands in his pockets.
Speaking voice: Reginald Davis, Jr. (Season 1), Jordan Coleman (Seasons 2-3), Chris Grant, Jr. (Season 4)
Singing voice: Corwin C. Tuggles (Season 1), Leon G. Thomas III (Seasons 2-3), Dimani Roberts (Season 3), Tyrel Jackson Williams (Seasons 3-4)
Dancer: Greg Sinacori (Seasons 1-4)

Tasha
A little yellow hippopotamus, in red shoes and an orange flowered dress. Of the five characters, she is the only one who wears shoes at all times (except as a mermaid). She looks like a sweet little girl, but she's rational, likes to get her own way and isn't easy to fool. Whenever frustrated, she will always say "Oh for goodness sakes!". Of the five, she tends to be the most serious, though Tasha can be silly from time to time. From the second season onwards she has a more muscular appearance than the other characters. If she's not the boss she tends to be grumpy.
Speaking Voice: Naelee Rae (Seasons 1-2), Gianna Bruzesse (Seasons 3-4)
Singing Voice: Kristin Klabunde (Seasons 1-2), Gabriella Malek (Seasons 3-4)
Dancer: Darlene Dirstine (Seasons 1-3), Amanda Ulibarri (Season 4)

Austin
A timid, but fun-loving purple kangaroo who moved into the block during season one.[8] Though generally shy during the course of the first season, Austin starts to come out of his shell, revealing a smart, friendly, and imaginative child. Although rarely appearing in the spotlight, he does take the role of the lead character in some episodes. Says Bogush: "Austin's usually the one pulling up the rear. He's kind of a get-along guy."[6]
While usually a friendly character, Austin can act out his grumpy side every once in a while, such as in High Tea or The Magic Skateboard. Austin's roles usually start as heroic in the first season, like when he was a superhero along with Uniqua, but as the seasons go on, his roles become a little more villainous: in The Action Elves Save Christmas Eve!, he serves as an antagonist along side Tyrone and also plays the main villain in Flower Power.
Speaking voice: Jonah Bobo (Seasons 1-4)
Singing voice: Thomas Sharkey (Seasons 1-3), Nicholas Barasch (Season 4)
Dancer: Kristine Frost (Seasons 1-4)

Occasional characters

Sherman
Two episodes in the first season, The Heart of the Jungle and Polka Palace Party, feature a character called Sherman the Worman, an intelligent yellow-and-orange-polka-dotted worm who talks in gibberish, although the characters seem to understand him.
Wormans also appear in the third season episode What's Bugging You?, though these Wormans are somewhat different, in that their typical 'speech' is meeping instead of gibberish and they are capable of speaking (high-pitched) English. A worman is also featured in the Fourth Season episode Attack of the Fifty-Foot Worman, though this one appears incapable of speech.

Other characters
Mission to Mars features an alien mom, voiced by Alicia Keys; an alien baby named Boinga, voiced by Shakira Lipscomb; and R. O. V. E. R., a dog-like surface vehicle, as guest stars. In the UK version of the show, the baby alien is voiced by Maria Darling, but this has the unfortunate effect of having the baby sound exactly like Tasha (also voiced by Darling); given that Tasha is seen providing the "boinga, boinga, boinga" sound during the pre-imaginary portion of the episode, however, this may be intentional. Alicia Keys' vocal is not affected by the normal "Anglicization" that is common in the UK version of the show. Aliens that resemble Boinga are also featured in several other episodes, either alone or in groups: one appears at the end of News Flash, a group of them appear in Los Galacticos and two of these aliens, named Blaarg and Hugs, are major characters in The Big Dipper Diner.

Tale of the Mighty Knights has an egg which makes its own unique sound. It is called Eggbert by Uniqua & Tyrone, Eggwin by the Grabbin' Goblin (Austin), and Eggy by the Flighty Fairy (Tasha). The egg later hatches into a baby dragon, which the king names Dragon. The dragon is voiced by Adam Pascal. The sequel, The Tale of the Not-So-Nice Dragon, features both Dragon and a larger (and meaner) red dragon, who changes to turquoise-colored when tamed in the episode's end.

A giant clam also appears as a minor antagonist in both The Legend Of The Volcano Sisters and The Great Dolphin Race. The clam pants and acts like a dog. The Great Dolphin Race also featured 'Sea Squirt', a dolphin Uniqua finds in a sunken ship, and 'Blue Streak', a racing dolphin owned by racer Tyrone.
Secret Mission and It's Great To Be A Ghost! include voices near the end of the episode that do not come from any of the main characters. They're rumored to have come from Evan Lurie, one of the show's composers. There are also announcer voices at the beginning of the newscast in Newsflash, and throughout Tale of the Mighty Knights.

Caveman's Best Friend featured a dinosaur pup named Boy, who was Austin's pet during the episode. A similar-looking dinosaur appeared during To the Center of the Earth.

Robot Rampage featured a robot named Roscoe and an entire army of roller-skating robots.
Elephant On the Run featured an Asian Elephant that Pablo and Tyrone must deliver to a nature preserve.
The Amazing Splashinis featured a sea monster that sneaks into a theme-park swimming pool.