The washing machine has broken down, so Geoffrey, Bungle, Zippy and George are at the laundrette. While there they find out about lots of different machines. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "Can Anyone Guess What This Machine Is?"

Machines

Stanley Bates

Roy Skelton

Freddy Marks

Geoffrey Hayes

Jane Tucker

Rod Burton

Family Ties

Bungle, Zippy and George learn about how different things can feel smooth, rough, hard, soft, hot and cold to touch. Geoffrey reads the story of "Ichabod Bungely Wungely Boo" and Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "Feel With Your Hands".

Touch and Feel

Bungle wants to buy some sweets as a surprise for the others and he goes off to the sweet shop without telling anyone. Geoffrey becomes very worried when he can't find Bungle and discovers he has gone out on his own. Luckily on the way back from the sweet shop Bungle meets Rod who accompanies him back home safely. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "Be Sensible" and Sue Holderness reads a story called "Will and The Wishing Stone".

Being Sensible

Special Times

Africa

Geoffrey is learning to speak Italian. Bungle, Zippy and George learn about Italy, its people and food, and they watch a film of a boy and his Italian family, at school and at home. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "We're In A Gondola".

Italian

Bungle is busy sorting out old clothes for a jumble sale. He finds an old sweater of Geoffrey's and wants to put it in the sale, but Geoffrey tells him he wants to keep it as it was knitted by an old girlfriend of his. Then Bungle finds an old scarf which belongs to Zippy, but Zippy won't let him have it for the jumble as it's his favourite. Meanwhile George is watching TV. First he watches the lines and shapes, then he watches Rod, Jane and Freddy sing a song called "Your Favourite Things". Bungle, Zippy and George talk about their favourite things, then Bungle daydreams that he's a magician. Geoffrey tells a story called 'Dolly Doodles Favourite Things'.

Favourite Things

Geoffrey is outside in the shed working very hard making a table. Bungle complains when the noise of Geoffrey's hammering disturbs him, as he is being very lazy and staying in bed for the day. Zippy and George ask Geoffrey if he will read them a story, but Geoffrey is too busy so they go off in search of Freddy to ask if he'll read them a story instead. Freddy reads the story of "Hardworking Horace". Rod, Jane and Freddy give Geoffrey a helping hand to make the table and sing "When There's Work To Be Done".

Hard Worker

Bungle, Zippy and George find out all about mirrors and reflections. Geoffrey reads the story of The Very Old, Large Mirror and Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "Mirror Mirror".

Mirrors

Bungle, Zippy and George learn about India and Indian culture. They watch film of a girl and her Indian family, at school, helping out in her parent's newsagents shop and at home. Sneh Gupta tells the story of The Clever Monkey and Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "India".

Multi Cultural: Indian

Horses II

The Rainbow team prepare for their 1000th Birthday Party. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "We're Going To A Party".

Party Preparation

The Rainbow team celebrate their 1000th episode!! 

Special party guests are Matthew Corbett and Sooty, Christopher Lillicrap and Mel Harvey.

1000th Birthday Party

Multi Cultural: Chinese

Geoffrey is busy tidying up the house ready for his sister's visit, but he has got the date she is supposed to be coming mixed up. Rod and Freddy remember the time Geoffrey helped them with some decorating with disastrous results and then Zippy, George and Bungle recall the time Geoffrey made a blunder when helping them with their paintings. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "Mr Bodger" with the help of Geoffrey dressed up as Mr Bodger. Then magician Clive Webb does some magic tricks but all his tricks go wrong.

Geoffrey Gets It Wrong

Everyone is trying to get their own way. George wants to play a game of Happy Families, but Zippy wants to play Snakes and Ladders instead and gets his own way. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "You Get Your Own Way Every Time". Jane wants to watch a cookery programme on the television, but Geoffrey, Rod and Freddy won't let her because they want to watch the football an another channel. Lynda Baron reads the story of 'Bossy Billy'.

Getting Your Own Way

Zippy and George sing "Hickory Dickory Dock", but the mouse doesn't seem to be running down the clock. Then they act out "Hey Diddle Diddle" with Geoffrey being the fiddler, Bungle being the cow, George being the little dog and Zippy being the dish and the spoon. Jane pretends to be Little Bo Peep and Bungle pretends to be one of Little Bo Peeps lost sheep. Freddy pretends to be Little Boy Blue. Geoffrey reads a story called 'The Little Dog's Dinner'. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "Ride A Cock Horse".

Nursery Rhymes 1

George is building a tower with his building blocks and Bungle is doing a drawing. But Bungle wants the table all to himself and he and George start squabbling when Bungle knocks the tower over and George spoils Bungle's drawing. Then they go into the garden where they meet Georgette, the pink female hippo from next door, who helps Bungle and George sort out their squabble and make up. But Zippy is not best pleased that Bungle and George have a new friend, and he falls out with them all. Geoffrey reads a "Tat The Cat" story about falling out and making up. After falling out with Bungle, George and Georgette, Zippy goes into the garden, where he sees Rod, Jane and Freddy. The trio sing "You've Got To Make It Up" and then Zippy says sorry and makes it up with everyone.

Falling Out and Making Up

What Shall We Do

Caring for Others

Geoffrey, Zippy, George and Bungle sing "Five Current Buns In A Baker's Shop". Geoffrey tells everyone he'll be baking some jam tarts for tea which makes Zippy hungry. George says the nursery rhyme "The Queen of Tarts" and everyone dresses up like in the nursery rhymes. Geoffrey dresses up as the King of hearts, Bungle dresses up as the Queen of hearts, Zippy dresses up as the knave of hearts and George decides to be his brother the prince. Geoffrey makes a crown out of card. Rod, Jane and Freddy each dress up as different characters from Nursery Rhymes. Freddy sings "Little Jack Horner", Rod sings "Hot Cross Buns" and Jane sings "Polly Put the Kettle On". Rod, Jane and Freddy then sing some nursery rhymes such as "Little Miss Muffet". "Little Tommy Tucker", and "Sing A Song Of Sixpence". Geoffrey serves the jam tarts he's made, but Zippy doesn't want to wait for them to go cool and dreams about being the knave of hearts. He eats all the jam tarts in his dream and ends up feeling ill. Then when he wakes up he only wants to eat just one jam tart, which surprises everyone.

Nursery Rhymes 2

It's a very special occasion today. Geoffrey is taking Zippy and George to the theatre to see Peter Pan. Bungle has a cold, so he has to stay at home and Jane comes to look after him. She tells him the story of Peter Pan and talks about the time when she first went to the theatre. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "An Invitation".

Visit to the Theatre

Rainbow Christmas Show

Zippy takes George's toy car he's playing with, which makes George angry. Geoffrey keeps the peace between them by suggesting they both play with the toy car, taking turns to push it to each other. Then George builds a bridge for the car to go under, but Zippy won't play properly and keeps knocking the bridge down with the car. So policeman Bungle steps in to keep the peace between Zippy and George. Mrs Jones from next door is very angry with Geoffrey about the broken fence between the houses. But she forgives Geoffrey when Bungle, Zippy and George explain it was them who accidentally made a hole in the fence so they could retrieve their football, and Geoffrey says he'll fix the fence for her. Rod, Jane and Freddy are in the garden. Jane and Freddy are practising their song, but they keep getting it wrong and argue with each other. Rod steps in to keep the peace and then they all sing "It's Time To Sing The Song".

Keeping the Peace

Creativity

The Rainbow gang act out the story of Dick Turnip the highway man. Barron Bungle Warren's daughter Jane has her necklace stolen by the naughty Dick Turnip. Zippy the Good sees what happens so Rod and Freddy arrest Dick Turnip and they take him to court to see Judge George. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing " With A Hey and A Ho".

Highwayman

Zippy and George receive some party invitations in the post, but sadly there's not one for Bungle. Bungle, Zippy and George and Geoffrey sort out items they no longer need and put them in a box for their next door neighbour's jumble sale. Bungle builds a tower with building blocks, but Zippy knocks it down. Geoffrey takes the box of jumble next door and notices Bungle's party invitation was delivered there by mistake, so he has an invitation after all! Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "How Many?" Zippy, George, Bungle and Geoffrey sing "How Does A Caterpillar Grow?" Then they all play a game where they have to guess how many stepping stones Bungle needs to cross a pretend river.

Geoffrey receives a phone call telling him that Grandad has had an accident and is in hospital. He tells Bungle, Zippy and George that he will have to go up to the hospital and that he will take them to stay at Auntie's house for the night. Geoffrey takes them to Auntie's in his car. Bungle has some flowers for her and George has made a get well card for Grandad, but Zippy isn't very happy at going to stay with Auntie and would rather stay at home. When they arrive at Auntie's house Zippy is disappointed that he'll have to miss his favourite cartoon as she doesn't own a TV set. Also he doesn't like the sausages she's cooked them for their tea. After tea, Auntie asks Bungle, Zippy and George to help her with the washing up, but they aren't very happy at this. Auntie tells them they shouldn't be so lazy and selfish and that families should help each other. Then Rod, Jane and Freddy visit and sing "They're Your Family". Later, Auntie lets them play with an old train set that used to be Geoffrey's when he was a little boy. This cheers Zippy up and when Geoffrey telephones to see how they're all getting on Zippy tells him he's having a wonderful time!

Cats

Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "Heartbeat". Zippy, George and Bungle decide they want to be popstars just like Rod, Jane and Freddy and even dress up for the part, with Geoffrey as their manager. However it's not as easy as it seems. Rod, Jane and Freddy rehearse their song "Heartbeat" in a recording studio and then they come to help Zippy, George and Bungle out.

I Want to Be a Pop Star

Geoffrey tells Bungle not to touch the dominos he's lined up on the table while he goes out of the room, but Bungle wonders what will happen if he touches them and then finds out. George wonders what will happen if he tips out his container of marbles. The marbles all roll off the table onto the floor, but before he can pick them all up Rod and Freddy come into the room and fall over on them. Then Geoffrey and George notice an unpleasant smell which seems to be coming from Zippy. They discover it's because Zippy hasn't changed his socks for days, as they're his favourite yellow pair. Geoffrey explains that if you don't wash your clothes they become dirty and smelly. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "Blowing Up Balloons" and Geoffrey shows Bungle, Zippy and George a little magic trick.

What Happens If

If I Were Invisible

George wants to see a fairy, but Geoffrey tells him they're not real, but he still wants to see one anyway. Geoffrey looks at some of Bungle's fur that he's brushed under a mircoscope and then looks at some pond water. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "Small World". Zippy looks at some stamps using a magnifying glass. Geoffrey reads a story called 'The Toys World'.

Small World

Helping Out

Zippy, George and Bungle are packing their picnic for their trip to a Safari Park. Geoffrey explains to George that a Safari park is where you can see lots of wild animals - and Zippy roars like a lion. Zippy, George and Bungle make a safari park collage. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "Joining The Dots".

Visit to a Safari Park

Easter

Bungle and Geoffrey see a frog in the garden and decide to play a game of leapfrog. Zippy says he's never seen a real live frog before, so they all look around the garden to see if they can find one. Geoffrey shows Zippy a jar full of tadpoles and explains how tadpoles grow into frogs as they get older. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing a song about Mr Frog and the Princess Jane. Zippy tries to count how many tadpoles there are in the jar, but keeps losing count. Geoffrey reads the story of "Tiny the Tadpole". Later, outside in the garden, Jane and Geoffrey sing a song about three little speckled frogs and Bungle, Zippy and George pretend to be the frogs in the song.

Frogs

Geoffrey is decorating the spare bedroom for Auntie Jo's visit, but he's finding it difficult doing the work on his own. But Rod Jane and Freddy help him to get the decorating finished before auntie arrives. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "Co-Operation".

Co-Operation

Geoffrey is in the garden doing exercises to prepare for a race he's running in for charity, but Zippy thinks he's being silly doing so much training. Then Bungle, George and Zippy join in with some exercises too, but Zippy isn't very fit and hurts his neck. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "Keeping Fit". Jane reads the story of "Monty and The Gymnasium". Geoffrey, Rod and Freddy arrive back after the charity race and everyone has some carrot cake to eat.

Keeping Fit

Zippy, George and Bungle pretend to be Rod, Jane and Freddy and then Geoffrey pretends to be someone else. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "Guess Who I Am?" Geoffrey reads a story called 'Guess Who I Am?' Rod, Jane and Freddy play a game against Geoffrey, Bungle and George called Guess Who I Am? where Zippy tells a member of each team who to be and the others have to guess. Then Bobby Davro comes round to the Rainbow house and does some funny impressions of Zippy, Bungle, George and Geoffrey.

Guess Who I Am

Geoffrey finds Bungle has left his toy cars on the floor and a pot of water on the edge of the table and tells him he should watch out where he leaves things in case it causes an accident. Then Bungle goes to stand on a chair to try to hang his painting on the wall, but Geoffrey tells him it's dangerous to stand on chairs in case he falls off. Meanwhile George is outside playing in the garden, but Geoffrey doesn't know where he is and thinks that George has gone out on his own. Then they all decide to go for a picnic, so go into the kitchen and Bungle helps Geoffrey make the sandwiches, but he makes a mess with the butter and drops some on the floor. Geoffrey tells him to clean it up in case someone slips on it, but Bungle is careless and bumps Zippy's head with the mop. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "Watch Out".

Watch Out

Auntie Patsy comes to visit, but much to everyone's irritation, won't give them a minute's peace with her constant chattering. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing a song called "Bla Bla" in which Rod and Freddy chatter and annoy Jane.

Chatterbox

Geoffrey takes some photos of Bungle, Zippy and George with his camera. Then they look at some old photographs. Freddy takes a photograph of everyone and sings "Watch The Birdie, Smile Please". Geoffrey reads the story of "Ellen The Snap-Happy Elephant" and then films a video of Bungle, Zippy and George singing a song.

Smile Please

Bungle, Zippy and George are playing with a model of a town they've made. They find out about what it is like living in a town. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "Living In The Town".

Town Living

George and Zippy pretend to run a village shop. Geoffrey is their first visitor, who comes and stays for a chat and tells them about his visit to the country with his friend Sophie. Bungle, Jane and Rod arrive to do their shopping, followed by Freddy, who puts up a poster inviting everyone to visit them down on the farm. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "We're Country People".

Country Living

The gang are holding a car boot sale in their garden. Bungle makes a poster to let people know about the sale, while Zippy makes a model snowman to sell, but he is having difficulty making a head for it and asks Geoffrey to help him to finish making it. Meanwhile, George is collecting things together to sell at the sale, but he thinks a car boot sale is a sale just for cars and boots, so takes Zippy's toy cars, Geoffrey's Wellington boots and Jane's fashion boots. Rod and Freddy have been sorting out items to sell and arrive with a wheelbarrow full of things. Rod finds an old banjo and gives it to Jane to put into the sale, but Freddy stops them, telling them it was his Grandad's and is very sentimental to him. Freddy sings a song his Grandad used to sing to him when he was small called "I Used To Play My Old Banjo". George decides to give his old Wellington boots that no longer fit him to the sale and has painted them in all the colours of the rainbow. It's almost time for the sale to begin, and Zippy makes fun of Bungle because he thinks he hasn't made anything for the sale. But Bungle has the last laugh when he tells him he has made a game where you have to throw a ball to try to knock the cardboard Zippy over that he's made to win a lollipop. Jane opens the sale and everyone has a good time browsing the items for sale and playing Bungle's game.

Car Boot Sale

Mail Order

The Rainbow gang act out the story of the Ugly Duckling. George plays The Ugly Duckling, Geoffrey plays Farmer / Brewster the Rooster, Zippy plays Lion / Henry the Horse / Goose, Bungle plays Farmer / Daisy the Cow, Rod plays Sammy the Scarecrow, Jane plays Jasper the Scarecrow and Freddy plays Freddy the Fish. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing excerpts from "The Ugly Duckling" song, Rod and George sing "Dingle Dangle Scarecrow" and Rod, Jane and George sing "When We're Together".

Ugly Duckling

Words

Do It Yourself

The Rainbow gang act out the story of The Tortoise And The Hare. George plays the tortoise, Zippy plays the hare and Bungle plays the fox. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "Da-Dee-Da-Dee-Dum-Dum'".

Hare and Tortoise

The Rainbow gang start counting things and give themselves their own number. Bungle is number 4 but where has he gone?

Numbers

Geoffrey and Bungle build a ship out of cardboard boxes and are pretending to be sailors setting out on a voyage. But Zippy and George want to come along for the trip so they hide onboard the ship. While sailing on the sea, their ship hits some rocks during a storm and their boat is shipwrecked. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing "Deep Blue Sea" and then come to rescue the others in their ship.

Shipwreck

Bungle, Zippy and George find out about gadgets and how they can help make jobs and tasks easier. Geoffrey demonstrates how his potato peeler helps him peel potatoes more easily. Rod, Jane and Freddy sing a song about a musical gadget they've built, called their "Superdooperbodypooperlittlebigalonianboogiewoogieplayitagain". Geoffrey reads the story of Professor Slop then makes some chips using a new gadget he's just got. But it's the wrong gadget for making chips and the potatoes come out looking more like crisps. Then he uses an electric whisk to make a milkshake, but when Bungle adds more milk into the jug, the mixture splashes everywhere, so Geoffrey decides they will all go out to buy some chips.

Gadgets

Children's puppet programme featuring music and stories. Join George, Bungle, Zippy, and all their friends at the Rainbow House, always an exciting place to be.

Machines

Seasons23

Season 18 Episodes54

Cast6

Discussion

Episode Summary