Play School - Season 17 (1982)

Warren plays the Play School song on the piano with Noni and John singing. John shakes maracas and they sing 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' with actions. John bangs the cymbals with 'Hickory, Dickory Dock'. Noni bashes pot lids together as cymbals and then makes a paper trumpet. John plays the paper and comb and Noni bangs a drum made from a biscuit tin covered with paper. They march and sing. The story is 'Mr Magnolia'. Noni sings 'I Jump Out of Bed in the Morning' with actions. John and Noni then mime putting on their clothes. After the calendar, Noni sings the Song...

Noni and Peter put paper clothes and hair on a large cardboard man.

Lyn and John make a collage by pasting egg shells, milk bottle tops, macaroni and various types of pasta on to a sheet of coloured cardboard. They sing the song of the week 'Aiken Drum. they make a fruit salad, then John looks at 'Bananas in Pyjamas' before running action. Lyn reads 'The Great Big Honey Hunt' and sings 'Here is the Beehive'. She is joined by John who blindfolds her and asks her to guess what kinds of food she is tasting. They sing 'Let's all eat...' with actions for bananas sandwich and spaghetti. Through the windows we see a family ordering spaghetti...

Benita and Don make playdough. They make a dough cake for Little Ted and sing 'Five Little Candles Straight and Tall'. The story is 'Birthday Soup'. They sing 'Happy Birthday' to Little Ted, then off to a restaurant to eat. Don sets up the restaurant, sweeps the floor and sets the table, singing 'This is the Way'. Benita dresses up as the waiter and also the cook, and takes the orders, then serves the meal. They sing 'Aiken Drum'. Through the windows some children cook pikelets. The program ends with Don and Benita washing the dishes and playing 'Wash the dishes, dry ...

aka ep176.3 Lyn and Don feed the guinea pigs, the fish, the cocky and the mice. They sing 'Aiken Drum'. Lyn looks at a mother hen and her chicks. don makes a 'smiley face feather brooch' using small feathers sandwiched between two small cardboard discs. Lyn sings 'Like a Leaf or Feather' and twirls about. The story is 'The Rain Puddle'. Both presenters sing 'Old Macdonald had a farm', Lyn miming a pig, and a hen. don has a small mirror. He draws a picture of a hen and plays with its reflection in the mirror. He and Lyn play a mirror game, copying each other. Through ...

aka ep 176.4 Lyn and John are preparing a shop. A box and box lid make the cash register with 'buttons' stuck on the top. Newspaper notes and bottle tops, lids and cardboard circles make coins and banknotes for the shop. John has 'ball' apples, 'rock potatoes', 'stick' beans and 'hair toggle' cherries in his greengrocer's shop. He sings 'One Potato'. Lyn draws pictures on her shopping list when she comes to buy. 'Do you Plant Your Cabbages' is sung with digging, tummy, elbow and chin verses. Story is about a caterpillar turning into a moth. After moth fluttering mime,...

aka ep176.5 Lyn and Don dress Hamble in food - a lettuce leaf dress and a macaroni necklace. They sing 'Aiken Drum'. The story is acted out by Don and Benita and is about a hungry king. Don and Lyn parade as King and Queen singing 'I am the King'. Benita makes junket and a milkshake. Lyn shakes a milkshake and she and Don sing 'Stand up, be tall'. Through the windows cows are milked in the Swiss Alps. Don and Lyn sing 'What can a cow do, but moo'. The program finishes with all three singing a series of nursery rhymes about food: Little Miss Muffet, Pat a Cake, Little ...

aka ep177.1 Benita and Don play a game of picture consequences drawing bodies. Benita sings the song of the week 'The Put It Song' with actions. Don gets bits of newspaper from the Useful Box to finish filling a large floppy doll called Flo. Benita makes a glove hand for Flo. Don dances with Flo singing 'Everybody Do This'. The story is 'Tall, Small and Wee Bears' Picnic' dramatised by Don, Benita and the toys. Don sings 'Shake Song' with actions. Benita counts the parts of her body and then sings 'Heads and Shoulders'. Through the windows a father bathes and dries ...

aka ep177.2 John pins some drawings of hands and feet to the picture board. Jan cuts her toe nails and John cuts his finger nails. Jan draws faces on her finger nails and then sings 'Where is Thumbkin?'. John uses a sponge soaked in washable paint to make thumb prints. He makes a thumb print monster by drawing lots of legs on a row of thumb prints. Jan sings 'The Put It Song'. The story 'How Do I Put It On' is read by John. Jan prowls and growls as a bear, while singing 'Hairy Scarey Bear'. John enters as a back-to-front monster with egg carton eyes on the back of his...

aka ep177.3 Noni feeds Cocky. Baby James and his mother are visiting Play School. John gives James a drink from a cup and feeds him mashed banana. Noni eats a stick of celery and sings 'Brush Brush Brush'. John draws monster teeth on a paper plate monster with egg carton eyes. He sings 'I'm Not Afraid'. The slide story 'Marion Goes to Hospital' is told by Noni. It shows a child who goes to hospital for an operation. Hamble is sick. John examines her and then sings 'Miss Polly'. The large floppy doll Flo is all bandaged up. Noni puts some bandaids on Flo's head. John ...

aka ep177.4 Noni and John play an 'I Spy' game, guessing objects on the Play School shelves. Noni sings the song of the week 'The Put it Song'. John has glasses for the toys. Sunglasses for Big Ted, pipe cleaner glasses with a patch for Hamble's lazy eye, and a selection of pipe cleaner reading glasses for Little Ted. John says 'These are Grandma's Glasses'. The story 'Grandfather' is read by Noni. John sings 'Slowly Walks My Granddad'. Nnoni has a doll's house made from a cardboard box. A miniature family made from cardboard lives in the house. John and Noni tell the...

aka ep177.5 Jan and John put Flo, the doll, in strange positions. Flo has no bones, she's full of paper. Jan sings the song of the week 'The Put it Song'. John looks at the pictures of people moving on the calendar. Jan has a three-layer jigsaw puzzle of a boy with the skin layer showing. She lifts off this layer bit by bit to reveal the skeleton underneath. John sings 'Dry Bones'. Jan replaces the 'skin' layer of the puzzle. John add the clothes layer. Jan sings 'Put on your new shoes' and mimes putting on T-shirt, underpants and jeans. The story 'The Beach' is told ...

aka ep178.1 Noni and John undress Hamble and prepare her for a bath. John fetches the bath water and stops to sing 'Jack and Jill'. they finish bathing Hamble and Noni sings and does actions for 'Wash Your Dirty Hands'. John and Noni manipulate model animals on a cardboard Ark, and tell the story 'Trouble in the Ark'. John does actions and sings 'The Ants Go Marching'. Through the windows we see a film on floods, commentary by Noni. John does action and sings 'I Hear Thunder'. Noni is at the Useful Box. She makes rice rain into a box and thunder while singing 'I Hear ...

aka ep178.2 Liddy and Alister cut up some plastic sheet and make a rain coat for Big Ted. Liddy sings 'I Hear Thunder', looks at 'Jack and Jill' shadow puppets on the Play School Television set, and sings 'Jack and Jill'. Liddy pours rain on Big Ted. Alister checks that he is dry. Liddy does filling a bath actions. Alister reads the story 'James and the Rain'. Liddy sings 'Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty'. Alister sings 'The Duckling'. Liddy has a cardboard and cellophane pond with fishing boats, etc. and an octopus. Alister sings with actions 'How Does an Octopus Go?'. ...

aka ep178.3 Benita and John paint with their feet and hands. Benita sings and does actions for 'Mr Funny Feet'. John does a foot painting and Benita folds and presses it to make a pattern. John washes the paint off his feet and Benita sings 'Jack and Jill' after watching the shadow puppets on the Play School Television set. John has some frogs in an aquarium. He talks about their activities. Benita sings and does actions for 'Mr Frog'. Benita and John act out and tell the story of 'Tiddalick'. Benita sings 'How Does a Caterpillar Go'. John is helped by Benita to ...

aka ep178.4 Jan and John mix sand and water together to make a sand hill. John sings 'The Grand Old Duke of York' with actions. Jan then sings 'Jack and Jill' with actions. They both draw in the sand and sing with actions 'Here is the Sea'. John reads the story 'Harry by the Sea'. Jan sings 'I'm Not Afraid'. Jan and John play a guessing game dressing the toys in a monster mask, John has made with newspaper. John sings with actions 'If You're Happy and You Know It'. Through the windows we see dogs being trained. John pretends to be a dog, and Jan his mistress.

aka ep178.5 Jan and Don cut some oranges and squeeze them. Don sings 'Jack and Jill'. Jan mixes some water with the orange juice and pours it into an ice tray which goes into the refrigerator. She takes out some frozen blocks, chills some water and drinks. Don sings 'I'm an Icey Ice Block'. Don reads the story 'Miffy and the Snow'. Jan sings 'I Have Made a Pretty Nest' with actions. Don puts up photographs of a penguin and a polar bear. He sings 'I Know a Hairy Bear', then puts up a picture of some huskies and sledge. Jan has rugged up the toys and put them in a ...

aka ep179.1 Noni and John are building a road with blocks. They drive box cars along the road and sing 'We're Going in a Car Today'. John looks at the different sorts of vehicles around the calendar. Noni draws doors and windows on a shoebox house to go by the block road. She makes a TV aerial for the house with paddle pop sticks and masking tape. John sings 'Here's a House' with actions, and Noni balances blocks to make a house, it topples over. John creates a traffic jam on the road with several box cars and a bus. He directs the traffic and clears the traffic jam. ...

aka ep179.2 Noni and John make a tractor from cardboard boxes, chairs, dustbin lids and saucepan lids. John shows the farm clothes he is wearing. Noni shows the hat and dungarees she is going to dress up in to work on the farm. John looks at the calendar. Noni enters dressed in her dungarees. They sing 'We're Going on a Tractor Today'. Noni has a farm with block fences. There is a box farm house and tractor. Noni puts cotton wool sheep in one paddock along with cardboard cylinder trees topped with green tissue paper and a cut-down cylinder water trough. John comes in ...

aka ep179.3 Benita and John make a shopping list with the toys: Juice for Jemima; Honey for Humpty; Lettuce for Little Ted; Ham for Hamble; Butter for Big Ted. They repeat the list several times for a memory game. Benita takes Little Ted to the supermarket with her. They ride on a block bus 'driven' by John. They sing 'We're Going in a Bus Today'. At the supermarket, Benita puts Little Ted in a shopping trolley made from a traymobile. They collect the items for the toys from the cardboard box shelves. John is the checkout attendant. he sweeps the shop and picks up the...

aka ep179.4 Jan and John build a house with blocks. It has a garden and a road in front of it - made from blocks too. They add a roof and chimneys. John sings 'This is My Little House' with actions. Jan brings some shrubs to the garden in an egg carton truck. the shrubs are paddle pop sticks with green tissue paper on top and plasticine base. John 'plants' the shrubs in the garden. Jan sings 'My Garden'. The Dubois Family arrives to live in the house. They are made from cylinder blocks. Jan drives in a box moving van with the furniture for the house. Jan and John sing...

aka ep179.5 Jan and John fill a half tractor tyre with water and float dolls on a bamboo raft. Hand puppets are used to tell a story about three animals in the country who accidentally float down a river to the city. Jan does a windmill action and John places a toy windmill in a farm he has built with blocks. Jan builds a city and sings 'Build it Up'. John builds a bridge over the tractor tyre from the farm to the city, demonstrating that an arch strengthens a bridge's structure. Photographs of various bridges are seen and John sings 'London Bridge'. Through the ...

aka ep180.1 Noni and John discover the possibilities of wood. A shadow board provides a useful and safe place for tools. Pretending to do hammering and sawing. A simple aeroplane is made. We zoom like a jet. Big Ted plays 'climbing upstairs is hard for bears' - climbing participation. 'Bananas in Pyjamas' animation is shown. Through the windows a ladder is assembled. The story is 'The House That Grew' by Jean Strathdee.

Clothes are made for Hamble and Jim from an odd sock and scrap of material. Participation for 'Put on your New Shoes'. Clothes from a laundry basket transform John into an Indian, an Arab and a King. Participation of being a King and a Queen. Snake skin leads to snake poem and action. Toys slide and child is encouraged to move too. Through the windows is an adventure playground. The story is 'The Skipping Rope'.

aka ep180.3 Jan and Don experiment with clay. They pound and poke it. They make a wriggly snake and some clay beads. Miming a pot on a wheel. Two pigs are in the studio. They sing 'Mud, Mud Glorious Mud' and pretend to wallow in mud. A box wall is made for Humpty. Through the windows a potter works and hand-made mud bricks are constructed. The story is 'The Three Little Pigs'.

aka 180.4 Noni and John build with sand. They play a jumping game. Plaster is mixed with water to pour into footprint in sand. A picture is made in an alfoil pie dish with plaster, macaroni, milk bottle tops, buttons and insulated wire. Mime of plaster wobbling and setting hard. Mime of jack-hammering. Through the windows we see cement setting on street corner and workers mending road. The story 'Big Ted at the Beach' is told with the toys.

aka ep180.5 Benita and John use scrap metal to make a necklace and a robot. Robot mime for participation. Musical instruments are made from metal. Jazz group demonstrates trumpet, saxophone, drum and cymbals. Playing in band and moving to rhythm for participation. Cymbals are shown to vibrate. Participation to 'Train is a-coming'. Through the windows fettlers work on railway tracks. The story is 'Ben's Trumpet' by Rachel Isadora.

aka ep181.1 Benita and John build a house with cardboard boxes. They sing 'Build it Up' with actions. They take turns looking for a mouse hidden in the box house. We see the 'Look' animation. Candle painting is shown. Guessing game - with nursery rhymes illustrated by candle paintings. Through the windows we see the Southend Lights. The story is 'Thomas Tidies His Room' by Gunilla Wolde.

aka 181.2 Benita and John look in a full length mirror and draw themselves. They point out parts of the body and sing action song 'Heads and Shoulders, Knees and Toes'. Benita looks at her face in a hand mirror. Benita mimes walking in the city. Participation - getting dressed; various hats are put on. They sing 'Zoom' with actions. John poses with two display dummies and sings 'You Can Stamp Your Feet'. Through the windows a display dummy is dressed. The story is 'The Fabulous Hat' by Joan Hickson.

aka ep181.3 Benita and John make Jack and Jill the guinea pigs comfortable in their hutch. Benita plays a Peek-a-boo game with the toys. We see the 'Look' animation. Train play. Memory game for child to take part in. John mimes being a dog. Through the windows we see a guide dog called Colonel. The story 'Little Ted Looks for his Present' is performed with the toys.

aka ep181.4 Jan plays a trick on John with boxes that fit inside each other. Jack in the Box is played and sung. Different dolls are shown. Ballet dancer actions. 'Look' animation is shown. We sing and hum 'Put Your Finger on Your Nose'. Shakers made from plastic bottles with sand, rice, pebbles, and macaroni inside. A special book with windows is shown. Through the windows people are going to the library. The story is 'Hubert Hunts His Hum' by Sue Lock.

aka ep181.5 Jan and John make a fruit jelly. We look at a jelly set in a mould. Wobbling like a jelly. An octopus' garden is made. We move like an octopus, a fish and a crab. Glass-bottom boat, made out of box with cellophane bottom. Through the windows is a glass bottom boat. The story is 'The Little Red House'.

aka ep182.1 Noni and Tyler tidy the useful box. They sort piles and containers, and make labels. They dance like a ribbon, turn like a screw, and stretch like a rubber band. They mime monster actions for 'I'm Not Afraid' song. They play a what's inside game and perform 'Jack is quiet down in his box'. A shoebox monster with blinking eyes, opening mouth and a tongue, is made. The story is 'Ginny and Her Box' by Marion Spring. Everyday of the week the animation is shown of the puppet mouse looking for a house in a boot, a basket, a snail, a box, an apple, a clock and a ...

aka ep182.2 Benita and Philip play a game 'Who's Inside the Clothes?'. They do stomping and tiptoeing. A wardrobe for Jemima is made from a carton, shoebox and stick. A bus for toys is made from a carton. Philip dresses as a mechanic and 'fixes' Benita's car. They mime motor bike riding for the 'Motor Bike Song'. Through the windows a petrol tanker fills underground tanks and a motor bike is filled with petrol from a pump. The story is 'Oh Lewis' by Eve Rice.

Noni and John look at a beehive. They make a cellophane bee. Henry and Henrietta run on a mouse wheel. Through the windows there is a kindergarten. The story is 'Over in the Meadow'. The presenters pretend to buzz like a bee and do the actions of animals including a tortoise, duck and bird.

aka ep182.4 Benita and John play with a cat looking for a mouse in a cardboard house. Benita is a postperson, baker and window cleaner, who comes to John's door. They mime window cleaning. Kitchen stacking containers are used in imaginative play. Through the windows kitchen cupboard play. The story is 'Alfie Gets in First' by Shirley Hughes.

aka ep182.5 Benita and John play a feeling game. They do clapping and rubbing actions. A skeleton is compared with us. A balloon mouse changes appearance with more air inside. Humpty balloon meets Humpty. Through the windows pictures are printed onto balloons in a factory. The story is 'The Old Man's Mitten'.

aka ep183.1 Noni and John use cooked spaghetti to make a pattern and a face. They do the actions of spaghetti wriggling. A cut out cardboard 'bear' mask is made with hat elastic stapled on. Features on a picture of Humpty are changed to make him look different. Through the windows a child visits an optometrist. The story is 'How do I Eat It' by Shigeo Watanabe.

aka ep183.2 Noni and John dress up as clowns. Noni puts face make up on John. Clown mimes and tricks. The presenters do jumping, stretching and actions for washing. A plastic bottle has a happy face drawn on one side, and an unhappy face on the other. The toys wear face masks at a party. The presenters pretend to fly while singing 'Zoom'. The story is 'Frances Facemaker' by W. Cole and T. Ungerer. Through the windows children put on face paint at a party.

aka ep183.3 Jan and John look at a baby kangaroo with special emphasis on its face. They do kangaroo jumps. They paint outsized painting on brown paper, using large brushes. They do the actions for painting spots, swirls and blobs. Through the windows are farmyard animal faces. The story is 'Lambs Drawing'.

aka ep183.4 Jan and John make newspaper masks. They do noise making with teeth, tongue and lips. A Flugelhorn and piano provide music for guessing game. Marching, jumping and burbling. Pictures of the toys' faces are used for a matching game. A mirror game is played. Through the windows a family visits Luna Park. The story is 'The Boy with a Drum' by D.L. Harrison.

aka ep183.5 LIVE CONCERT at BONDI PAVILLION - Noni and Don join children in familiar songs and games including: Humpty Dumpty, Jump, Miss Polly, I'm a Little Teapot, I'm Not Afraid, Bananas in Pyjamas and more.