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Clip description
Following the original opening titles, presenters Don Spencer and Anne Haddy introduce the first activity: making a steam train out of a washing basket, plant pot, two ‘clean’ rubbish-tin lids and part of a garden rake. This sequence segues into the calendar and a featured poem about trains.
Curator’s notes
There’s a bear in there
And a chair as well
There are people with games
And stories to tell
Open wide, come inside
It’s Play School.
The sequence opens with the original titles, the first of four versions all of which feature a house and other images illustrating the words of the iconic Play School theme. These 1960s titles are in black-and-white and simpler than the 1980s version, which features colour photographs and the song performed by both presenters and children (see Play School – Bags Wednesday, 1984). The first rendition of the Play School song heard here is sung by a refined, British-sounding voice, in keeping with the early years of Australian TV when it was much rarer to hear strong Australian accents. It is also striking now to see a man smoking a pipe in the third window, which would have encouraged children to regard smoking as normal. The smoking man was gone by the 1980s. By the 2000s, the song and titles had changed in style even more markedly (see Play School – Opposites Monday, 2006).
This clip also illustrates the point that contemporary presenter Jay Laga’aia makes: 'The essence of Play School is its simplicity, that it is accessible to everyone’. This simplicity can be seen in the coverage, namely the use of one slightly adjusted wide shot throughout the scene to cover action, the gentle pace of presenter delivery, and in the content. A regular feature of Play School is simple imaginative ‘makes’ which utilise objects commonly found around the house.
The underlying goal is that the audience, both child and parent, feel inspired to participate and are encouraged to extend the imaginative play of the program at home. This simplicity of approach and material use is intended to ensure that the child and carer would have everything they may need to hand at home, as well as the necessary expertise to create, for example, a steam train out of washing basket and rake.
Another Play School tradition to note here is the naturalistic performances as Don and Anne relate directly to the child at home through the camera. Play School presenters dress casually, often kneel on the floor and are not afraid to get dirty or be seen, as is demonstrated here, scratching their nose.
Each week in Play School a theme is developed in different ways, depending on the day of the week. In this episode the theme ‘trains’ is expanded through Thursday’s focus on imaginative play. The daily format includes a calendar, which also reflects the weekly theme. In this sequence the train theme is extended through the use of real footage, with a voice-over by familiar presenter Anne Haddy, and a rhyme relating to trains which is repeated every day of the week.
