Play School

- Season 26

(1991)

aka ep27.1 The calendar this week is "What's inside the egg today?". Each day strings either side of a cardboard egg are pulled to reveal an animal or yolk inside. Benita and Simon make paper hens which lay a ball, a block and ten paper eggs. They sing 'Hickety Pickety'. The presenters mime jobs around the farm. An egg carton scarecrow scares a sock puppet crow away from the crops. Benita and Simon dress up as a hen and rooster. The story is 'Minerva Louise' by Janet Morgan Stoeke. Through the windows there is a baby chick. The 'Dingle Dangle Scarecrow' animation is ...

aka ep27.2 Benita and Simon dress up a cardboard cutout picture, called Eggbert, in different pants. They mime being a worm, pig, kangaroo and elephant. They wear egg carton shoes, gloves and hat. A finger puppet game is played with birds made with egg cartons and feathers. Benita and Simon make penguins with egg cartons. Through the windows are penguins laying eggs. The story is 'Animals should definitely not wear Clothing' by Judy Barrett.

aka 27.3 Noni and Philip make caterpillars with egg cartons, wool and shredded newspaper. They play a game flying and buzzing dressed as a butterfly and a bee. They perform the rhyme 'Here is the Bee Hive'. They mime being a helicopter. Through the windows George is flying in the ABC news helicopter. The story is 'The Ugly Caterpillar' told about the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly. The story is accompanied with footage seen through the windows. Noni and Philip make a helicopter with a wooden spoon tail, light bulb container and cardboard rotors.

aka 27.4 Noni and Philip make a fish mobile with fish made from paper plates, plastic lids and leaves. The animation 'All the fish are swimming in the water' is shown. The presenters appear with Philip as a crocodile snapping with its jaws and Noni as a tourist snapping her camera. They perform the finger game 'There was a little turtle'. They make a turtle with an egg carton and a plastic trumpet. The story is '"Ahhhhhhh!" Said Stork' by Gerald Rose. Through the windows turtles are swimming and hatching.

aka 27.5 George and Noni play a counting game with Scrap the dog and a hen. They make cupcakes in the kitchen. The leftover egg shells are made into wobbly puppets attached to egg slides. The puppets are used for the Wobbly Walk. The story is 'The Cake that Mack Ate' by Rose Robard.

aka ep28.1 The song this week is 'Home Among the Gumtrees'. George and Benita make a country town from items in the Useful Box. The main street shops are made from boxes, parks are made with ice cream stick equipment, railway with wool tracks and ice cream stick sleepers, ice cream stick windmill and a cardboard cylinder family. The cardboard family drives out of the town in their box ute to collect cotton wool mushrooms. Benita dresses as a zoomy bird in long pillow case wings attached at the back. Her nest is a pile of clothes and scarves. Through the windows are ...

aka ep28.2 Monica and Philip play with a cardboard box bulldozer and tip truck. They make a swing for the toys with an ironing rack and a tyre. Monica makes a 'Banana Bumpy' drink, which the presenters then drink and sing 'Shake Rattle and Roll'. The story of 'Farmer Bob Goes to Town' is acted out. Through the windows people are picking bananas.

aka ep28.3 Chris from Taronga Zoo visits Sarah and Philip to show them two possums. The ring-tail and brush-tail possums eat an apple and a rose. A countryside is created using a large plastic tray, a plastic bowl for a dam, dirt, clay and twigs for trees. The presenters add water and dig a channel to run water from the dam to the orchard. Philip and Sarah go fishing using a magnet on a line to catch cardboard fish with paper-clips attached. The story is 'My Garden' by Ron Maris. Through the windows is a water slide.

aka ep28.4 Trisha and David make a caravan from a shoe box with jar lid wheels. A cardboard strip is inserted into the box to make a curved roof for the caravan. The cardboard tube family use the caravan for a camping trip. The toys visit 'the beach' wearing hats and sunglasses made from pipe cleaners. They send a postcard. The cardboard tube family plays soccer with a screwed up paper ball. The story is 'My Hippopotamus is on our Caravan Roof Getting Sunburnt' by Hazel Edwards and Deborah Niland. The 'Under the Tree' animation is shown. Through the windows is the ...

Pauline, Noni and Philip act out a bus ride through the bush. Pauline tells the story of 'Dingo and Chicken'. The presenters have giant vegetables and push them off a wall to the tune of '5 Green Bottles'.

aka ep29.1 A zoo calendar featuring different animals housed in various structures is used this week. The song of the week is 'Let's Go to the Zoo'. Noni makes a box house boat. Philip makes peg people and they travel up the water tray river. When it 'rains' with watering cans, the awning is put up. There is a large Noah's Ark frieze in the studio. The animals are viewed as Noni and Philip march along. The presenters play a guessing game about animal sounds. Through the windows there are elephants at Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo. The story is 'Trouble in the Ark' by ...

aka ep29.2 Noni and Philip make Tiger Toast with Vegemite and cheese slices for stripes. Noni sings and mimes being a piece of toast in a toaster then looks at the calendar to discuss where each animal lives. Philip takes Big Ted and Banana to Noni's Italian restaurant and orders food for them. The story is 'The Tiger Who Came to Tea' by Judith Kerr. Through the windows is a bakery.

aka ep29.3 Noni and Philip look at three groups of Play School pets in the studio - the white mice (Henry and Henrietta), the budgies (Peppino and Peppina) and the goldfish (Bit and Bot). They feed them and discuss the kind of place each lives in. Noni sings and mimes a house falling down. Philip makes a cardboard kennel for a toy dog after trying out different boxes. The animation of 'All the Fish' is shown. Through the windows there are monkeys at Western Plains Zoo, Dubbo. The story is 'Anybody at Home?' by M.A. Rey.

Noni and Philip play a guessing game with the Play School toys, encouraging identification from isolated features. They sing about each toy. Noni mimes the action of different doors opening and closing and sings 'Open Shut Them'. Philip sings the song of the week while looking at the zoo calendar. Noni walks in a wobbly wiggerly way like a giraffe. Both presenters play a Jack in the Box game with each taking a turn hiding in a cardboard box. The story is 'Old Mother Hubbard' by Jacqui and Colin Hawkins. Through the windows are some giraffes at Western Plains Zoo, ...

aka ep29.5 Trisha and Philip make play dough while singing 'We are all stomping/mixing'. They squeeze, pound and flatten the play dough. Then they make a pattern with a potato masher. This is used as a shell for a tortoise. Trisha has made a a crayon pattern for the story which they tell with a cardboard cutout hippopotamus and a monkey puppet. The story is called 'Harry Hippo'. Through the windows there are animals with patterns at Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo. Trisha is a visitor at a pretend zoo taking photographs. Philip dresses up as a funny tiger, a polar bear ...

aka ep30.1 The poem each day this week is about families. Benita and Philip make an egg carton into a bus. The passengers are made with paper faces stuck on pop sticks. They sing 'Boggabilla Bus' as the bus drives along. Pictures of different families are added to the calendar block of flats. Benita and Philip mime being a shirt in a washing machine and drying on the line while they sing 'Wet Washing'. The presenters drive the egg carton bus up to the block of flats and dramatise the puppets going into the building. Through the windows is an 80th birthday party. The ...

aka ep30.2 Benita the Bamboozala and Philip the Phabulous perform magic tricks, including shrinking Banana in Pyjamas. They add grandparents to the shoe box calendar flats. They perform with sock puppets in the cardboard box flats. Benita and Philip wear leis and dance. The story is 'Grandad's Magic' by Bob Graham. Through the windows children make leis.

aka ep30.3 Noni and George feed piglets in the studio. They match animal mothers to babies in a big picture book. A kitten is added to the calendar block of flats. Puppets are used to act out a baby sitter coming to sit. The story is 'Helpers' by Shirley Hughes. Through the windows is a Baby Health Centre.

aka ep30.4 Noni and George bring the toys to the shops on the Boggabilla bus. They shop for cardboard box shoes for Big Ted, a tissue box sunhat for Little Ted and a box bed for Banana in Pyjamas. They mime jumping out of bed, stretching and dressing. Noni and George add a new family to the box set of flats. They practise picking up items with their toes. Through the windows a family visits the beach. The story is 'Where will Grandma Sleep?' by Sandra Blackburn.

aka ep30.5 Trisha and George make picture frames out of baked bread dough. They add a family with a baby to the box calendar flats. They have dough person 'Amy' visit dough 'Sam' in the cardboard box flats. They mime Old Macdonald cleaning up his flats. Trisha and George do the 'Wobbly Walk'. The story 'The Wobblies and the Blobs' is painted using 'family groups' of shapes. Through the windows is a Samoan wedding.

Aka 31.1 George and Noni make characters from kitchen items. Noni makes a scrubberubber-oo from a milk carton cut in half, shredded wettex hair and a pot scrubber hat. George completes Mug the Plug, a soapbox with string legs, plug feet and wire-tie whiskers. They try out different movements with the character and sing 'A Jump a jump a jump'. Noni goes for a silly walk - flopping, moving stiffly, slowly and quickly, then sings 'William He Had Seven Friends'. George uses the felt board and sings 'Alice the Camel'. He adds new 'humps' for each verse. Dressed in black ...

Aka 31.2 Noni and Geoff put clothes on back to front and try out a backwards walk. The song of the week 'Do you like to be funny?' is sung. Noni uses a giant flip book to mix and match up people: a ballerina, a footballer, a clown and a nurse. Geoff adds stems to a giant mural, ready for the story. Auriel sings the story 'I Wonder Why'. The presenters make a train out of pots and pans for the toys called 'The Silly Saucepan Express' and move past stations called Humpty Dumptyville, Fooba Woobaville and Bookakurra station. They sing mixed up songs at each one. Noni and...

Aka 31.3 Monica and George make echidnas from playdough and popsicle sticks. They move as echidnas. George is the shopkeeper at the Funny Nose Shop. Monica 'buys' a funny nose, glasses and earings to wear. The songs 'Monkey Monkey Moo' and 'Do You Like to be Funny?' are sung. Through the windows there is a montage of noses. The story is 'The Very Sniffy Dog' by Peita Letchford.

Aka 31.4 Benita and George paint a huge mural of 'Upsy Down Town'. They dress up as curtain creatures, naming each one and moving in a particular way. Benita is a Bubble Dubble, George is an Ingle Wongler. George and the toys have an upside down cake at a Silly Party. Through the windows is Nick's Pizza Shop. Benita and George make a big flying pizza out of cushions and a carpet and fly past Upsy Down Town. The story is 'Alice's Blue Cloth' by Deborah van der Beck.

Aka 31.5 Trisha and Simon make paper flowers. They fringe-cut a strip of paper to curl up petals and stick onto a cardboard roll. They cut a fringe of green grass. The flowers are put in an egg carton garden with grass around it. Simon cuts the grass with scissors. Trisha dresses as a snowman and melts away. They mix up soap flakes and water to make soap snow. The soap mixture is used to lather around Michael Finnegan's 'whiskers'. Then, they use a pop stick to shave the whiskers off. Through the windows someone gets their hair cut. The story is 'Haircuts for the ...

aka ep32.1 Sarah and Philip draw around the shapes of Big and Little Ted and Big and Little Banana. They add wheels and boxes to a drawing to make a train. They make a train for the toys out of boxes. The rolling ball calendar is used. Sarah sings 'Big Black Train'. The film of the week is shown with Meg and Bob the dogs who do opposite things and look different, but are also the same. Through the windows is a steam train at Parramatta Park in Sydney. The story is 'There's a Hippopotamus on our Roof Eating Cake' by Hazel Edwards and illustrated by Deborah Niland.

aka ep32.2 Monica and Simon wash Big Ted (he is washable) and leave him out to dry. Monica makes mud 'pictures', including a three dimensional one and a dry-dirt picture sprinkled with paint powder then wet with a watering can. Simon mimes having a bath. Monica takes the dog on a country drive to give him a run but events conspire to frustrate this endeavour. Through the windows children help their father wash the car. The story is 'Tom and Pippo and the Washing Machine' by Helen Oxenbury.

aka ep32.3 A king parrot and a sulphur-crested cockatoo visit Monica and Simon in the studio. Monica dresses as a parrot using brightly coloured scarves. Simon looks at feathers, soft body ones and strong wing ones. He makes a parrot using a paper plate for the body and head, coloured feathers and ribbon for the tail and coloured paper for wings. Through the windows a German clock strikes eleven. The story is 'Purnima's Parrot' by Feroza Mathieson and illustrated by Anna Louise.

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aka ep32.5 Monica and Simon do 'night' paintings. They stick shapes onto paper, rolling paint over then removing the shapes. The toys are dressed as a star, the moon and a chimney-pot. Monica shows how a torch works and replaces the batteries, then finds the toys in the dark. The presenters play 'Simon Says'. A bed is added to the 'night' painting for the song 'There were five in the bed'. The 'Hey Diddle Diddle' animation is shown. Through the windows Richard Gill conducts members of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in a 'Baby Prom'. The story is 'Aunt Nina, Good Night'...

aka ep33.1 Every day this week the poem 'Holes' is recited, while looking at items with holes on the Calendar shelf. Noni and George make a cardboard waterspout for Eency Weency Spider. The 'Silly Billy Tea Shop' is set up where the presenters have to choose what to use for making a cup of tea. Noni and George sing 'I'm a Little Teabag'. A puppet play is performed in which a duck, a mole and a spider are troubled by a teapot. Through the windows is a teapot factory. The story is 'The Duck's Tale' by Dave and Julie Saunders.

aka ep33.2 Noni and George make a paper mask with holes for eyes, nose and mouth. They make a paper chain necklace. A T shirt is made from newspaper with a picture stuck on. The story is 'A Proper Little Lady by Nette Hilton and Cathy Wilcox. Through the windows is a bath. Noni and George pretend to bathe while singing 'Splish, Splash, Splosh'.

aka ep33.3 Noni and Philip draw ears and whiskers around a hole in a piece of cardboard to make a rabbit. They create a cardboard tree with green streamers as leaves. They paint a a picture of a house with gum trees and plum trees to sing 'Home Among the Gumtrees'. Through the windows there is a bird in a tree hole and people planting trees. The story 'Three Holes in a Tree' is performed by the presenters and toys with the cardboard tree.

aka ep33.4 Monica and Philip make a wall from boxes. They hang a broomstick with curtains on a gap in their wall to play a 'Who's There?' game with the toys. They sing 'Who's that tapping at the Window?'. Monica and Philip pretend to be road workers digging a hole in the road and singing 'The Hole in the Road'. The Bananas hunt for bears and try to catch them while Monica and Philip sing 'Bananas in Pyjamas'. The story is 'Tillie and the Wall' by Leo Lionni. Through the windows is a children's playground with sandpit, tyres and tunnel. The animation of a mouse looking...

aka ep33.5 Monica and Philip cut holes in the sides of cereal packets and spin them on their arms and legs. They use the circle they've cut out to attach to string and spin the cardboard disc to show a colour wheel blurring as it spins. The calendar's pigeonholes are filled with toys to make a farm. Mic joins Monica and Philip to sing 'Jollity Farm'. Mic uses his one-man band to help tell the story 'Mr and Mrs Jollity Go to Town', which is performed with Monica and Philip. Through the windows there are holes in playground with tyres, frame, ball and bucket. A shaker ...

aka ep34.1 Each day this week, children say the name of the day in English, Turkish, Greek, French, Italian, Cantonese, Portuguese and Spanish. The dinosaur diorama is shown each day with the presenters singing 'Long Ago'. Today, Trisha and Philip have paper shapes of Tyrannosaurus and Stegosaurus. They staple cutouts of the dinosaurs together and stuff them with shredded paper. They hang the dinosaurs up as a mobile. Hamble is rescued from the rising tide by Little Ted, the lifesaver and Lisa, the helicopter pilot. The footprints of Tyrannosaurus and Apatosaurus are ...

aka ep34.2 Trisha and Philip measure each other's height. Trisha makes a picture 'grow' by cutting it into sections. The presenters build a triceratops with a hat stand, but it is terrorised by Tyrannosaurus and collapses. Brachiosaurus, the largest dinosaur, with nostrils right at the top of its head is featured. Philip dresses up as a dinosaur and sings 'I'd Like to be Big as a Dinosaur' with Trisha. The story is 'The Unhappy Hippopotamus' by Nancy Moore and illustrated by Edward Light. Through the windows are rhinoceroses.

aka ep34.3 Trisha and Philip do a huge jigsaw puzzle of a Plesiosaur. The puzzle pieces (cardboard) have magnetic strips to stick them to a whiteboard. Some jellyfish, a starfish and a sea urchin visit the studio. A hoop with a muslin centre and dangling streamers becomes a dress-up jellyfish for the presenters, while they sing 'A-Blob, a-blob' to the tune of the Mexican Hat Dance ('Jarabe Tapatío'). The story of 'The Triceratops Twins' is told in the sand tray with plastic dinosaur figurines. Through the windows crocodiles hatch.

aka ep34.4 Trisha and John make a Tyrannosaurus Rex from cardboard boxes. John tells the story of 'What's in the Prehistoric Forest' by Peter Seymour and illustrated by David A Carter. The presenters look at photographs of generations in families - from the baby to great grandparents. Little Ted turns five years old and the toys celebrate in a restaurant. Little Ted receives dinosaur presents. 'Dino Disco' is played for the party. Through the windows it is a child's first day at school.

aka ep34.5 Trisha and John spray paint over outlines of dinosaurs' skeletons to create their 'skin'. They paint a Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Stegosaurus and Pteranodon. Pauline joins them to make impressions of dinosaurs and hand prints in play dough. Then they play a hand stacking game. They also spray paint their hands. Trisha pretends to be a Pterodactyl. Trisha and John act out daily routine, by waking John up with a cardboard sun and singing 'I Jump Out of Bed in the Morning'. The days get increasingly shorter, with John struggling to fit all his activities into...

aka ep35.1 Each day this week Monica and Simon sing 'Build it Up'. Monica and Simon build a city in sand using cardboard boxes for buildings, a long plastic wrap box for a bridge, and a large cardboard tube to reinforce a tunnel. Humpty is placed on a wall of cushions: the inevitable happens. Through the windows a ladder is made. Monica and Simon dress as firefighters to perform an emergency rescue of Big Ted who is stuck up a ladder building. The story is 'Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel' by Virginia Lee Burton.

aka ep35.2 A bath, a chair, a mop, a sheet and a plastic bin lid are used for creating: a trotting buggy, igloo with a hole in the ice for fishing, and a sailing boat. Monica builds a tower with plastic boxes and Simon builds one with saucepans. Monica makes a 'pig in a blanket', with sausage wrapped in bread. Through the windows a butcher makes sausages. The story is 'Kitchen Capers' and is performed by Monica and Simon using kitchen utensils.

aka ep35.3 Monica and Simon construct a giant spider's web using lengths of lath nailed together, and strips of rag wound around. The spider's web becomes a base for a weaving. Simon builds a wall with cardboard milk cartons filled with sand. Monica makes two wooden puppet faces on sticks, nailing on the features. Through the windows a spider makes a web and a house is built. The story of 'The Three Little Pigs' is told with puppets.

aka ep35.4 Monica and Simon build a block of flats for Kim, Lisa, Jemima and Jim. The apartments are made from cardboard boxes pegged together with a bucket lift at the side. The presenters take turns to draw a curved line which becomes a banana, then a sailing boat, the a parachutist. Magnetic shapes are moved to form a variety of pictures. Using wooden blocks, Monica builds a railway track and station. Blocks reveal the day of the week. The presenters play a hiding game, using a large cardboard box. The story is a film 'Changes' based on the book by Pat Hutchens. ...

aka ep35.5 Monica and Simon sort out a pile of old clothes. Monica plays a hiding game. She then makes a shaker using a plastic bottle with the top section cut off, and decorated table tennis balls to fill it. Paper is recycled into more paper by blending scraps of paper into a pulp. The toys put out their glass and newspapers for recycling. Through the windows there is rubbish. The story is 'Grandpa's Slippers' by Joy Watson and illustrated by Wendy Hodder.

aka ep36.1 Noni and Philip look at Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers'. They make paper sunflowers and seeds. In the Play School Picture Gallery there are sunny day pictures including the 'Sunflowers' and also Ken Done's 'Sydney Harbour'. They pretend to run a gelato shop on a hot day. The presenters make a picture with sand, powder, dye and paste. They paint outlines around flicks and swipes of paint, singing 'Put a Spot Over Here'. The story is 'Forders the Dog' by Anne Gibson. Through the windows there is a painter brushing yellow and black paint onto a canvas.

aka ep36.2 Noni and Philip make a wet painting - mixing colours on wet paper. They choose appropriate clothes for a rainy day. In the Play School Picture Gallery there are rainy day pictures including a collage of umbrellas. Paint is spattered onto a feather, a leaf and a hand to make outlines. The story is 'The Shh-Ptt Pen' performed with a thick marker. Through the windows guillemots are being cleaned after an oil spill.

aka ep36.3 Benita and George use a Polaroid camera to take photographs of Humpty. An animation is shown of someone trying to photograph a giraffe. A banana split puzzle is completed by joining three photographs of Banana in Pyjamas into a whole. In the Play School Picture Gallery there is 'The Wonderful Picnic' painted by Narelle Wildman. Sailboats are made with milk cartons. A seascape is painted with rollers and pasting on fabric boats. The story 'Little Koala' by Margaret Roc is told with hand puppets. Benita and George sing 'I've Never Seen Anything Like It'. ...

aka ep36.4 Benita and John make a rainbow serpent with play dough. Pauline reads the story of 'Warnayarra, the Rainbow Serpent' by the Senior Boys Class, Lajamanu School, compiled by Pamela Lofts. In the Play School Picture Gallery there is a painting of a waterhole in the desert, and Aboriginal paintings of a fish, a turtle and a kangaroo. The presenters make pictures and prints with finger paint. They sing 'Three Little Fishies'. Through the windows there are dot-style sand paintings by the Warlpiri people of the Yuendumu community at Chilla Wells in the Central ...

aka ep36.5 Benita and John make marbled pictures with oil paint in water. They paint over candle writing. In the Play School Picture Gallery there is a Japanese poster. The presenters make a cherry blossom tree with pink crepe paper flowers. Benita and John sing 'You Can Stamp Your Feet' and pose like statues in a gallery. They make bees with balloons and tissue paper. They fly marbled paper kites and a Japanese fish kite. The story is 'More Bugs in Boxes' by David A Carter. Through the windows there are Japanese fish kites.

This replaced 24.23 from 1989 (aka ep15.3). Trisha and David play with frilled-neck lizard puppets and dress up with a paper frill. They make creatures out of gumnuts, bottlebrush cones and leaves. The story is about a boy going to playgroup. David plays with some pictures that have moving parts. Through the windows are animals in a zoo. Big Ted goes for a ride on Trisha who is dressed as an elephant. The face on the calendar is of an elephant. Trisha and David sing 'Five Grey Elephants Balancing' using some paper elephant faces.

Whether it's simply crossing the road, riding a bike or taking the dog for a walk, the Play School presenters have a fun way to show us how to do it safely.

Trisha and John make foil stars. They send Jemima on a spaceship journey using chroma key tricks. They make a Christmas tree and decorate it for the toys. John tells the story of The Christmas Book by Dick Bruna. They look at how different people hold different celebrations. John gifts himself and Big Ted and Banana to Trisha in a giant box.