Play School

- Season 15

(1980)

aka ep157.1 Benita and John put up some photographs and pictures children have sent in to Play School. They sing 'What Do You Think My Name Is?'. A small video camera has been set up with a recorder. Benita shows the camera and records John making Humpty fall off his wall. They then fix up a microphone so that the sounds John makes can be recorded also. Benita shows how the zoom lens on the camera works - sometimes Humpty can seem to be very close, sometimes far away. She records John and Humpty doing 'Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall'. Benita has photographs of the toys. ...

aka ep157.2 John finishes making an old fashioned sailing ship out of wood with paper sails. He sails it in a water tray, which has a rock island in the middle and sings 'Two Little Boats are on the Sea'. He reads the story of Penny the Pirate. He puts on a pirate eyepatch and sings 'A Pirate went to Sea Sea Sea'. Through the windows Noni and Mervyn prepare to make the story of 'Penny the Pirate' into a television program. Noni looks at the equipment and people needed to make the program, and looks through a camera to show how it can make the pirate ship appear very ...

aka ep157.3 William, a red setter, is in the studio. He is groomed and his photograph is taken. Photographs of Benita and John are on the board. Benita looking as if she is crying. They sing 'Cry Cry Cry if you Feel You Want To' then 'Swim swim swim' etc. John feeds the goldfish, and the mice and sings the nursery rhyme 'three blind mice'. Benita sings 'Hey Diddle Diddle' - a nursery rhyme with a dog in it. There is a cartoon of 'Old Mother Hubbard'. Benita makes William, the dog, do some obedience training then gives him a bone. She sings the song 'There Once was a ...

aka ep157.4 Benita, John H and John W are joined by Warren and Don in Play School today. Benita and John H show their TV kitchen, which is made of painted canvas and wood but looks real. They make up an ad for breakfast cereal. Benita then shows that people can be made to look as if they're flying on TV by means of a trick. She flies like Superman, then she makes Ted disappear and reappear again. He is there all the time, but like the flying, this is a TV trick. The story takes place in a hospital - the three presenters are playing a soap-opera type story. Then, John ...

aka ep157.5 Benita and John put up some pictures children have done of things they have seen on TV. Benita goes to a television studio to see how a television program is made. It is the weather program, and the ABC weather man shows her how he makes the program and talks to the big camera. John sings 'I Hear Thunder'. The story is a TV story. Humpty plays the part of Norm, a TV viewer, and Benita and John make up various TV programs for Norm to see. They have a cardboard box cut so that the screen side is open. It has a slit above the screen so that pictures painted ...

aka ep158.1 Benita makes a picture frame by nailing four bits of wood at corners. John creates a paper collage picture from bits of torn paper. Before framing collage John poses in empty frame as various animals. We guess which one and participate in actions. The song of the week 'Take a Box' is sung. Benita sings 'How Does a Butterfly Go' with full body actions. The clock says half past 11. John makes up a story to match a sequence of five picture cards. By altering the sequence he creates different stories to match them. He makes pictures by tearing out paper shapes...

Benita and Alister make collage pictures of each other with wool and material off-cuts. The song of the week is sung. The picture of Benita resembles a gypsy. Benita does a gypsy dance. The picture of Alister resembles a cowboy so Alister sings the 'Cowboy Song'. They play a game of crazy dress ups. The clock is at 9 o'clock. The story is about a caterpillar who finds a home, told with sock puppets. Benita does a foot painting, her foot jiggles lead to Alister doing the Hokey Pokey. Through the windows are ballet exercises and dance. Benita does 'ballet' for ...

aka ep158.3 Benita and Alister make a picture with leaves, bark et al. They sing the Song of the Week 'Take a ...'. Benita shows us an echidna. Alister invites participation with an 'Echidna' finger play. Benita does rock drawing and shows us rock paintings. The clock says twelve o'clock. The story is 'Lizzie the Lizard', told with instant drawings. Alister plays a didgeridoo and Benita paints a cardboard cylinder didgeridoo. with paint made from grinding rocks. They make up clapping rhythm. Through the windows an Aboriginal person teaches children the tradition of ...

Benita and Alister play skipping games, chant skipping songs and make up new ones. They act out the song One Little Elephant. The clock reads eight o'clock. The story is 'Sh ptt pen' told as pen draws dots and lines. Alister paints the drawings from the story, saying appropriate limericks. Benita shows us children's pictures and wall murals. Through the windows children are playing in a playground with murals. Benita leads hopping to song 'Hoppity hoppity'. Alister makes a picture with nails and string. They sing the song of the week 'Take a ...'.

OUTSIDE BROADCAST at Pymble Play Group. aka ep158.5 Benita and Alister introduce themselves singing 'What Do You Think My Name Is?' and give the children name tags. Then they join in activities with the children. Benita does a painting of a house and sings 'Here's a House'. Alister and the children build a sandcastle, turn it into a hill and use it to sing 'The Grand Old Duke of York'. They bulldoze the hill into a road. Alister and the children join the mothers for morning tea. Benita tells a story with the toys about Humpty's birthday. Alister and the children make ...

aka ep159.1 Jan and John look at pictures of families sent into Play School. John sings 'How Many People Live in Your House'. Jan makes a 'family' of finger puppets using thin boxes and cotton wool hair, newspaper cut-out limbs, etc. In an imaginative play sequence the 'boy' puppet wakes the 'baby' puppet to the mothers chagrin. He feels angry. We stamp to the tune of 'If You're Happy and You Know It'. That feels better. We jump and feel happy. The story is 'Birthday Presents' in which Joseph's grandfather gives him a song. We sing 'Sing Me' with actions - jumping, ...

aka ep159.2 Jan and John put 'people' cut-outs around the calendar. Poem of the week 'People' is recited. Jan shows pictures of people who might visit your house - garbage man, milkman, paper boy, postman. John dresses as postman and sings with actions 'I Can Hear the Postman'. He delivers letters to Jan's 'house' then becomes successively the milkman, the paper boy and the garbage man. Sings 'Garbage Man' with actions. Jan introduces people who do jobs in the house, as a guessing game - a painter, a carpenter and a plumber. Through the windows a plumber is at work. ...

aka ep159.3 Noni and John tend the Play School pets. Water for the mice, weed for the fishtank. John sings 'All the fish'. Noni sees if mice want their wheel. John brushes and feeds the guinea pigs. Calendar leads to the Poem of the Week 'People'. We look particularly at the farmer, sing 'Old MacDonald' with actions. Noni introduces our visitor, a donkey, and brushes him. Song 'Donkey Riding' is sung with actions. The story is 'Sam Who Never Forgets', about a zoo keeper. John then sings 'Elephant Wobbles' with participation. He becomes a monkey and a lion. Through the...

aka ep159.4 Noni and John make masks from newspaper. Noni decides hers makes her look like a blob. She 'blobs' about to the tune 'Did You Ever See a Lassie'. John is rather the hairy monster with strip-paper hair. He adds a beard and becomes 'Aiken Drum' (singing with actions). The poem of the week 'People' is recited. Pictures of different people around Calendar lead us to 'Two Fat Gentlemen'. The story is 'The Workman' in which John tries changing himself to be different sizes and shapes to suit different jobs. Noni sings 'Changes' with participation. John changes ...

aka ep159.5 Noni and John put up 'people' cut outs around the calendar. The poem of the week 'People' is recited. John shows a photo of of his family. Noni sings 'Ha ha Thisaway' with actions. John makes a mobile with paper plates, drawing on faces of people ion his family. Noni plays with a finger pencil. Noni plays 'Here is a family'. The story is 'My Family'. John picks up the story actively in 'Let's Go Walking' extending participation game with pictures of animal family groups (e.g. Horse, mare, fowl). 'I said Good Morning' is sung with sound participation. ...

aka ep160.1 Jan and John unload junk (old tyres, pram wheels, wooden boxes, broken bikes, buckets, chairs, etc) off a truck to be used in Play School during the week. After the Calendar, the Song of the Week is sung over film of a steam train, and repeated for participation. John nails the pram wheels on a wooden box to make a pram. He sings 'The Little Red Wagon' and takes toys for a ride to 'mountains' made from junk by Jan. The clock says eight thirty. The story is 'The Happy Man and His Dump Truck' told by Jan. John sings 'A Squeaky Old Truck' and turns the wagon ...

aka ep160.2 Jan and John add yoghurt lid and cotton reel 'wheels' to the Calendar surround. John makes several wheels spin at once by using rubber bands to connect them. John sings the Song of the Week 'Wheels Keep Turning' over film. John and Jan play a sound game making sounds with pebbles in a bottle, and a spoon on a plastic colander and a grater. The clock reads half past seven. The story of 'The Contraption' (made with junk) is told by John and acted out by Jan who dresses up with a mop wig, funny glasses and silly shoes to be 'Professor Sillyfool'. John mimes a...

aka ep160.3 Jan and John watch Henry the mouse on the mouse wheel. Jan sings the Song of the Week 'Wheels Keep Turning' over the film of a steam train and repeats the song for the child to join in. Jan shows a mouse family with babies and does fingerplay. The clock is at 2 o'clock. The story is 'Amy's Birthday' acted out by Jan and John using the toys. Jan sings 'If You're Happy and You Know It'. John changes Baby Little Ted's nappy and takes him for a walk in a pram made by Jan (from wooden box, pram wheels and a stick handle). Jan shows parts of pictures of wheeled ...

aka ep160.4 Jan and John show photographs of old fashioned wheeled vehicles. Jan sings 'In the Olden Days'. John attempts to ride a Pennyfarthing bicycle and then goes for a ride on a modern bike. Jan does bike riding mime. The clock says 8 o'clock. John reads the story 'The Bike Lesson'. Jan does bike riding mime then John plays a game using a spinning paper plate wheel with drawings of a bus, boat, aeroplane and train. An arrow is pinned to the board above the plate. John does the sound and action of whatever drawing stops at the arrow. he then sings 'I'd Like to ...

aka ep160.5 Jan and John play a game of finding out what things roll and what things slide using junk collected during the Play School week. Jan sings the Song of the Week 'Wheels Keep Turning' over the film of a steam train and repeats the song for the child to join in. John uses junk to make a cubby house. He and Jan play a hidings game with the toys. John sings 'Five in the Bed' as a finger play. Jan has some pictures, each of which has something wrong. The child is invited to 'guess what's wrong with the picture'. Jan moves about on all fours, thumps her chest and...

aka ep161.1 John W makes a scarecrow (broom and old clothes) and John H makes a hobby horse (broom, with boot head and newspaper mane). He sings 'Giddiap' with participation. We look at Bruegel's picture of Children's Games, noting the hobby horse and the blind man's buff game. John H blindfolds John W who has to identify objects by feeling them (various toys, a hobby horse). They sing 'I Went to Visit a Farm One Day'. John W tell the story 'The Lonely Scarecrow'. John H sings 'When all the Cows were Sleeping', leading to full body activities of shaking and jumping ...

aka ep161.2 Benita and Alister play a game with old clothes (who can put on the most clothes while the other counts to ten). We look at dressing up games in the Bruegel picture of children's games (e.g. King's and Queens). Alister, wearing old curtain 'train', sings 'I am the King'. Benita takes over the curtain and 'dresses' as a 'monster' singing 'I am a Monster', a 'camel' and a 'baby'. We guess each character and participation is invited each time. Alister dresses up for the story, 'Hiccups', sings 'The Hiccup Song' and invites participation in ways to get rid of ...

aka ep161.3 Benita and Alister feed the Play School pets. Benita sings 'Swim Little Fish' with actions. Alister looks at Bruegel's Children's Games noting the children playing with knucklebones taken from the ends of legs of lamb. Alister invites the child to feel various bones - leg, knee, chest, jaw, nose. Benita feels the bone in her elbow move as she moves her arm, then moves other parts of her body. Alister shows a frog's skeleton and a cow's skull. Both sing 'Them Bones'. The story is 'Flippy the Frog', told with stick puppets. Alister sings 'Five Little ...

aka ep161.4 Benita and Alister practise 'tricks'. Benita balances on her hands and Alister balances a broom on his hand. There are children in the picture Children's Games doing similar tricks. We participate in more tricks while they sing 'What Can You Do, Punchinello, Little Fellow?'. The story is 'Circus'. Benita plays first a circus ringmaster, then certain 'participants' - a horse and a seal, then the 'Lovely Miss Benita'. Alister plays a dog trainer and an elephant. He tries twirling a hoop around his waist. How else to use a hoop? Make a hoop mobile and hang up...

aka ep161.5 Benita and Alister play a blow skittles game, blowing over plastic bottles. There are children playing Skittles in Bruegel's Children's Games. They blow bubbles. Benita uses a straw and a bowl of soapy water; Alister uses a bubble mixture. Benita sings 'Bubbles, Bubbles in the Air'. Alister experiments with noises, smacking his lips, whistling and whistling through his teeth. Benita blows into a small plastic lolly container, makes a hooting sound. they become a train. The train line is a length of rope. The story is 'Follow this Line'. Benita sings '...

aka ep162.1 John and Benita make a bed for Hamble out of a shoebox with brown paper bag, mattress and scrap material cover. John gets Hamble ready for bed: action song 'This is the Way' is sung. Hamble is bathed, dried, her teeth cleaned and her hair brushed. 'This Little Boy' is sung. We see pictures of different kinds of bed - brass bed, cot, soft bed, child's bed and making a bed. John makes a bed using two large boxes. Benita mimes 'Grandmother' putting him to bed. John makes a cubby house for his bed, using a blanket draped between two chairs. Sings 'Here's a ...

aka ep162.2 Noni and John are make hospital in Play School. They make high hospital beds using cartons on top of each other. John makes a hospital bed with wheels using a laundry basket and trolley. They use cushions and towels for mattresses and sheets. John uses an ice cream stick for a thermometer. The toys are the 'patients' and are put to bed. Pictures show various types of hospital beds. They sing 'I Feel Sick'. John dresses as the nurse with back to front white shirt. Noni dresses as doctor and uses string and cotton reel 'stethoscope', and pencil box 'beeper' ...

aka ep162.3 Benita and Alister are looking after the guinea pigs, Jack and Jill. Benita makes a bed for them using a shoe box and newspaper strips. Benita introduces Targus, a black Labrador. He has the mat he sleeps on. She brushes him, then gets him to sit and lie down. They sing My Dog Bill. Alister makes a kennel for Targus using a wooden crate and hammers on a roof. 'Johnny Works With One Hammer' is sung. Targus gets in the kennel. Pictures show a cat sleeping in a box, koala asleep in a tree and baby birds in a nest. 'I Have Made a Pretty Nest' is recited. There...

aka ep162.4 Noni and John make a water bed for Little Ted using hot water bottles and a cardboard box. There is a bouncing action song. John blows up a sausage balloon as the pillow for the water bed. Noni puts more toys in the bed and sings 'Five in the Bed', and repeats it as a finger play. Pictures show various travelling beds on train, caravan, sailing boat and reclining aeroplane seats. John makes water bed into a flying bed, removing water bottles and attacching news paper wings. 'I Can Fly Like a Bird' is sung. The story is The Procession. Noni plays a trumpet,...

OUTSIDE BROADCAST at a Campsite aka ep162.5 Play School is at a camping spot beside a river with a tent. Benita blows up her airbed and John blows his up with a foot pump. He hops in sleeping bag then puts it and air beds in the tent. He points out tent's features - window, ground sheet, then he zips the tent shut. Benita throws an air ball and plays, bouncing, rolling and throwing it. Benita gets pre-boiled sausages from hamper and sets barbecue. John puts salad etc. on a picnic table, then goes to riverside and feeds the ducks. He then tries the hammock. Benita ...

John and Noni are making decorations for a party in Play School. Noni makes bunting from material and paper scraps. John blows up a balloon then mimes it for child participation. He then draws Humpty's features on a balloon and says that it's going to be Humpty's party. Noni stamps potato print designs on the invitations for the party. 'Stamp' is sung with John stamping his feet, his fists on his knees then on his hand. The story is 'Dandelion'. The song 'If You're Happy and You Know it' with clapping hands, laughing and jumping. Noni puts ice cream stick 'candles', ...

aka ep163.2 John and Noni are choosing clothes for different weather conditions. John chooses T-shirt, bathers etc for hot weather; Noni fur coat, wooly hat, etc, cold weather. John pretends to be at the beach. Song 'Rolling All Around'. John sunbathes and sings 'Lazy and Warm'. Noni 'shivering' does various exercises trying to get warm, including running on the spot. 'I Can Run as Fast as You'. Then she dresses appropriately. John dresses up the toys in various clothes and asks child to guess what jobs they do. Little Ted is a lifesaver, Big Ted a football trainer ...

aka ep163.3 Noni and John are looking after the Play School cockatoo. John gives him water, Noni gives him an apple core, they encourage him to say 'hello'. They sing 'Hello Cocky'. Through the windows an Albatross courtship dance is shown. Action follows. John and Noni then become various animals - including dog, a lamb, and they send each other animal messages. A finger play of 'Five Little Ducks' is done. John mimes an angry cat, Noni calms him down then calls her 'dog' by whistling. They sing 'Dogs'. The story is 'Whistle for Willie'. They sing 'If You're Happy ...

aka ep163.4 Benita and John are making secret messages using candles on paper. They paint over them to reveal each message, then act on the message. John has the word 'Thursday' and finds it on the calendar. Benita runs to 'Everybody Do This'. Benita has a message for the viewer. It is someone bending over. John takes off shirt and Benita draws things on his back - different kinds of lines, sad and happy faces, they sing 'If You're Happy and You Know It' with 'Happy' verses including smiles, grins and laughs and a 'sad' cry verse. Benita finally draws a clock. The ...

aka ep163.5 Noni and John play with phones: a toy wooden one and an old publicpay phone they make a booth for it. They sing 'Ring Ring' with jokes. John finds out how to make a tin can phone with tins and fishing line. He uses it to talk to Noni. Noni makes tin can shakers, filling tins with rice, pebble and bottle tops. Then she makes 'bells' using tins and nails. John makes a big tin into a drum and they play together. 'Alexander's Ragtime Band' song is performed. The story is a dramatisation of a boy who loses his voice. The song 'Everybody Do This' is sung with ...

aka ep167.1 Noni and John dress up the toys to go out. They sing 'What Shall We Do When We All Go Out'. Noni says they're going shopping and John invites them to come to his Surprise Shop. Noni and the toys catch a cardboard box bus to John's shop, singing 'Wheels are Going Round'. Through the windows a mother and daughter catch a suburban bus. After, Noni sings 'Wheels of the Bus' with actions. John gets his Surprise Shop ready, wrapping up objects. Noni and the toys come to his shop and buy some of the wrapped surprises, a hat for Humpty, ball for Little Ted and a ...

aka ep167.2 Noni and John make a motorcycle out of a large cardboard box, broomstick 'handlebars' and garbage can lid 'wheels'. John sits on bike and sings song of the week. Noni comes in with toys and decides there's not enough room on the bike for them so she builds a sidecar. We see some photos of a modern motorcycle sidecar. Noni sings song of the week as she and the toys leave on the bike to visit 'Mr Wobble's Wig Place'. John is dressing up as Mr Wobble with a curly paper wig, pillow tied round his stomach and large coat, then sings 'Wibbly Wobbly Walk'. He has ...

aka ep167.3 Colin is drawing animal shapes while Noni selects appropriate coverings. Then they paste feathers on the bird shape, fleeces on the sheep and string on the horse for its tail. Noni gallops about to song of the week then she jogs and dances. Colin tries to play a small violin. He shows the strings and bow then plays a cassette of a violin playing 'The Blue Danube Waltz'. The story is 'Mishka' about a boy violin player who joined the circus. Colin sings 'The Circus is Coming' with drums, violin, elephants and lion actions. Noni introduces Allan, a lion cub ...

aka ep167.4 Colin is painting a flag for the spaceship Noni goes to make. He sings the 'Spot Song'. Noni is covering their spaceship (a paddle pool with portable clothes dryer) with streamers. Colin brings in the flag and collecting Space Captain Diddle and Space Bears Big Ted and Little Ted, they try to blast off. Then Noni decides they're too heavy and gets out. Noni mimes a rocket blasting off and swooshes around to rocket music. She ends next to Play School Rocket Clock. The story is 'Meg on the Moon' about Meg the witch and Mog the cat who go off in their ...

OUTSIDE BROADCAST at Central Railway Station, SYDNEY. aka ep167.5 Noni and John are at the station to see off some friends. The friends are the family of Warren, the Play School pianist. While waiting for them to arrive, John and Noni buy platform tickets to watch the Southern Aurora pull into the station. John sees the luggage van unloaded and the passengers getting off. Noni looks at the train's engine then is joined by John after he's ridden along the platform on a station diesel trolley. They buy an orange drink and look about inside the station, where people wait...

John and Noni make claybake Christmas decorations.

John and Noni make a nativity scene.

John and Benita decorate a Christmas cake.

The presenters head to Bronte Beach in Sydney to celebrate Christmas in the sun. Colin and John arrive with a basket and esky of food for a Christmas picnic. Alister cuts a Christmas cake and all the presenters sing We Wish You a Merry Christmas accompanied by Don on guitar.

John and Noni make a bits and pieces car. Holidays are the theme of the day.