Lil' Life Lessons

By May Babcock

Episodes 1-3
 EPISODE 1
_________

INT. LIL' LIFE LESSONS STUDIO - DAY

Five-year-old Anna stands in the studio and greets the

viewers excitedly.

ANNA
Hi, I'm Anna! I'm five and today we're
gonna learn something together.

Anna moves to sit behind the host's desk.

ANNA (CONT.)
I start Kindergarten tomorrow and I'm
really excited to pick out my clothes
for the first day of school!

Anna's excited demeanor suddenly fades.

ANNA (CONT.)
But I don't know how to get dressed by
myself, my parents always help me.

Suddenly, a little flying robot named Bottie flies in to the

studio.

BOTTIE
Don't worry Anna, I'm here to help!

ANNA
Bottie! You're gonna help me?

Bottie turns to the audience.

BOTTIE (CONT.)
And so are our friends here. They're
having the same problem you are!

ANNA
(to audience)
You are?

BOTTIE
Come on! Let's learn a Lil' Life
Lesson together!

Bottie presses a button on his arm. The scene behind them

begins to pixelate and dissolve until it turns into Anna's
bedroom.

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 2.

INT. ANNA'S BEDROOM - DAY

Anna and Bottie stand in her bedroom. In front of her are

different types of clothes. The options are a graphic t-
shirt, a tank top, a sweater, a pair of jeans, a skirt, a
fancy party dress, a winter coat, a bathing suit, sneakers,
rain boots, flip flops, princess shoes, and pyjamas.

ANNA
Look at all of these clothes! Where
should I start?

BOTTIE

Well, how about this? Maybe you should get rid of what you
shouldn't wear to school first.

ANNA
Hmmm...

Anna turns to the audience.

ANNA (CONT.)
What do you think?

Anna thinks along with the viewer.

ANNA (CONT.)
I think that's a great idea!

Anna and Bottie look over all of the clothing options. The
audience is shown an overview of the clothes laid out on her
bed.

ANNA
Well, there's not a swimming pool at
school so I don't need a bathing suit.

BOTTIE
That's right! You're probably not
going to be swimming at school.

The bathing suit pixelates and dissolves off of the bed.

BOTTIE
What else do you not do at school?

ANNA
Well, I'm not gonna sleep at school so
I don't need my pyjamas.

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 3.

BOTTIE
Yes! You sleep at night, and school is
during the day.

The bunny slippers pixelate and dissolve off of the bed.

BOTTIE
It looks like there is one more thing
that you wouldn't wear to school. Any
idea what it is?

Anna looks over what is left on the bed.

ANNA
Hmmm... I don't think I need to wear
my party dress to school! The first
day of school is exciting but I want
to runaround and play! I can't do that
very well in my fancy dress, plus I
don't wanna ruin it.

BOTTIE
Right! Nice job!

The party dress pixelates and dissolves off of the bed.

ANNA
But, Bottie! I still have a lot of
clothes left! How else can I decide
what to wear?

Bottie moves towards the window.

BOTTIE
Maybe looking out of the window will
give you a hint.

Anna looks where Bottie is standing by the window.

ANNA
Oh, I know! What it's like outside!

BOTTIE
Great idea, Anna! We can use the
season, temperature, and weather to
decide what you should wear.

ANNA
Let's look out the window together!

Anna and Bottie look out the window at the same time. The

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 4.

audience gets a view of what's outside. It's fall, but still

sunny and warm.

ANNA (CONT.)
School starts in the fall, so it's
colder than the summer, but warmer
than the winter.

BOTTIE
What do you have left that you only
wear in the summer?

Anna looks over all of the clothes she has left on the bed.

ANNA
Oh I know! I wear my flip flops in the
summer when I go to the beach. I
probably don't need those right now

The flip flops pixelates and fades from the bed.

BOTTIE
Great! Now what do you have left that
you only wear in the winter?

Anna looks over the clothes again while the audience ish
shown what is left.

ANNA
My winter coat! Since it's not winter
yet, I don't need to wear that right
now!

The coat pixelates and fades from the bed.

ANNA (CONT.)
Alright Bottie, what was the next way
I can pick my clothes based on what
it's like outside?

BOTTIE
Well, another way is temperature. That
is how hot or cold it is outside!

Anna goes over to the window and sticks her arm out to check
the temperature.

ANNA
Well it doesn't feel really hot out,
but it doesn't feel really cold
either. It's just in the middle!

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 5.

Anna closes the window and looks over the clothes she has
left.

ANNA
Well since it's not very hot out, I
probably shouldn't wear my tank top.
And since it's not very cold out, I
don't need to wear my sweater.

The tank top and sweater both pixelate and disappear from the
bed.

BOTTIE
Very good, Anna! Do you remember the
third thing I said?

ANNA
Hmmm... The weather!

BOTTIE
That's right!

ANNA
It's sunny out today, and there aren't
any clouds.

Anna looks at what she has left.

ANNA
It's not raining so I don't need my
rain boots!

The rain boots pixelate and disappear off of the bed.

She looks over what she still has left: A t-shirt, a pair of
jeans, a skirt, sneakers, and princess shoes.

ANNA
This is getting tough, I can wear all
of these things to school! How else
can I decide?

BOTTIE
How about you think about what you
want to do at school?

ANNA
Well, I know I'm going to be learning
in my classroom for most of the day,
but one of the things I'm most excited
for is playing on the playground with

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 6.

my friends!

I like running, so I need to wear the

right shoes for that.

Anna holds up the sneakers and the princess shoes.

ANNA
I can run in my sneakers, but I can't
run in my princess shoes!

The princess shoes pixelate and dissappear from the bed.

BOTTIE
Great! What else do you like to do on
the playground?

ANNA
Well I really like swinging around on
the monkey bars, I don't think I can
do that very well in a skirt.

Anna removes the skirt from the rest of her clothes.

She has the t-shirt, the jeans, and the sneakers left.

ANNA
Wait, I think I did it! I have all the
parts of an outfit.

BOTTIE
Woo hoo!

Anna and Bottie high five.

Bottie presses the button on his arm. The background

pixelates and fades from Anna's bedroom into the studio.

INT. LIL' LIFE LESSONS STUDIO - DAY

Anna and Bottie are back at the host's desk. Now, Anna is
wearing the outfit she picked out for school.

ANNA
(to Bottie and audience)
Thanks for all of your help! I didn't
know how much you need to think about
what you wear!

BOTTIE
Let's recap!

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 7.

Bottie presses the button on his arm. A graphic of the

different steps appears.

ANNA
First, we thought about what we should
and shouldn't wear to school!

Next, we thought about what we wear

during each season.

Then, we thought about what we wear in

different weather.

Last, we thought about what activities

we would be doing.

The graphic pixelates and fades.

BOTTIE
As long as you remember all of those
things, you'll have no trouble getting
dressed all by yourself!

An alert pops up on Bottie's arm computer.

BOTTIE (CONT.)
Anna, school is about to start!

ANNA
Oh, I gotta go! Don't want to be late
for my first day of school! See you
next time!

Anna waves goodbye as she exits. Bottie presses a button on

his arm and the screen pixelates to black.

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 8.

EPISODE 2
_________

INT. LIL' LIFE LESSONS STUDIO - DAY

8-year-old Teddy sits behind the hosts desk and greets the
viewers excitedly.

TEDDY
Hey, I'm Teddy! I'm eight and today
we're gonna learn something together.

TEDDY (CONT.)
Yesterday, I got a package from my
grandma. It was a present for my
birthday; a set of water guns!

TEDDY (CONT.)
My mom told me I should write a thank
you letter back to my grandma, but I
don't know how to.

Suddenly, our robot companion, Bottie, flies into the studio.

BOTTIE
That's why I'm here Teddy!

Bottie gestures to the audience.

BOTTIE
And our friends and I are going to
help you!

TEDDY (CONT.)
Really? That's great, I can't wait for
all of us to learn together!

BOTTIE
Well let's go and learn a Lil' Life
Lesson together!

Bottie presses a button on his arm. The scene behind them

begins to pixelate and dissolve until it turns into Teddy's
dining room.

INT. TEDDY'S HOUSE - DAY

Teddy is sitting down at a table with the water guns his

grandma sent him. Bottie is hovering next to him.

TEDDY
So where should I start?

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 9.

BOTTIE
Well, you're going to need some
supplies to write the letter, what do
you think you need?

Teddy thinks for a moment.

TEDDY
Well to write something, you need a
pen and paper!

BOTTIE
Great!

Bottie presses a button on his arm. A paper and pencil

pixelate and materialize on the table in front of him.

TEDDY
Woah! Thanks!

Teddy gets ready to start writing, then stops.

TEDDY
Wait, how do I start a letter?

BOTTIE
Well usually, you start a letter with
a greeting to the person you're
writing to. For example, most people
write "Dear." But you could also start
with "Hi" or "Hello!"

Teddy begins to write.

TEDDY
(while writing)
Dear Grandma...

He pauses and looks at Bottie.

TEDDY
What do I write next?

BOTTIE
Why don't you think about why you're
writing the letter.

TEDDY
(while tapping his pencil on his
chin)
I'm writing the letter... to thank her

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 10.

for my birthday gift!

Teddy begins to write again

TEDDY (CONT.)
(while writing)
Thank you so much for sending me the
water guns for my birthday.

Teddy stops.

TEDDY (CONT.)
Is that all I have to write? That
seems like a pretty short letter.

BOTTIE
There are a lot of other things you
can say in a thank you letter! For
example, I'm sure your grandma would
love to hear about what you are going
to do with your gift.

TEDDY
Great idea, Bottie!
(while writing)
I am so happy that you sent me three!
My friends and I are going to have a
bunch of AWESOME water gun fights
together!

Teddy admires his work so far.

BOTTIE
That's good! I'm sure your grandma
would love to hear that you're sharing
your gift with your friends!

Teddy continues to write.

TEDDY
(while writing)
And with summer coming up, I will
definitely bring them over to your
house to play with in the pool.

BOTTIE
Awesome! It's always a good idea to
include the gift giver!

Teddy reads over the letter.

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 11.

TEDDY
This seems like a good length. Now how
do I finish it?

BOTTIE
Sometimes, when people write letters
to friends, family, or other loved
ones, they write about how they miss
them.

TEDDY
Well I definitely miss my grandma, so
I'll write that!
(while writing)
I miss you and I can't wait until the
next time I see you!

Teddy seems satisfied with what he's written.

TEDDY (CONT.)
There! I think that's good!

BOTTIE
Wait, Teddy! There's one more thing
you've forgotten!

TEDDY
What is it?

BOTTIE
How will your grandma know who the
letter is from?

TEDDY
Oh! I should sign my name!

BOTTIE
Right! When people end letters, they
sign off with some type of phrase.
Some examples are "From," "Love," or
"Sincerely."

TEDDY
Ok, I can do that!
(while writing)
Love, Teddy.

Teddy admires his work.

TEDDY (CONT.)
What do you think, Bottie?

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 12.

BOTTIE
Awesome job, Teddy! I think that's a
great thank you letter and I'm sure
your grandma will love it!

Suddenly, Teddy's face falls.

TEDDY
But wait, how do I send it to grandma?

BOTTIE
There are two things you need. Any
ideas?

TEDDY
Hmmm... well when my mom puts a letter
in the mail, she puts it in something
and sticks this sticker on the front.

BOTTIE
Nice! Those are called an envelope...

Bottie presses a button on his arm. An envelope pixelates and

materialize on the table.

BOTTIE (CONT.)
...and a stamp!

Bottie presses a button on his arm. A stamp pixelates and

materialize on the table.

TEDDY
So an envelope is what you send a
letter in?

BOTTIE
Yes! You write your grandma's name and
where she lives on the front so the
mail person knows where to bring the
letter. That's called an address.

TEDDY
So what's the stamp for?

BOTTIE
Well you can't send letters for free,
so a stamp is how the post office
knows that you paid for the letter.
You need to buy stamps at the post
office and stick one of them on each
of the letters you send!

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 13.

Teddy looks over what he has on the table: the letter, the
pencil, the envelope, and the stamp.

TEDDY
That makes sense! So first I need to
put the letter in the envelope.

Teddy folds up the paper, places it in the envelope, and

seals it closed. He flips the letter over.

TEDDY
My mom told me where my grandma lives,
that's her address! I'll write that
down on the front.

Teddy grabs the pencil and writes grandma's address on the

front.

TEDDY
Now finally, I need to pay for the
letter!

Teddy picks up the sheet of stamps, peels one off, and sticks
it on the top right corner of the letter.

TEDDY
I think I'm done!

BOTTIE
Nice job, Teddy!

TEDDY
All I have to do is make sure the
letter gets to grandma. How can I do
that?

BOTTIE
Well there are two ways you can send a
letter! Someone can drive you to the
post office and you can send them the
letter there.

TEDDY
My parents are busy right now, what do
I do if they can't drive me?

BOTTIE
That's option number two! If you look
at your mailbox, you'll see a little

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 14.

flag on the side that you can move up

and down. If you put the letter in
your mailbox and put the flag up, that
will let the mail person know that the
letter needs to be sent!

TEDDY
Cool! Let's go bring it to the
mailbox!

EXT. TEDDY'S HOUSE - DAY

Teddy and Bottie walk down to the driveway towards the

mailbox. Teddy opens it and places the letter inside. He
closes the mailbox and puts the little red flag up.

Bottie and Teddy high-five.

Bottie presses the button on his arm. The background

pixelates and fades from Teddy's house into the studio.

INT. LIL' LIFE LESSONS STUDIO - DAY

Teddy is back at the hosts desk with Bottie hovering next to

him. Now, he's holding the letter he wrote his grandma.

TEDDY
(to Bottie and audience)
Thanks for the help! Writing a thank
you letter is easier than I thought!

BOTTIE
Let's recap!

Bottie presses the button on his arm. A graphic of the

different steps appears.

TEDDY
First, we wrote our letter thanking
grandma and telling her everything
we're gonna do with her gift!

Next, we learned about envelopes, what

you send letters in, and stamps, what
you use to pay for your letter.

Last, we learned how to send our

letter by putting up the flag on the
mailbox!

The graphic pixelates and fades.

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 15.

BOTTIE
As long as you remember these steps,
you'll have no problem writing and
sending thank you notes or other
letters in the future!

TEDDY
(to audience)
Great job! Now we both know how to
write a letter! I'm gonna go check the
mailbox, maybe grandma wrote me a
letter back! See ya next time!

Teddy waves goodbye as he exits. Bottie presses a button on

his arm and the screen pixelates to black.

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 16.

EPISODE 3
_________

INT. LIL' LIFE LESSONS STUDIO - DAY

Eleven-year-old Maria sits behind the hosts desk and greets

the viewers excitedly.

MARIA
Hello, I'm Maria! I'm eleven, and
today we're gonna learn something
together!

This year, I started doing chores

around the house! I unload the
dishwasher, weed the garden, and set
the table. My parents have started
paying me an "allowance" which means
they give me money for the work I do.

The thing is, now I have money of my

own. So I need to figure out what do
do with it.

Suddenly, our robot companion, Bottie, flies into the studio.

BOTTIE
Never fear! Bottie's here!

MARIA (CONT.)
Bottie! You're gonna help me!

BOTTIE
(gesturing to audience)
Along with our friends here!
(beat)
Come on! Let's learn a Lil' Life
Lesson together!

Bottie presses a button on his arm. The scene behind them

begins to pixelate and dissolve until it turns into Maria's
bedroom.

INT. MARIA'S BEDROOM - DAY

Maria sits at her desk with Bottie hovering next to her. A

piggy bank sits on the desk in front of her.

Maria takes a wad of bills out of her piggy bank, there are
nine one-dollar bills and four quarters.

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 17.

MARIA
So I make three dollars from unloading
the dishwasher, five dollars from
weeding the garden, and two dollars
from setting the table. How much is
that all together?

She thinks for a second.

MARIA
That's 10 dollars!

BOTTIE
Nice, counting the amount of money you
have is a great first step!

MARIA
(slightly defeated)
Yeah, but how do I figure out what to
do with it? I have things that I want
to buy but I don't want to spend it
all either!

BOTTIE
That's when you make a budget!

MARIA
What's a budget?

BOTTIE
A budget is a plan for saving and
spending the money you have.

MARIA
Cool! So where do I start?

BOTTIE
A great way to figure out a budget is
by using the Save, Spend, and Share
method!

MARIA
Oh! I think my teacher has talked
about that before! I choose how much
money to save for later, how much to
spend now, and how much to share with
others!

BOTTIE
Exactly! A good way to do it is by
having three seperate jars to put your

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 18.

money in.

Bottie presses the button on his arm and three jars appear on
Maria's desk. One says "Save," one says "Spend," and one says
"Share."

MARIA
Cool!
(beat)
But how do I decide how much to put in
each jar!

BOTTIE
Well Maria, that's completely up to
you! Since the money you have is money
that you earned, you're responsible
for where it goes!

MARIA
That's a big task!

BOTTIE
That's why we'll talk it through
together!
(beat)
Let's start with spend! Is there
anything you want to buy this week?

Maria taps her chin and thinks for a moment.

MARIA
Oh yeah! I'm going to get smoothies
with my soccer team after our game on
Friday. I definitely want to have
enough money for that!

She looks down at the bills on the table.

MARIA (CONT.)
I know that the smoothie I want to get
costs three dollars, so I'm going to
put that in the "spend" jar!

Maria picks up three of the bills and puts them in the jar.

BOTTIE
That sounds good to me! Now, how much
money do you have left?

Bottie and Maria count how much is left on the table.

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 19.

MARIA & BOTTIE

One, two, three, four, five, six,
seven!

MARIA
I have seven dollars left for the
"save" and "share" jars!

BOTTIE
Which jar do you want to do next?

Maria looks between the jars.

MARIA
How about "share?" There's a canned
food drive coming up at school! I can
use my "share" money for that!

BOTTIE
That's a great way to share your
money!

MARIA
Everyone needs to bring in two cans.
Each can costs a dollar. So that
means...

Maria picks up two of the dollars from the table.

MARIA (CONT.)
...I should put two dollars in the
"share" jar!

She puts the two dollars in the "share" jar.

BOTTIE
Nice job, Maria! Sharing at least a
little bit of the money you earn every
week with someone who needs it is
always a kind thing to do!

MARIA
Yeah, it does make me feel good! Even
after the canned food drive is over,
I'm gonna share at least a dollar
every week!

BOTTIE
Awesome! Now, all that's left is the
save jar.

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 20.

MARIA
Well I guess this one's gonna be easy!
Now that I've put my money in the
other two jars, all I need to do is
put the rest in the "save" jar.

BOTTIE
That's exactly what the save jar is
for! It's not money that you need
immediately, but it's money that you
can use later, maybe to buy something
a little more expensive than what you
earn every week!

MARIA
That makes sense! There's this video
game that I've been wanting to buy,
but it's 30 dollars. If I keep putting
money in the "save" jar, I'll
eventually have enough to buy it!

BOTTIE
How much money are you saving this
week?

MARIA
Let's count!

MARIA & BOTTIE

One, two, three, four, five!

Maria picks up the remaining dollars and coins.

MARIA
Into the save jar you go!

She puts the rest of the money in.

MARIA (CONT.)
I did it! Wow, that was a lot easier
than I thought it would be!

BOTTIE
Great job, Maria!

Maria and Bottie high-five

Bottie presses the button on his arm. The background

pixelates and fades from Maria's bedroom into the studio.

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 21.

INT. LIL' LIFE LESSONS STUDIO - DAY

Maria is back at the hosts desk with Bottie hovering next to

her. Now, she has the "save," "spend," and "share" jars with
the money inside of them on the desk in front of her.

MARIA
(to Bottie and audience)
Thanks for your help! Now I know how
to budget my allowance!

BOTTIE
Let's recap!

Bottie presses the button on his arm. A graphic of the

different steps appears.

MARIA
First, we figured out how much money I
had in total.

Next, we made three seperate jars for

my budget: save, spend, and share!

Last, we thought about what I was

doing that week and used that to
figure out how much money I should put
in each jar.

The graphic pixelates and fades.

BOTTIE
As long as you remember these steps,
you'll have no problem putting your
allowance into a budget every week
from now on!

MARIA
(to audience)
Nice! And now we both know!

BOTTIE
Wait, Maria! It's Friday! Didn't you
say you have a soccer game and
smoothies to go to?

MARIA
That's right, I gotta go! I can't wait
to use my "spend" money! See you next
time!

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 22.

Maria waves goodbye as she exits. Bottie presses a button on

his arm and the screen pixelates to black.

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