One, two, three, four, five.
Learning how numbers work is one of those early childhood milestones that eventually becomes so natural we barely think about it. But before kids are adding, subtracting and tackling the considerably more complicated math waiting for them later in school, those numbers have to make sense.
And a group of very colorful blocks has become rather good at helping with that.
“Numberblocks” is finding another home for families in the United States as Mercury KIDS has partnered with Aardman to bring the first season of the popular educational series to its ad-free streaming service beginning November 1.
The series will join the Little Kids section of Mercury KIDS, designed for children ages 4 to 7, and will be available in English, Neutral Spanish and French.
For anyone unfamiliar with “Numberblocks,” the concept takes something that can seem abstract to a young child and gives it a personality.
Numbers become colorful animated blocks that come to life, using stories, songs, humor and adventures to introduce children to how numbers work. Rather than simply asking kids to memorize an answer, the series gives them a visual way to see numbers interact and understand some of the ideas behind early mathematics.
Because sometimes learning that three plus two makes five is a little more fun when Three and Two can actually meet each other.
The new U.S. streaming home also fits rather neatly with the way Mercury KIDS is approaching children’s programming.
Instead of relying on recommendation algorithms to decide what young viewers should watch next, the service is built around human-curated programming that parents can explore based on a child’s age, language, interests, educational themes and family values.
Each title is also tagged according to the values represented within it. For “Numberblocks,” those include teamwork, resilience, friendship and humor.
That means a parent looking for something educational doesn’t necessarily have to surrender the remote and hope the algorithm eventually lands somewhere useful.
There is a particularly good reason to give early math some attention too.
Mercury KIDS points to research published in Developmental Psychology in 2007 examining school readiness across six longitudinal data sets, which found early math skills to be a particularly strong predictor of later academic achievement.
Of course, try explaining “longitudinal data sets” to a four-year-old.
Or you could let some singing blocks handle the math part.
“Numberblocks” joins a growing collection of programming on Mercury KIDS, which also includes a Baby Einstein destination within its Little Kids offering and the HOP! Hebrew-language destination for U.S. families.
For Aardman, which serves as the exclusive international distributor for the Blocks Universe Ltd brands, the partnership gives “Numberblocks” another opportunity to reach young learners and families in the U.S.
And making the first season available in English, Neutral Spanish and French gives more families a way to bring those lessons into their homes in the language that works for them.
Screen time is going to be part of life for plenty of young children.
What they find during that screen time can make a difference.
Sometimes it can make them laugh. Sometimes it can introduce a new idea. And sometimes a group of brightly colored blocks can make numbers feel a little less like something children have to learn and a lot more like friends they want to play with.
The first season of “Numberblocks” arrives on Mercury KIDS for subscribers across the United States on November 1, 2026.
Now, everybody count along.