Play School

Play School was a New Zealand educational television show for children. It was based on the British Play School show. It was first broadcast in New Zealand during the 1975 originally screened twice a day at around 10am and then 2:30pm. Playschool was filmed from what was then TVNZ's Dunedin Studio. The last series screened on television in 1990. The show starred five toys, which are famously nostalgic for New Zealanders who watched the program as children. They are: ⁕Big Ted: A traditional-style golden coloured teddy bear ⁕Little Ted: Identical to Big Ted, but much smaller ⁕Manu: A very human-looking plastic doll with Māori features, such as dark skin and hair ⁕Jemima: A rag doll with orange woollen hair ⁕Humpty: A round green fabric toy resembling Humpty Dumpty. Today, Big Ted, Manu, Jemima and Humpty are part of a collection at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington, New Zealand. The museum also has a large collection of clothing and props from the show. The whereabouts of the original Little Ted is unknown. One of the rehearsal Little Ted toys was blown up by the film crew after the completion of the final series and can be seen at the Otago Settlers Museum in Dunedin. The original clock from the series was discovered at a library in Invercargill in August 2009.