Steve Stone is thrilled to have found a job that allows him to be a kid again. He spends his workdays putting farkleberries and farm animals into motion.

Stone, Lawrence, works as an animator for Good Friends Entertainment, a Kansas City, Kan., company that recently produced a computer-animated children’s series titled “Farkleberry Farm.”

Steve Stone, Lawrence, has what most people want a job that seems more play than work. Stone is an animator, and has just released his first animated children's video.

P.J., a round, pink pig, and Doze, a talking, flying bulldozer, entertain viewers throughout the first 40-minute “Farkleberry Farm” video, “Wet and Wooly.” The characters are trying to save their farm from the flooding tears of Mr. Wally, the neighborhood dam. P.J. and Doze are joined by other quirky characters with such obvious names as Birdy and Mrs. Cow.

Stone said the animated ensemble delights children, who also learn valuable lessons by watching the video.

“It’s really about keeping promises, friendship and family,” Stone said.

Stone said creators chose the name “Farkleberry Farm” because “farkleberry” appears just before “farm” in the dictionary. He said they incorporated some of the black-berried bushes in the cartoon.

Stone became interested in computer animation in high school when he experimented with computer animation programs. He graduated from Shawnee Mission South High School in 1999 and went to Florida to attend the Full Sail School of Recording Arts. Upon his graduation and return home, Stone said he attended an animation festival in Kansas City on a whim.

“I was figuring I’d have to go to the West Coast to find work,” he said.

But that day Stone met the men who would give him a job. For the next 1 1/2 years, he and a colleague put characters into action on their computer screens. The video was released May 1.

Stone spends a great deal of time marketing the product. “Farkleberry Farm” targets children ages 2-8, but Stone said parents have enjoyed the video, too.

“That’s something we really tried for,” he said. “It’s not something parents run screaming from the room from.”

Stone said “Farkleberry Farm” is the first animated series created in the central United States since 1923. He compares the series to Big Idea Productions Inc.’s children series “Veggie Tales,” because of the animation and the fact that both projects started small.

The company plans the release of 11 more animated videos, and Stone said he would like to help animate them all.

“There’s not a day I’ve dreaded coming into work,” he said.

“I think what I like about it is I still like to watch cartoons. Look at all the toys around here,” Stone said, motioning to the countless figures of cartoon characters scattered around the studio. “We’re all big kids. I’m excited to still be a kid.”