Play School

- Season 29

(1994)

Aka ep55.1 Monica and Nick create an environment from old newspaper. They make paper rocks and plants. A large tree is also made by stacking cardboard boxes, with painted, scrunched up balls of old newspaper stuck on for foliage. An owl and wombat are made by rolling up sheets of newspaper. Monica makes a paper person by folding two separate sheets of newspaper, using one for the body and the other as arms. Monica wears paper clothes and a paper hat. Nick paints these clothes bright colours using a roller. Colin is on location visiting some joeys.

A 'Pile of Junk' is the focus of the program. Monica and Nick will make various things from its contents until all the junk is used. A 'worm garden' is made from an old ladder and an old piece of carpet. The presenters put socks on their hands and they become 'sock warmers'. Monica dresses up as a slug, using an old silver jersey tube for the body and headband with ping pong balls as antennae. Nick rides on a real bike wearing authentic bike safety clothes. Monica makes a carousel for the toys from an old swivel stool and a bicycle wheel harnessing the toys with ...

John and Monica paint a large ocean mural using rollers. Monica paints cardboard fish with fluorescent paint and sticks them onto the mural. Monica and John dramatise an underwater story about an octopus' garden. Some land and tree is added to the ocean mural. A cardboard whale, bird and kangaroo are placed in their appropriate environments within the mural. John wears black flippers and is wrapped in a quilt to become a whale, using a party whistle as a spout. Colin is on location looking at rockpools.

Monica and David use a special tree with opening doors to chant the verse 'This is the tree where owl lives' and discover different animals co-existing in the tree. Monica, David and Max sing "Three Owls". Monica goes on a tree hunt, discovering David being different trees. A pipe cleaner spider and pipe cleaner ants are placed in the web. Paper leaves are dropped in autumnal fashion around the tree. David dresses up in a hat and green gloves with green streamers suspended from them to become a hokey pokey tree. Colin is on location and looks at a Scribbly Gum then ...

Monica and David fill a paddling pool. The make a snail boat from balsa wood, a chop-stick and an old piece of wrapping paper and a row boat from milk carton cut in half with straws for the oars. Monica places a battery operated motor boat in the pool. David dresses up as a solar car. Monica has a cardboard sun and cloud that dictate whether the solar car will stop or go. Monica does a drawing depicting the sun as a source of energy for the world. Monica dresses as a ' jitterbug ' for a jitterbug dance. Mangroves are constructed using cardboard boxes and old bits of ...

Aka 56.1 Play School mail is opened and discussed. The presenters make an envelope and stamp around the edge with blue and red prints. They write a letter and post it in a cardboard letter box. Monica wraps herself in paper and pretends to be a parcel; Colin guesses which object is underneath several large wrapped parcels. Picture postcards are used to play a game of snap. A shoe box train delivers the toys and the mail to the appropriate station. Monica tells the story of "Tessie visits Grandma".

Monica and Colin cook a sand cake and bake it in a cardboard box oven. Sofya joins in a polite tea party with the toys. A mime game guessing a teapot, a tube of toothpaste and a rocket. Sock puppets are used for a play about walking in the rain. Thunder and rain sounds are made from sand and stone on a tin foil plate, then by feet and hands.

A spinning wheel is used for two games: 'How do we get there?' (plane, train, boat) and 'Where does this animal live?' (mountains, desert, jungle) Noni flies a cardboard box plane, which David checks over at the airport terminal. The presenters play a luggage game: What do I put in my suitcase. Noni and David perform the story of "Danny and the Donkey".

Making a cardboard bus with cut out windows for the toys to travel to 3 different 'lands', spottyland, strip land and swirly land. Taking turns to help create a modelling clay monster. Making a Ning Nang Nong 'land' for the modelling clay monster.

Making cardboard box scales and balancing paper clips then small bottles. George becomes a seesaw with a basket of toys on each hand. Noni balances the toys. Creating a miniature playground for plastic bottle people. Non's cardboard box car needs attention at the garage. What is making all the noise? Selling at a fruit market. Crepe paper fruit and vegetables are sold and carried away.

Aka ep57.1 Trisha and Jeremy draw a house and then put furniture inside, for the magnetic toys to live in. They sing 'There's a Bear in There'. The presenters make a miniature garden out of twigs, pebbles and flowers. Through the windows there is a treasure hunt in a garden. The story is 'The Weird Things in Nanna's House' by Ann Maree Mason.

Benita and Jeremy tidy up the toy's clothes and sort them into boxes, ready for moving. They make pancakes. The toys pack their boxes into a removal box and go visiting. Through the windows Trisha is moving house with her daughter. The animation 'I'm a Little Teapot' is shown. The story of 'Milford the Meticulous' is performed.

Benita and Jeremy make fish from hand and feet shapes, decorating them. A snail is made from a fist shape. Bit and Bot the fish are in the studio, along with a water snail. Picture signs are read to find out where to go. Through the windows two children write a letter to their grandmother and post it. The story is 'The Best Nest' by P.D.Eastman.

Trisha and Colin make a cubby house from a cardboard box. The presenters and toys tap and guess who is 'at the window', while singing 'Who's that tapping at the window?'. The toys have a cubby house. They are moved over each time to make room for another toy. Little Ted, Big Ted and Maurice are used to perform 'The Three Bears Rap'. Trisha paints a sunny day picture on perspex. Presenters take the toys and visit each other's houses. Through the windows jobs are completed around the home. The story of 'Ted's Day Out' is read from the Play School story book.

Monica and Colin explore the sound and shape of plumbers' pipes. They join the pipes and pour water through them. A 'whirl pool' is made from two plastic bottles taped together at the neck. Spoons are used to create much noise on the pipes. A pipe is laid along the ground and connected to a cardboard box house where it provides water for the bath. Through the windows a hole is dug and pipes are laid in the road. The story is 'All the Better to See You' by Margaret Wild and illustrated by Pat Reynolds.

Aka ep58.1 Making a "hoop-la" tree from 3 hoops and a quoit strung together. George makes a bird from scrunched-up foil and a paper doily and looks at the budgerigars, Peppino and Peppina. The presenters play "Snap" with the bird cards. George waddles like a duck. Pauline and George compare their skin colour and Pauline shows photos of activities in Yuendumu and Weipa. The toys are placed in different lands. They visit each others' places.

Hanging pictures in the Play School art gallery - black and white pictures, coloured pictures, and pictures that tell a story. George makes a rainbow spiral with wax pastels, then covers it with black and scratches out a rainbow bird. Monica spins a hoop tied with rainbow - coloured scarves and dresses as a bird in a black cloak lined with coloured paper. Beatrice and Benedict Bobo Bird produce children who bear little resemblance to their parents. Presenters match the bird cards. They look at a carving of a busy turkey and a huge rainbow serpent painting. Pauline ...

The Presenters talk to the budgerigars and care for them. Monica shows George a hand-pecking game. The bird cards are used for a "who eats what?" game. Monica as the mother bird feeds George her hungry baby. A Flying Fox from Taronga Zoo visits Play School. Monica is a scarecrow and scares away George. Pauline tells the story of "Why the flying fox hangs upside down".

Painting a dot picture with large spots of red and yellow paint. Looking at Aboriginal painting. Playing a game of memory with matching bird cards. Reading the poem "The Nickle Nackle Tree& over graphics. Finding funny-named birds of the week on, or near the Hoop-La-Tree.

Cleaning the budgies' cage and giving the budgies a shower bath. Making a jigsaw puzzle from a cut out picture of a bird. Looking at a bird skeleton then an Aboriginal x-ray painting of an emu. Lifting off the outside pieces of the bird puzzle to show bones now drawn underneath the picture. Matching bird cards. Making binoculars to go on a bird hunt to find and watch unusual birds. Pauline and the Koories in Theatre tell the story of "How the kangaroo got her pouch".

Aka ep59.1 Making two-sided face people from branches and cardboard discs to show different emotions. Simon performs the Marvellous Mime Show - he mimes well known songs and everyday activities. Sponge painting shapes for a guessing game. Rocking Little Ted and singing him a lullaby.

A party is given with the toys for the doll Meeka. A hiding game with the toys: 'Who is missing?' Dressing up as a fabulous coloured zoomy bird. A follow-the-action game is played with one presenter miming all instructions. Humpty is lost - pathways are followed until his wall is found.

Making 'magic pictures' with candle wax which is then painted over to reveal drawing. Making a 'feely' book with texture materials - tree bark leaves, grass and raw wool. Threading 'magic drawing' pages and tying them together to make a songbook with a cover. Acting out nursery rhymes within the covers of a book made from large cardboard box.

Singing and signing a Hello song. Sofya mimes songs for guessing and signing. Hand miming signals. Making traffic lights from a rubber glove with red, yellow and green spots glued on. Playing a stop and go game with signal glove. Following signs on an obstacle course made from cardboard boxes and simple objects.

Testing out how the voice changes by talking into different containers. Using a plastic pipe and two funnels to create a telephone. Sending a drawn message on the Fax machine. Playing a game with the toys, propping a letter behind one of them.

Aka ep60.1 Dressing Jemima as a doctor and taking her to visit Big Ted who is covered in spots. Dressing up as a vet to attend sick toy animals. Simon uses an elephant mask, a seal mask and monkey mask for a zoo visit. Making a hippopotamus out of modelling clay. Taking a present and the toys to cheer up Big Ted.

Painting spots and stripes on fabric. Using socks to perform on a high wire in the silly sock circus. Dressing Jemima as a clown for a circus act. Making an upside person from cut-out cardboard, and using the cut-out painted fabric for clothes.

Grooming an Old English Sheepdog. Trying on different wigs. Meeka and Humpty visit Jemima's hairdressing Salon. Dressing up in a cloak and becoming different people. Taking Scrap the toy dog flying. Through the windows we see dogs being groomed.

Making a big blobby monster from a sheet of material and a frame. It has stick-on eyes, fringe hair and a zip-up mouth. Using the monster for a bunyip story. Jemima is dressed as a farmer and plants sees and feeds chickens. Making a giant pizza from a cardboard base with sponge and wool toppings. Feeding the hungry bunyip some pizza.

Setting up a screen for a shadow game: Guess the toy from the shadow. Giving the toys a see-saw. Finding out how to balance heavy Humpty and lighter Jim. Dressing up in mouse ears and tail to dramatise 'The Old Grey Cat'. Tying up string for a tightrope and walking and balancing Jemima as the acrobat. Piling up the toys one on top of the other for a great balancing act.

Aka ep61.1 The presenters make a horse using a small cylinder, pencils and wool and make a horse float using a shoebox, and cardboard. The tailgate is fastened with clothes pegs. The horse is taken around a jumping ring but sometimes refuses. Simon paints with his feet, then spatter paints over different-sized horse shoes.

The presenters make a horse using a mop, a gumboot, and a dressing gown cord. Racing mop horses in Play School Cup. Dressing cut-out person in jodhpurs then in rain gear. The presenters make rain and thunder sounds. Both presenters dress up as one horse using a large piece of cloth, headband with ears attached, crepe paper 'mane' pinned on and woollen tail attached.

A hessian horse is pasted to large piece of cardboard. Eyes and ears are drawn on, newspaper mane and tail are fixed with blu tack, silver pie containers cut in half are hooves and finally white splodges are sponged on to make a skew-bald horse. Mime galloping horses. Using a split "mix and match" book, the front and back parts of a zebra, a snake and a bear are matched. Muesli Munchies are made. Monica dresses as a horse wearing hessian sacks on her legs. Cardboard tubes with yoghurt cups make her cloppy front legs.

The presenters make a piebald and a skewbald horse out of cardboard and attach them to ribbons on a lazy merry-go-round sitting on a Lazy Susan. Simon mimes riding on a merry-go-round. The toys are attached to a hoop using ribbons and swirled round and round. Game - match sound with picture (fire engine, baby, chicken, drum). They play the tambour, triangle and maracas and play rhythm patterns. A clothes airer is turned into a 'sound tree' with kitchen utensils.

Making an outback station. The presenters add fabric for land and water, cardboard box house with corrugated cardboard roof and verandah, fences out of icypole sticks and orange bags, a water-tank, troughs and a windmill. Bush instruments, a lagerphone, a bush bass and a washboard are introduced. The toys ride a horse to camping spot seeing bush creatures along the way. The billy is boiled. For the story, Colin is on location in the bush and sings the story of Brumby Jack.