Ice Age characters head to Antarctica

Sid and Buck at the Scott Base sign (Anthony Powell / supplied)
Sid and Buck at the Scott Base sign (Anthony Powell / supplied)

If you've seen Ice Age, you'll know about Sid the sloth and Buck the weasel. They're about to go to one of the coldest places on the planet as part of an educational programme for kids.

It's a collaboration between Antarctica New Zealand and 20th Century Fox NZ and it's just in time for the school holidays.

Sid and Buck are down at Scott Base to film a video series for five- to 12-year-olds about the icy continent and how it's being affected by climate change.

The series will also cover what life is like for staff stationed at Scott Base, as well as things like why there's no sun in winter and about auroras.

Antarctica NZ CEO Peter Beggs says Antarctica and the surrounding Southern Ocean are crucial to predicting the future of Earth's climate system.

"Sid and Buck are the perfect characters to explain how a unique record of what our climate looked like one million years ago might tell us about the future," he says.

New Zealand filmmaker Anthony Powell, who has been on the ice since last November working on a documentary, will film the Ice Age videos.

The first video is released next week and Ice Age: Collision Course opens in Kiwi theatres on July 7 -- just in time for the school holidays.

Newshub.