From the beach to the back yard, the blue octopus and his buddies find plenty to learn in the outdoors. On a trip to the shore, Henry the penguin paradoxically doesn't want to get his feathers wet, but rises to the challenge when reckless Daisy needs rescuing. Next, Oswald has the difficult task of judging which of his friends' sand sculptures should win the annual contest. (Two words: Everybody wins!) Back at home, when snails invade Oswald's tomato garden, the accommodating octopus buys new tomato plants to share. But the snails eat those, too. Finally, bird watcher Oswald gets impatient with his impulsive floral friend when she keeps scaring off his targets. But those same qualities come in handy when he needs her to bring him down from the back of a giant Mee-Tah bird. This gentle Nick Jr. series cleverly echoes and resolves many of the issues children face, and features kid-friendly voices from the expected--cartoon veteran Debi Derryberry and The Wonder Years' Fred Savage--as well as the unexpected: Laverne and Shirley's David Lander and early SNL regular Laraine Newman. (Ages 2 to 6) --Kimberly Heinrichs