Play School

- Season 28

(1993)

aka ep45.1 Benita and David make sand castles with wet and dry sand. They make a sand-timer with two plastic bottles to play a game. A variety of clocks are shown - watch, alarm clock, cuckoo clock and a pendulum clock. Benita and David play 'snap' with picture cards then sing songs according to the matching pictures. The story 'The Crocodile Hunt' is performed. Through the windows are different times of the day. The animation 'Hickory Dickory Dock' is shown.

Benita and James play a night and day game with a revolving wheel. They decorate the wheel with day and night pictures. A dressing up game is played. John joins them to perform the story 'Hurry Up Billy'. Through the windows it is sleepy time at a kindergarten. The animations 'Bananas in Pyjamas' and 'Hickory Dickory Dock' are shown. The toys are put to bed.

Benita and John look at some mice with their babies. John dresses up as a clock with a box clock face on his head. An animal babies matching game is played with a farmyard graphic. Through the windows the elderly are visited. The animations 'Mouse looking for a House' and 'Hickory Dickory Dock' are shown. The story is 'Jack's Basket' by Alison Catley.

Benita and John paint repeating patterns with stripes, spots, swirls and wiggles. They make swirling and wiggling body movements. Body movements are copied with a tambourine. Rhythmic sequences are made with the body, including tapping feet, thumping chest etc. Colin joins with his guitar to sing 'Old MacDonald' and 'Jump Down Turn Around'. John reads the story 'Rosie's Walk' by Pat Hutchins. An animation of 'Rosie's Walk' is shown on the Video Clock. The animation 'Hickory Dickory Dock' is shown. Through the windows it is lunchtime at a pre-school.

Benita and Carlton collect baby pictures. They make a cardboard box video and show the baby pictures. A game is played with a 'video' to music. When the music stops the baby on the 'video' is copied by the presenters. Carlton makes a seed picture. We see how mung bean seeds sprout. A mime is performed of a seed growing. The presenters play 'one potato' with the toys. Through the windows wheat is growing in time lapse. The animation 'Hickory Dickory Dock' is shown.

aka ep47.1 Making two babies: one from pantyhose and knee-hi stockings, the other from a pillow case. Making a carry cot for one baby from a cardboard box and a wooden rocking cradle for the second baby. The presenters drape material around to create a baby's bedroom. Jigsaw puzzle showing a baby in its mother's womb. The babies' nappies are changed and they are given names -- Neehi and Pila. The toys are given name tags. John makes a sponge baby and wraps it in a small towel.

The presenters care for the babies made on Monday. A father brings his baby to Play School and baths and dresses her. John acts out This Little Pig. Monica takes the babies out to the park. The babies are sung to sleep. The story of "Rock-a-Bye Baby" is acted out by the presenters. Through the Windows, The Wiggles perform a Concert.

Noni and John cook a carrot mush. Photographs of babies of different ages are shown eating. Noni makes a special Bird's Nest Lunch with spaghetti meat balls and carrot mush. The presenters perform a chook dance. A frog puppet show is put on using sock puppets. Noni takes the Play School babies to visit the zoo.

Elephant stamps using wooden blocks with elephant shapes (made with glue on string dipped in paint) create a frieze. Noni plays a peek-a-boo game with the toys. Philip adds a home-made mobile to the babies' room. Nappies are used to dress Philip as an elephant.

Using pictures, Noni shows the growth and development of babies. Pauline is a nurse and weighs babies. John and Noni weigh themselves. John matches baby animals with mothers in a box game. Pauline tells the story of "Dingo and Chicken in Spring".

Aka ep48.1 Noni and John play with clay and make a clay tea party. They make a bird mobile. Make a vegetable garden with a scarecrow. There is a pretend archaeological dig in the sand tray for the items they made earlier. The story is "Building a Home".

Making a 'mountain' with chairs and blocks, then covering with a green doona for summer and a white sheet for winter. Playing with toys on the 'mountain', swimming in the lake and skiing in 'winter'. Making chlorinated coloured then melting them on folded paper towel to make a butterfly painting. Make 'snowflakes' from paper doilies.

Land/sea game, using the floor as the sea and cushions for the land. Wax painting of sea creatures. A frog is made with a rectangular sponge. The eyes are made from golf tees and ping pong balls. A look at two live turtles. Make turtle from egg cartons segments.

Noni and John are cooking soup with vegetables and lentils. They play a matching game with picture cards. Shop play at a roadside vegetable stall. Make a huge pot of pretend soup, while singing "Stir up the pudding". The story is "It's a Perfect Day".

Noni and John play with stones, examine their shape and texture and then try to build towers with them. Noni and John make a kookaburra from a banksia and two leaves, a frill-neck lizard from a leaf and a stick and a koala from a banksia, leaves and a gumnut. Noni and John make a 'cave' with a sheet and some blocks. ON LOCATION: Benita is in the bush. She explores a cave, plays on a fallen log, has leaf races in a stream, compares the flotation of leaves and rocks, make a 'calendar' with sticks and stones, examine their shape and texture and then try to build towers ...

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Aka ep49.2 Noni and Philip create a large Music Box house. Philip discovers a smaller music box house inside the Surprise Box of the day. Inside the music box a dancer is revealed when the lid is opened. Noni and Philip dress up and dance in various national costumes. Philip creates 'Happy Hats' for himself and for the toys. Parade 'floats' are decorated and presenters and toys take part in a noisy street parade. The story 'Jess's Hat' is told. Through the windows are the Mardi Gras.

Benita and John plant flowers in a homemade planter box. John finds an earthworm. He then looks at some cicada skins, sticks them to his shirt and imitates the sound living cicadas make with their bodies. A Calico Pie Puppet Theatre is discovered inside the Surprise Box. Benita and John put on a puppet show using pipe cleaner puppets and singing 'Calico Pie'. Big Ted turns five and presenters and toys gather to celebrate with a play dough birthday cake. Through the windows is a birthday party. The story is 'Surprise Box' by Nicki Weis.

Philip makes a 'Trick Box' for Noni which contains a Jack-in-a-Box paper snake. He discovers a set of Babushka dolls inside the Surprise Box. Noni makes lots of sounds with a 'noisy necklace'. Philip creates a three sided box puppet. Noni becomes an elephant, an echidna and a kookaburra and greets the puppet. Through the windows puppets are made at Bounding Away Puppets in Forster. The story is called 'Echidna'.

Benita and John make a cave out of boxes. John discovers Little Ted in the Calendar Box with a pair of wings. John helps Benita to imagine a Dragon while she draws it. Benita discovers metal bits and pieces and some magnets in the Surprise Box. She uses them to create a train shape and a person standing on one leg. John becomes 'Mr Metal Man' and Benita attracts him with a huge pretend magnet. Benita and John take a ride in a cardboard box train. Through the windows there are railway fettlers. The story 'The Spaghetti Dragon' is performed.

Aka ep50.1 Every day this week, we see Philip at a playground singing the song 'Hey There What Will You Wear?'. Monica and John make dolls' clothes from thin kitchen cloth and paper napkins. They make a doll's wardrobe from a cardboard box and recycled underwear hangers. Humpty is sick in bed. The presenters play a guessing game muddling up pairs of shoes and hiding one pair to guess which one is missing. Through the windows shoes are being made. The story is 'Keep Me Company' by Gillian Rubinstein and illustrated by Lorraine Hannay.

Aka 50.2 Monica and John make people from mops. They transform a recycled shower curtain into a sari. They prepare Indian food - mango lassi and banana accompaniment. Through the windows is ballroom dancing. The story is 'Amber's Other Grandparents' by Peter Bonnici and illustrated by Lisa Kopper.

Aka 50.3 Monica and John make a textured Australian landscape collage using sandpaper, feathers, corrugated cardboard buttons and a shoe lace. Pauline performs the story of 'The Dingo, the Chicken and the Snake'. The presenters all sing 'I am the man in the Wellington Boots'. Through the windows clothes are being recycled at Wesley Central Mission. The presenters make snakes with socks, rubber gloves and by stuffing old clothes into a fabric tube. The fabric tube snake is transformed into a doll and dressed in recycled clothing.

Aka 50.4 Monica and John make a flower mural by squirting spray paint onto damp calico. They make a dinosaur from a watering can, a paper bag and some pegs. John wears a green fabric 'cocoon' and becomes a caterpillar. John plays with Little Ted on a slippery dip. Through the windows is a butterfly house. The animation 'Spot Song' is shown. The story of 'Spike the Dinosaur' is performed.

Aka 50.5 Monica and Colin make play dough with silver glitter, then use cookie cutters to cut moon and star shapes. They use these shapes to make a moon and star man. They experiment to show some materials which are absorbent and some which are water repellent. Colin is a weather man and plays a television weather report dressing up game with Monica. Ted is dressed in different kinds of clothes for different weathers. The story is 'The Moon's Overcoat' by Donald Bisset. Through the windows is a montage of water dripping.

Aka 51.1 Monica and Colin play a 'feely game' attempting to identify a number of household goods just by touch or feel. Monica rides a motorcycle constructed from cardboard cylinders, dish mops and garbage bin lids. Monica makes a 'Doily Dolly' with two fingers for legs, a paper doily with a hole in the centre for the skirt and a scrunchy for hair. Her face and shoes are drawn with a washable texta. Colin examines the sensation of paint on fingers. 'Doily Dolly' then dances in the paint. The glove puppet film 'One Day a Hand Went Walking' is shown. Through the windows...

Aka 51.2 Monica and Colin play a shadow game with a sheet hung and back lit. They take turns going behind the sheet, putting on different types of clothing. The other presenter then guesses what clothes the other has put on just from their shadow. Sofya joins in a clothes game with different items of clothing, using the rules of 'Twister'. They then race to see who can put on the most clothes before the music stops. Fingertips of two woolen gloves are stuffed with cotton wool then ties with a twist are tied to the fingertips to create five heads. Wool is sewn on for ...

Aka 51.3 Nick follows a trail of cut out cardboard hands. He finds Noni at the end of the trail. Noni traces around Nick's hand and cuts it out. Three more hands are stuck on a vertical board - one right way up, one upside down and one at the top of two existing columns of hands. They then draw around these hand shapes to create a 'tree', a 'jelly fish' and 'sulphur crested cockatoo'. A live cockatoo visits the studio. Nick dresses as a lion - with a shredded paper mane and a pantyhose tail. Noni and Nick play a hiding game with the toys. The glove puppet film 'One ...

Aka 51.4 Monica and Colin make goop. They explore this and then make goop paintings by dribbling goop onto black cardboard. Monica makes a caterpillar by putting a stocking on her arm and then sliding an egg carton, split longways, in underneath it. A garden scene painted on a large cardboard sheet has a hole for Monica's caterpillar arm to go through. Colin takes the guise of a rose, a sunflower and finally a cabbage which has another caterpillar under its leaves. Through the windows a baby has a massage. The glove puppet film 'One Day a Hand Went Walking' is shown. ...

Aka 51.5 Monica ties a blindfold on Colin and he has to find her using only ears and hands. Colin stumbles upon Big Ted and Max, who is playing keyboard. At the end of the game, Colin puts his arms under Monica's arms so it looks like she has his arms, and they sing 'Such a Shaking of the Hands'. Colin explores playing with and attempts to make something on a potters wheel. Monica is a ball of clay and Colin mimes moulding her into a person. Monica closely examines the physical properties other hands - joints, knuckles, palms etc. The glove puppet film 'One Day a Hand...

Aka 52.1 Trisha and Colin make a 'Body Box' by drawing various parts of the body on different sides of a cardboard box. They use the box to play a game. Trisha discovers paper, seeds and sand in the picnic basket and makes some 'currant buns'. Colin creates 'Penny Plate', a puppet, out of paper plates and a paper bag. He feeds her some paper noodles, using chopsticks.

Aka 52.2 Philip and Trisha create a farm. Trisha makes all sorts of vegetables out of socks stuffed with paper. Later the vegetables are sold in an open air market. The presenters play a matching game with pictures of animals and the food the animals make. Philip makes 'Banana Snow'. He discovers jars of pretend honey in the picnic basket for a Teddy Bear's picnic. The presenters perform the story of "Belinda the Cow".

FILMED ON LOCATION AT TARONGA ZOO. Aka 52.3 John, Trisha and Colin go to Taronga Zoo. John catches the Safari ride up to meet the others. They visit the elephants, help prepare the food, feed the chimpanzees, see the spider monkeys, the Kodiak bears, giraffes, a tortoise and various topiary animals. John watches a seal show and Trisha meets a couple of orphaned baby ringtail possums. And lots more animals. The presenters perform the story of "The Roo and the Tortoise".

Aka 52.4 Colin and Trisha make a damper. Trisha creates a 'Fabulous Flying Machine' for Jim and Lisa. Colin makes colourful balloon prints and Trisha uses the shapes he has created and a texta to draw some pictures. They sample the damper with butter and jam.

Aka 52.5 Philip makes frozen fruit pops, and Noni makes a pasta picture of focaccia bread (and covers it with other things that are good to eat). Philip and 'the Old Grey Cat' chase Noni 'the Little Mouse' all around the house. Noni and Bananas in Pyjamas go to a restaurant. Philip is the waiter.

Aka 53.1 Monica and Nick pack items for the beach into Big Ted's case and he is driven to the beach. Monica shows different kinds of bags. The animation of 'Bags' is shown. Monica makes a 'flutter ball' from material and ribbons. Marbles are rolled in fluorescent paint and used to make a painting. A boat is made from a cardboard box with a rolled newspaper mast. The sail is winched up with an egg beater. Through the windows are earth movers and a sand pit. The story is 'Me and My Holiday' by Denis Burt with photographs by Haworth Bartram.

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Aka 53.3 Monica and Philip make a wheel barrow from a box and large spool wheel. They load blocks and Humpy then move them to another place to build a wall for Humpty Dumpty. Little Ted is given a pack-sack, a hat and boots. Then Monica helps him climb over the block mountain. Philip hides under a cover and changes into different animals. Little Ted is tucked into the wheel barrow and rocked to sleep. The animation 'I'm a Little Teapot' is shown. Through the windows there are pandas. The story is 'Tom and Pippo in the Garden' by Helen Oxenbury.

Aka 53.4 Benita and Jeremy create the 'bear hunt' environment from mud paint, cardboard, paper and an old sheet. For the story they perform 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'. Jeremy looks at a marionette puppet then Benita dances a puppet made from boxes, string and a coat-hanger. Jemima has string tied to her arms and legs and becomes a marionette. She is moved through the bear hunt environment. Through the windows puppets are made. The animation 'Dingle Dangle Scarecrow' is shown.

Aka 53.5 Benita and Jeremy roll different round objects down a slope. They make a wagon for the toys out of a box. The wheels are attached with an axle so they can be steered around a 'roller coaster' route. Jeremy uses noisy instruments for singing in the kitchen. They look at a Jack in the Box. A train is made from the wagon, a basket and a wheel barrow. The train is pulled around the roller coaster route. Through the windows is a toy train. The story is 'The Little Wagon'.

Aka 54.1 Trisha and Colin use a broom, gumboot, newspaper and tape to make a hobby horse which is ridden around. A pinball game is made from a polystyrene board with blunt nails and ping pong balls. Toys are put under a quilt. Presenters guess which toy is which from the shape. Through the windows there are tunnels and hoops. The story is 'Lucy and Tom's Day' by Shirley Hughes.

Aka 54.2 Benita and George play a game of skittles with plastic bottles. The bottle skittles are then blown over. The presenters make a huge roly poly ball out of sheets and towels and cushions stuffed into a doona cover. The toys are dressed in numbered shirts, and used for a team game. Through the windows children play football at Leichhardt Festival. The story is 'I Wanna Play Football'.

Aka 54.3 Trisha and Colin spin a bottle with the toys for a game. A spinning top is made from a paper plate with a spiral painted on. The toys are set up in a line for a game of leapfrog. A live rabbit visits. The story is 'James and the Rain' by Karla Kuskin. Through the windows there are goslings which hatch from eggs.

Aka 54.4 Benita and George skip then use the rope to make shapes. A game is played with rope buried in sand. The rope is then used to make a material picture. 'You Can Stamp Your Feet' is sung for a freeze game. The toys are placed on things on wheels for a race game. Through the windows is a Guatemalan Horse Race. The story of 'Roberta the Robot' is drawn.

Aka 54.5 Trisha and Colin make a board game of the sea. Magnets featuring the toys sail across the game board in boats. They make a picture out of food. They play the game 'Simon Says'. The animation 'Here is the Sea' is shown. Through the windows games are played with a parachute. The story is 'Koro's Story' by Teko Shibata.