Mini Pet Pals

It’s quite natural that the Mini Pet Pals ask themselves what there is beyond the park’s fence… as a matter of fact, one day, Top Hat asks Metuselah permission to go and explore these places that he has never been to before. Metuselah gives him permission, but only if the Mini Pet Pals follow the paths that are drawn on the map and that they stop to listen to the advice of some animals that they will meet along the way. Metuselah that is a wise joker, has hidden the pieces of the map in different places in the playground. Once the map has been put together the tree introduces the first animals that will accompany them in their expedition: the porcupine Martino, the Iridescent chameleon, Ester the turtle, Otto the spider and Franco the falcon. Here they are ready for their first great adventure out of the playground: we’ll start tomorrow!, The Mini Pet Pals are ready to start their adventure. Metuselah tells them to start by crossing the Pilgrim’s bridge. Soon our little friends meet Franco the falcon, that explains the genesis of the name of the Pilgrim’s bridge, named because his ancestor Camillo – that came from a faraway country and had black feathers on his head, like the ones of the hood of the pilgrims – would never move from there. Holly is the first to cross the bridge, and the other Mini Pet Pals follow… all apart from Top Hat, that has a panic attack. Everyone gives him a different piece of advice. Nameless goes back to help him. At a certain point, the chick loses its balance and is about to fall into the mouth of a hungry fox. At this point Top Hat crosses the bridge running, just in time to save Nameless!, In a large clearing in the forest, our friends find a hut and a circle of rocks around a fire that has already been lit. The Mini Pet Pals sit around it and Martino starts to tell the story of the forest and the animals that live in it. At a certain point Giovanni, the Eurasian eagle-owl intervenes, and he explains the origin of his name and of his silent way of flying… The fable is over: it’s time to get the backpacks and, put the fire out and go back to the park!, Today the Mini Pet Pals, following the directions on the map, go to the lake where they meet a family of pink flamingos. The Mini Pet Pals, intrigued, ask where their pink color comes from. The two baby flamingoes are the ones that answer: they love shrimp, and since shrimp are pink, gradually their wings and beaks became that color.

The Mini Pet Pals are going to the Little Forest, where the Shimmering Chamaeleon lives. The six friends are incredibly surprised but his ability to change color, and they ask him how he does it. “I don’t know what happens, all I know is that when I get close to something and I concentrate, my body becomes the same color of the things that I am close to…” , Ester the turtle also lives in the Shady Forest and the Mini Pet Pals are curious to meet her and to find out how old she is. “Many; I’m even older than Noah, Metuselah’s father! You’ve never met him? Come, I want to introduce him to you!”. Everyone walks following her, but Top Hat would like to go faster., Our friends meet Otto the spider, that is at the center of a large spiderweb. Pio, observing the spider’s dance on the spiderweb’s threads asks him how come he doesn’t get stuck in the threads “When I spin my web I leave some threads without glue, so when I move forwards and backwards on my spiderweb I know where to put my feet…” replies Otto. “And how can you tell those threads apart?” asks Top Hat, Top Hat has a dream, to fly. Metuselah advises him to ask Nameless to lend him a couple of his balloons, but the bunny rabbit, doing so, is barely able to get off the ground. Moby tells him that he could try with four balloons, but the result isn’t satisfying. “If you really want to fly, go to the Shady Forest and look for Franco, that has its nest exactly there”. Says their friend the tree. The falcon Franco, that the Mini Pet Pals have already met, is willing to make Top Hat fly and, after having made him climb up on his back he does a series of tricks at high speed in the air.

Nameless takes out a placard that portrays Noah, Metuselah’s father. Pio says that it would be nice if they go to the Shady Forest to keep him company. Noah is sleeping and the Mini Pet Pals decide to put on a surprise circus show for him. Moby brought his colors with him and the Mini Pet Pals start to put their make-up on. Top Hat, with his large mustache is the ringmaster. Holly the tiger does an act where she walks upside down along one of Noah’s branches; Moby the zebra does a magical show with a ball… that is Nameless disguised. Diva dances with (dressed up as a flamingo) and Pio-ladybug. Top Hat ends the show as the sword eater, oops, the carrot eater!, Diva arrives running in the park where her friends are playing: “Come, everybody run, a terrible thing has happened!”. The Mini Pet Pals follow her to the Little Forest, where the duckling shows them a hole that has “swallowed up” he bows. Diva cries desperately because getting the bow back seems impossible, but along comes a nice mole that offers to help because, as she says “…this is the perfect mission for Luigina the mole”., Holly has a question: “Why do insects fly from one flower to the other?”. The tree suggests that they go to Marietta the bee, in the Flowered Meadow: she’ll give them the right answer. The bee explains that when it’s spring she smells the air and chooses the flower whose perfume she likes the most; then she gathers the pollen to make some really good honey. At this point Diva takes out her perfume and sprays it on her lock of hair., It’s December: the six friends head towards the lake where, as Metuselah had said, a surprise is waiting for him. Once the Mini Pet Pals arrive at their destination they are in awe: the lake and the waterfall are completely frozen. After some of them slipping a couple of times, they are all able to move skillfully on the ice.

It’s summer and it’s really hot: the Mini Pet Pals ask methuselah permission to go and have a swim at the waterfall. Along the road Top Hat trips and he calls his friends in a frightened manner: there is a menacing spider next to a bush! The Mini Pet Pals run here and there petrified, until Berta the lizard reassures them: “It’s not a real snake! What scared you is simply a snake’s skin and it can’t hurt you!” Berta explains that snakes change their skin once or twice a year to change it for another one when they grow and the one that they have is too small., Metuselah calls the Mini Pet Pals: Ester the turtle is waiting for them ant the Shady Forest’s entrance to show them a plant that is very strange. The small friends are happy: they can’t wait to discover what it is, and they each have their own assumptions. Ester shows them a small carnivorous plant that scares the Mini Pet Pals a bit as they fear for their safety, but the turtle reassures them., It is a beautiful sunny day, perfect to go on a trip to the lake. After having arrived at their destination the Mini Pet Pals rest for a bit and none of them want to play with Top Hat, that is getting bored and he wants to do something at all costs. The friends decide to “teach him a lesson” and they invite him to play a game that involves climbing: his opponent will be the gecko Ivan. Top Hat thinks that the small gecko won’t be able to do it, but Ivan surprises him by climbing in an agile manner., The beautiful Autumn day makes you want to take a walk and Nameless suggest that they go all the way to Belvedere to look at the scenery. Methuselah reminds them to come back before it gets dark: they days in autumn are shorter. While the Mini Pet Pals are on the road that takes them back home night falls, and the small friends are worried: they got lost, and around them they can hear sounds that scare them a lot. From a bush Paolino the deer comes out: he has also gotten lost and he can’t get back home.

Top Hat would like to go with his friends to the edge of the valley. It will be a long walk, the Mini Pet Pals have never gone that far, and Metuselah tells them to be very careful. Everyone is happy to go on the adventure apart from Pio, that confesses that he is a bit scared. The only one that can help Pio is Otto, the spider that lives near the Little Forest. The Mini Pet Pals go looking for Otto and, looking up, they see him arrive flying using dandelion seeds to move., The Mini Pet Pals go and play in the Flowered Meadow. Before leaving Diva shows everyone her new necklace that she made using a shiny stone. Playing catch with that heavy necklace is difficult therefore the duck entrusts the piece of jewelry to Top hat. The rabbit obeys but he is invited to play a game of soccer and the temptation is strong and he forgets the promise that he made to Diva. Shortly after, the necklace has disappeared!, Diva has arrived at the park with her first aid kit and she is looking for a “patient” to cure amongst her friends. As soon as she sees Top Hat, she asks him if he would be willing to get a shot, but the rabbit doesn’t want to, and he actually asks Metuselah to distract the duckling., The Mini Pet Pals go to the Shady Forest: Metuselah said that there is a surprise for them! Once they get to the forest, they hear a mysterious noise: what could it be? Pio sees a big turtle and he tries to speak to her, but without succeeding, since – as Diva makes him notice - the turtle is made of wood. The woodpecker Nicola, the sculptor, arrives in that moment and Diva asks him to help her play a trick on Top Hat. Not long after the bunny rabbit is face to face with another rabbit that looks a lot like him and is holding a carrot.

Metuselah calls the Mini Pet Pals: today is a special day, it’s Noah’s birthday. Diva offers to go together with her friends to bring him Methuselah’s gift and during their walk the Mini Pet Pals ask themselves what would be a nice present for a tree of a certain age… but how old is Noah?., The sky is covered by gray clouds and it’s really cold, but the Mini Pet Pals still want to go out. On the road towards the Little Forest our friends meet Giuseppe the Nightingale that is teaching his children to sing. Once they get to the lake, the Mini Pet Pals see what looks to them like a nightingale dressed in black: is he maybe getting ready for a concert in a theater? It actually is Maura, a blackbird. “Why are you dressed in black?”, ask the Mini Pet Pals?., The snow has arrived at the park: the Mini Pet Pals turn their toys into sleighs, snow bicycles and bobsleighs. They would like to go and try them on the hill that is beyond the Shady Forest, explaining to Metuselah, that advises them to look for Samuele the white bear, that knows the area well, and to come back before it gets dark The bear puts his skis on, and everyone follows him on a nice slope in the middle of the forest. But – one moment! – who is spying on them from behind a bush? It’s the always hungry lynx, Valeria., A big summer storm has just finished, and the six small friends can’t wait to go for a walk. Along their walk they see a large tree that has fallen, and it has its roots in the air. The Mini Pet Pals move towards it and they meet a lot of animals that - due to what has happened – have lost their home: Valentina the snake, that lived between the tree’s roots; Tiziana the skunk that lived at the base of the tree; Nicola the woodpecker that dug his nest in the trunk; the ants that made their anthill near the plant. All these animals are now without a home and they don’t know what to do. The Mini Pet Pals explain to them that they know a very friendly tree that could welcome them.

Summer nights are long and it’s difficult to stop playing. The Mini Pet Pals are at the Flowered Meadow, completely busy having fun that they forgot about Metuselah’s advice, to come back before it gets dark. When they finally decide to go back, Diva is nowhere to be found. The duck is picking flowers and she got lost. Thankfully Pio is able to make his voice heard and Diva is able to reach her group of friends., The playground is completely covered in snow and Top Hat proposes to go and play in the Flowered Meadow. Once they get to their destination a fun snowball fight starts and the bunny ends up buried in the snow: “What a pity that snow is cold, if it were warm a snowball fight would be even more fun!” “What a silly thing!” a voice answers. Who spoke? Finally the Mini Pet Pals see an animal that is all white and perfectly camouflaged in the snow: it’s Bice the artic hare, that explains: “Snow is cold because its frozen water that falls from the sky in the shape of soft beautiful snowflakes”. Thanks to a microscope the six little friends observe in amazement, all the spectacular shapes of the snowflakes. And they understand that if snow were warm it would simply be… water!, The sun has come up and Top Hat is impatient to play. Once his friends have woken up, they go towards the Shady Forest, where Gianna the small bat is still sleeping. Top Hat wakes her up a bit abruptly and Gianna suggests that they play blind man’s bluff. Gianna starts, and she catches Top Hat almost immediately; then it’s Top Hat’s turn, that, instead, bangs into Noah, moving away from his opponent. Gianna wins thanks to the ability that bat is having to see in the dark., The sun has come up and Top Hat is impatient to play. Once his friends have woken up, they go towards the Shady Forest, where Gianna the small bat is still sleeping. Top Hat wakes her up a bit abruptly and Gianna suggests that they play blind man’s bluff. Gianna starts, and she catches Top Hat almost immediately; then it’s Top Hat’s turn, that, instead, bangs into Noah, moving away from his opponent. Gianna wins thanks to the ability that bat is having to see in the dark., The Mini Pet Pals go and play hide and seek in the Shady Forest, where the old tree Noah lives. Moby starts to count, but he is interrupted by the singing of Rina the owl; a very strange thing, since she usually sleeps during the day. Then it’s Giovanni the owl that interrupts them, he is also awake during the day. Even Otto the spider explains that he is taking his web down, an activity that he usually only does every night. Something very strange is about to happen… the sun wants to play hide and seek!

Today Nameless suggests that his friends that are with him at the Flowered meadow to play a new game: rugby. The chick wants to use his beautiful and new ball that he has just gotten as a gift. The match starts and Top Hat, always wild, throws it really far and they can’t find it anymore. They all look for it together. They all look for the lost ball, but they only find something that is very similar to a small rugby ball. Holly looks at it carefully: “What a strange thing! It’s soft, but at the same time it seems to be sturdy”., For once Top Hat didn’t forget his snack and he is getting ready to devour his yummy looking salad and carrot sandwich. In the moment, the chaffinch Marcella arrives, and she is looking for a something special to eat for snack and she asks Top Hat on what tree does his strange snack grow on. Together with the other Mini Pet Pals they decide to have snack all together, looking for some fruit in the Shady Forest with the chaffinch. Marcella warns them: “Not all forest fruits can be eaten. Some are poisonous and you must be very experienced to tell them apart. If you’ll listen to me, you’ll have nothing to be afraid of”., The Mini Pet Pals play in the park in a carefree manner, when Methuselah arrives, he senses some strange vibration: something strange is happening in the Forest. Without hesitating the small friends go to investigate and they find out that they are all dried out because water does not arrive to their roots anymore. The stream is dry: Some rocks are blocking the current! Irene the otter sees that the Mini Pet Pals are having a hard time and she decides to help them move the rocks. Nameless has an idea to help their mission, but somebody must go underwater so that their plan works., The park is covered in snow. Metuselah asks the Mini Pet Pals to help Bice, the artic hare in of the Flowered Meadow: her cousin wants to spend the holiday with her, but her igloo is too small to host her large family! The Mini Pet Pals help her build a new one, and from afar Greta, the arctic fox, looks at the six small friends…. Very tasty nibbles. The fox is camouflages herself easily because her fur has become white with winter and Bice knows that the fox is hanging around waiting for the right time to eat a little animal. When the new igloo is ready, all enter into it for shelter. Right in time: Greta knocks on the door with the excuse ...

Sunny day all of a sudden turns into a downpour! It doesn’t last long, thankfully, the sky clears up and a rainbow comes out. Everything seems to have gone back to normal, but then the Mini Pet Pals hear someone crying and it’s coming from the Shady Forest. They decide to go and check it out and they find Ester the turtle in tears., Holly the cat is the fastest in the group and Metuselah gives her a mission: accompany the ant Laura to the new anthill. Laura climbs onto Holly’s tail and they take off quickly. The ant, however, is not used to this speed and she feels carsick, so she asks Holly to stop and go to the anthill, that is close by now, keeping her pace. The cat gets bored but Laura makes her understand that walking slowly has its advantages: “Going slowly can make you notice more things than you would by going fast”., The Mini Pet Pals are doing a sack race and Top Hat accidentally makes Diva fall, breaking her necklace. To make himself be forgiven, Top hat would like to give her something special and he asks Metuselah for some advice, that sends him to the wizard of the lake to find what he is looking for., It looks like a normal spring day at the park, but the Mini Pet Pals hear a strange thud sound, not far from the hedge at the boundary. On the bridge you can hear a loud munching sound, followed by a thud just like the sound of something that falls on the ground. “Metuselah said that there is nothing to be scared of: let’s go and see” says Holly. The Mini Pet Pals meet a new animal: it’s Cecco the beaver “You don’t seem like a monster” says Pio.

Today the air is a bit chilly and Diva, that doesn’t want to wear a hat, starts to sneeze. Methuselah invites the Mini Pet Pals to go to the Shady Forest passing by the pine tree Aiace to say hi. Once they get to their destination the small friends notice that Aiace… is crying! Moby and Holly ask Noah for some advice, he explains: “What you saw are not tears, but resin, a sticky substance that comes out of the trunk. It is used to protect us trees from wounds on our bark” There is a small anima that is munching on his bark: It’s Carlo the woodworm. Carlo explains that he is not hurting the pine tree, because resin can also cure. The resin, in addition, could also be the cure for Diva’s cold, all you have to do is breath in the vapor of a drop of resin in hot water., Nameless has a new and colorful kite with a nice tail with stripes on it and the Mini Pet Pals decide to make it fly in the Flowered Meadow. The kite flies spectacularly, but suddenly the wind becomes too strong and nameless loses his kite, that flies far away, towards the Shady Forest. Remembering the striped tail, the Mini Pet Pals find this distinctive trait behind a bush, a trunk… but what a surprise: they are real animal tails! The six small friends go further ahead and this time they hope that it’s right, instead it’s a racoon’s tail. The racoon introduces himself: his name is Gastone., In one beautiful autumn day Top Hat suggests cooking a delicious carrot soup. The Mini Pet Pals would like to eat something different and they say that they would like to try a mushroom soup. The Mini Pet Pals go towards the Shady Forest – where the best mushrooms are- and Top hat orders everyone to look for the mushrooms on top of tree branches. A giggle interrupts him. It’s Raffaella, a yellow ladybug that is an expert in mushrooms and she can give our little friends some precious advice: “Mushrooms are very good, but they can also be very dangerous”., In a night of midsummer, the night of San Lorenzo: Metuselah tells the Mini Pet Pals that they can watch the shooting stars from the Shady Forest, together with Giovanni the owl. At sunset the Mini Pet Pals go to Giovanni, that tells them the stories on the stars, while they are sitting around a bonfire. The owl asks them to play a game.

It’s a dark and gloomy day and some cold and hard balls have just come down from the sky. It’s hail, that comes down from the sky just like rain and snow, explains methuselah, there is nothing to worry about The badger Ludovico arrives. Help is needed! In the Flowered Meadow and Shady Forest there has been a lot of damage due to the violent hailstorm. “You may go, when someone needs your help you don’t have to wait…”. Says the wise tree., The Mini Pet Pals are splashing around in the park’s fountain and Moby has an idea: go on an adventure on a raft! The small friends have permission to go on a trip on the lake with their friend Cecco, the beaver, an expert in navigation. Using the raft, the Mini Pet Pals and Cecco sail to the cave behind the lake’s waterfall, where now the beaver’s den that is built with wood is. There are also some tunnels that lead to different areas in the Forest. Every animal has a different den that is good for their individual needs. Nobody has any doubts in choosing their own, home sweet home!., The Mini Pet Pals are a bit bored; they go for a walk in the Flowered meadow: once they get there, they hear someone crying, it’s Romeo, the stinkbug. Why is my little green friend crying? “Nobody loves me, everyone stays away from me…”. Top Hat explains that stinkbugs stink, that’s why everyone wants to stay away from him, but Moby says that stinkbugs give off a foul smell only when they feel threatened. Bu the Mini Pet Pals invite their new friend to the park to play for the next day., A puppet theater has arrived in the park! A knight bravely defeats a dragon and Top Hat diminishes the knight’s accomplishment, saying that he is just as strong and can do the same thing. A bear comes out from behind the theater and challenges him: “Come back here and you’ll find everything you’ll need to build a puppet that looks like you, that you can use to defeat Mario the dragon!” Top Hat doesn’t have to be told twice and he pulls his sleeves up to build a new puppet that looks like him. He has everything he needs to create a brave knight, with rabbit ears!

It’s almost springs and Top Hat would like to give Diva a present: He asks her what she wants and the duck answers that she would like summer to come straight away. Obviously, Top hat can’t make the seasons come quicker therefor he asks his friends for help. Moby will draw a large yellow sun and holly will build a pink deck chair. Nameless has an idea: nothing can remind you of summer like the crickets and their song., Brrr! It’s starting to get really cold at the park! Winter is coming and the Mini Pet Pals go to the Shady Forest to discover something more on this freezing season. In the Forest the Mini Pet Pals meet Ciccio the hedgehog that is bringing his supplies to his den, in anticipation of the hibernation period “Hibernation?!?”, the Mini Pet Pals are all surprised at the same time. Ciccio the hedgehog is in a hurry and he can’t explain what it is about, but Noah the tree will be able to do so., For Carnival the Mini Pet Pals organize the “opposite carnival”: Everyone of them will have to convince a friend in Shady Forest to participate in the carnival parade dressed up as a Mini Pet Pals, instead they will have to wear the clothes of their forest friend. They all enthusiastically go looking for their “double”: Top Hat will turn into Martino the porcupine, Diva with Rina the owl, Holly with Luigina the mole, Moby with Ester the turtle, Pio with Bei the squirrel. The Carnival parade next to the waterfall is a success but someone is missing: Nameless hasn’t arrived yet., Thanks to a telescope Top Hat can spy on what is happening in the forest: a bear is walking in a suspicious manner and he believes the bear is hiding a stick behind his back. Holly is also looking through a telescope: the bear is just giving a bouquet of flowers to his bear! Top Hat accuse the car of lying “This is because Top Hat believes that bears can’t be nice… not everything that seems to be is real. I know how to make him understand that”, says Metuselah, suggesting that they go to the Shady Forest to meet Giovanni the owl. Here they will meet Checco the stick bug, that when he is still, he looks like a stick; then there is Ciccio the hedgehog, that looks like a chestnut’s bur. “Sometimes what seems to be isn’t really what it is… …”, says the owl.