Monday, 1 February, 2021
School cancelled in WA lockdown; dinosaur footprints in Wales; Bluey the rock star; and how wombats talk with their pooh.
Squiz Kids is a free daily news podcast just for kids. A short weekday podcast, created here in Australia, that gives kids (and their adults) the rundown on the big news stories, delivered without opinion, and with positivity and humour.
‘Kid-friendly news that keeps them up to date without all the nasties’ (A Squiz Parent)
This Australian podcast for kids easily fits into the daily routine – helping curious kids stay informed about the world around them.
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
THE LOWDOWN
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School kids in Perth got a week’s extension of their Christmas holidays yesterday after Western Australia recorded its first coronavirus case in almost ten months – sending large parts of Western Australia into a five day lockdown.
Kids all over the south west of WA were supposed to be starting a new school year this morning – but the government there threw the state into lockdown in an attempt to stop the virus from spreading – preventing locals from leaving their homes unless for essential reasons.
And while the development was nothing to celebrate, we’re almost certain we heard the cheer from WA kids echo across the Nullabor, to reach us here in Squiz Kids HQ on the other side of the country.
It was a far less happy day for toilet rolls and packets of pasta, yesterday: which could only tremble in fear as Western Australians took part in the time-honoured tradition of a pre-lockdown panic shop – during which, yes, toot paper was inexplicably the item on everyone’s shopping list.
Western Australia’s Premier Mark McGowan described the decision to keeps schools closed as ‘effectively an extension of the school holidays’, which he knew was ‘going to come as a shock’.
I have a feeling school kids in WA will just about get over it …
Stay safe over there friends! And don’t you be going and having too much more school holiday fun …
SPIN THE GLOBE
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Each day we give the world globe a spin and find an news story from wherever it stops. And today we’ve landed in Wales … where a little girl out walking on the beach with her dad stumbled upon a dinosaur footprint that’s thought to be 220 million years old.
Paleontologists – who are people that study dinosaur fossils – believe the footprint came from a small dinosaur called a Coelophyis – that probably stood less than 1 metre tall.
Scientists believe these little carnivores used to feast on insects and lizards – and sometimes, even each other. Yep – we’re talking cannibal dinosaurs ..
The footprint, believed to date back to the Late Triassic Period – which is the name given to the part of the Earth’s history that happened 225 million years ago – was found in a rock by four year old Lilly Wilder.
Scientists in Wales are describing the discovery as a ‘major find’.
Well done eagle-eyed Lilly.
POP CULTURE CORNER
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He’s already the most popular pup on TV – now Bluey the world’s favourite cattle dog is a bona fide rock star.
The soundtrack for the TV series Bluey was released yesterday and immediately went to the top of the music charts.
Making its debut at the number one position – Bluey: The Album – knocked home grown Aussie rapper, The Kid Laroi from the top spot – becoming the first children’s music album to ever reach number one in the Australian charts.
Further proof you just can’t keep a good dog down …
ANIMAL KINGDOM
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If you weren’t convinced already that wombats are the coolest animals in Australia – then get this. They do square shaped poohs. And according to a scientific report released yesterday – they use those poohs to communicate with each other.
A bunch of researchers from Tasmania have published a study that suggests wombats carefully place their cube-poohs in strategic spots around their territory to send messages to other wombats.
It’s not yet known what messages are contained in their pooh – because, well, you need to be a wombat to understand pooh talk.
But let’s just be grateful humans use their words to communicate – because the idea of us all using our pooh to communicate .. it just doesn’t bear thinking about.
THE S’QUIZ
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This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you’ve been listening …
- School has been cancelled in which state of Australia as large parts of it go into lockdown?
- Name the animated cattle dog whose album has just shot to the top of the pop charts?
- What do scientists believe wombats use to communicate with one another?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s February 1 … a birthday for former boyband member turned international style icon, Harry Styles.
It’s also a special day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today … Piper from Sutherland and Heath from Elderslie.
Belated birthday shoutouts: Seraphina from Bridgetown, Ronan from Wagga Wagga, Jonathan from Mooroolbark, Olivia from Abbotsford and Charlize from Port Stephens.
Today’s classroom shoutouts: Year 5A and Mrs Barbagallo at Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School in Ingham, Year 3 with Mrs Durn and Mrs Coombs and 5B with Mrs Richardson at Ipswich Junior Grammar School, all the kindy kids at Broughton Anglican College in KM with Mrs Christensen, and 6H Heroes from Jindalee State School with Mrs Huntly, who recently celebrated a birthday.
The S’Quiz Answers:
- Western Australia
- Bluey
- Their Pooh