T.D., Helen, and Alice are on a stage, but they can't decide what the vocabulary words are about — T.D. thinks the words are about entertainment, Helen thinks they're about painting, then Martha enters and reveals that the episode focuses on art in general.
In art class, Mr. Vadinchi the art teacher notices that Helen and T.D. have both painted animals, so he asks them if they want to participate in an art course at the zoo. Both are eager, so the next day (which is Saturday), Helen wakes up early and starts preparing. Martha is curious, so Helen explains, then lets her accompany her and T.D. (but not Skits, since he's still asleep).
When they get to the zoo, Helen and T.D. think that they will paint the animals, but it turns out the animals will do the painting instead, while the kids replace the paint cans. As the animals prepare start painting, Mr. Vadinchi reveals that the zoo is running low on money and they're running the course to raise money, and if it fails, the zoo would have to close down.
The animals do a bad job — the zebra keeps dropping the paintbrush (and then later runs away), the giraffe takes a bite out of the easel and eats Helen's paintbrush, the hippo paints the zookeeper's back instead of the paper, the ostrich buries its head in the sand, and Jeffy the elephant is too shy to paint more than a green splat. Martha, meanwhile, lets a bird borrow some paper. At the end, they get some paintings, but they're not very good ones, disappointing Mr. Vadinchi. The only one happy is the bird, who's still taking scrap paper.
On Monday in art school, T.D. tells Alice about the course, and Mr. Vadinchi reveals that they're trying again the next Saturday with other animals. However, the next Saturday, only Jeffy is given an easel because the rest of the animals destroyed the art supplies. When Mr. Vadinchi says, "It's all up to Jeffy!", this scares him, so he runs away. Then, the bird comes back for more paper.
Helen decides to have Martha ask Jeffy why he won't paint, so she does, and he reveals that he wants to, but is just too shy. So, the kids put a barrier around Jeffy, which apparently makes him confident enough to paint a very realistic painting.... until it's revealed that he didn't actually use any paint. When the zookeeper finds peanuts in the printer, it turns out that Jeffy cheated and used it. He then talks to Martha, who reveals that he wants to dance to save the zoo instead of painting.
So, he does dance, which ends up raising money, as does the bird, who turns out to have been using the pieces of paper to make a sculpture of Martha. The zookeeper and Mr. Vadinchi ask the bird if he can make more sculptures to make money, so he does.
This episode provides examples of
- Alliterative Title: Painting for Peanuts.
- Artsy Beret: Helen brings a beret to a painting class.
- Broke Episode: This episode follows the zoo desperately trying to make money before they're forced to close down.
- Chekhov's Gun: The pieces of paper the bird took end up being made into a sculpture.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The bird who took the pieces of paper is revealed at the end of the episode to have been using them to make a sculpture of Martha.
- Continuity Nod: When Helen is defining "participate" to Martha, she brings up when Martha participated in the school play (in "Martha Plays a Part") and the dog show (in "The Best in Show").
- Crying Critters: Jeffy cries when he gets busted pretending to have painted a picture that he didn't.
- Dramatic Irony: Mr. Vadinchi calls Helen's painting of Martha talking on the phone unrealistic.
- Extreme Omnivore: The giraffe eats the art supplies, as do several other animals, including the alligator.
- Hidden Depths: Jeffy and the bird seem like normal animals, but at the end, they're revealed to be able to dance and sculpt respectively.
- Hilarity in Zoos: We get gags like T.D. trying to draw zebra legs, the animals eating the art supplies, and Jeffy dancing.
- Innocently Insensitive: Mr. Vadinchi accidentally puts pressure on Jeffy by saying it's all up to him.
- Loud Gulp: Jeffy gulps when Helen discovers he used no paint.
- Not-So-Innocent Whistle: When trying to play innocent about the peanuts in the printer, Jeffy whistles.
- Offscreen Crash: The giraffe walks offscreen with Helen clinging onto its front legs, and then once it's offscreen, a crash is heard.
- Ostrich Head Hiding: The ostrich buries its head in the sand when startled by the zebra.
- Pun: Helen tells Jeffy that he saved the zoo "single-trunkedly".
- Running Gag:
- Martha keeps wanting to be a model for a painter.
- T.D. keeps enthusing about zebras.
- Speak in Unison: When Martha says that Jeffy wants to dance, the humans say, "Dance?!" in unison.
- Stock Animal Diet: Jeffy the elephant takes some peanuts.
- Unusual Pets for Unusual People: Discussed when T.D., upon hearing that the zoo animals may need to be rehomed, considers keeping the zebra and hippo.
- You Can Talk?: When Mr. Vadinchi first hears Martha speaking, he does a double take and says, "Your dog talks!?".
