A six-part television series was commissioned by Pertti Nättilä, the head of children's programming at Yle TV2 channel at the time. It premiered on Finnish television in December 20, 1978 on Pikku kakkonen (1977). A picture book "Suomalainen tonttukirja" (Otava, 1979) (English: The Book of Finnish Elves) was released from the same source material in autumn 1979. Both the series and the book are written and illustrated by Mauri Kunnas. Over 100 illustrations were made for the series (with only a few new ones for the book). Mauri Kunnas' wife, Tarja Kunnas, worked as a colorist in selected illustrations.
The Dutch book "Leven en werken van de kabouter" (Van Holkema & Warendorf, 1976) (English: Gnomes) by author Wil Huygen and illustrator Rien Poortvliet was published in Finland as "Suuri tonttukirja" (WSOY, 1978). Mauri Kunnas said that at the time many people believed that "Suomalainen tonttukirja" was a copy of the Dutch book. In fact, the television series "Tontut" was already made before the Dutch book was released in Finland.