Thursday, 1 April, 2021
Olympic uniforms unveiled; worm tornado in the United States; Ash Barty’s big Friday hit-out; and the return of the giant burrowing frog.
LINKS
Olympic uniforms: https://www.olympics.com.au/news/australian-olympic-teams-asics-competition-delegation-uniforms-revealed/
Giant burrowing frog: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-31/giant-burrowing-frogs-melbourne-zoo-breeding-program/100037616
Squiz Kids Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/squizkids/?hl=en
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Squiz Kids is proudly supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
THE LOWDOWN
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You know the Olympics are just around the corner when the official uniform for athletes is unveiled. And that’s what happened yesterday as athletes who will be competing for Australia in the Tokyo Olympics in July unveiled what they’ll be wearing in the field of competition.
And not only is the design decidedly hi-tech – it’s also a fitting nod to the Indigenous athletes who have competed for Australia at the Olympics.
In Sydney yesterday, and with the Sydney Opera House as a backdrop, ten athletes who are preparing to travel to Japan in July showed off the gear our team will be wearing.
It’s a festival of green and gold – as per tradition – and as well as being made of hi-tech material – with a cooling print designed to help fight the humidity of a Japanese summer – the uniforms include a shirt with a design created by Indigenous artist and Olympic boxer Paul Fleming – who competed in the 2008 games in Beijing.
Fleming’s design features 52 pairs of footsteps, representing the number of Indigenous athletes who have competed at the Games for Australia.
How cool is that?
There’s a link in today’s episode notes to a photo of the uniforms.
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Who’s ready for an extra long sleep-in this weekend? If you happen to be living in one of the parts of Australia that observes daylight savings during the summer months – then you get to snooze for an extra hour on Sunday morning, as the clocks are turned back – signalling the end of daylight savings.
Not that any of you will be wanting to stay in bed on Sunday morning. What with the Easter Bunny due to dump a pile of chocolate goodness upon us all.
If you’re in Victoria, NSW, ACT, South Australia and Tasmania – the clocks go back an hour at 3am .. or you could just do it before you go to sleep.
If you’re looking for me on Sunday morning, I’ll be asleep on the sofa in a chocolate coma.
SPIN THE GLOBE
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Each day we give the world globe a spin and find a news story from wherever it stops. And today we’ve landed in New Jersey, in the United States, where a worm tornado has appeared and left local scientists scratching their heads.
A resident of a town called Hoboken was out walking yesterday morning when she took a photo of hundreds of earthworms on a footpath, that had arranged themselves in a spiral shape.
Is it a worm-nado? Someone tweeted upon seeing the pic. And while some scientists puzzled over why worms would arrange themselves in such a distinctive shape – others pointed out that the phenomenon had occurred on the night of what’s called a ‘worm moon’.
A worm moon is one of four ‘super moons’ that occur every year – which is when the moon is slightly closer to Earth and therefore appears bigger and brighter in the sky.
Native American tribes in the United States call it the ‘Worm moon’ because it signifies the start of the northern hemisphere spring, when earthworms once again became visible as the snow melts and the ground thaws.
So how about that?
SPORTS TIME
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If you’re an early riser and you love yourself a bit of tennis, then tomorrow morning would be a good time for you to set the alarm to watch Australia’s world number one, Ash Barty, play in the semi final of the Miami Open in the United States.
After a shaky start to the tournament, our Ash smashed her way past No.7 seed Aryna Sabalenka to win her quarter final.
And while the conditions in Miami are hot and humid, Ash says she’s not troubled at all by the heat – yesterday telling reporters she’s from Brisbane and therefore used to the odd bout of sunshine.
We’ll all be cheering for you tomorrow Ash – get out there and play your heart out.
ANIMAL KINGDOM
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How good would it be if you’re job was to go out in the bush and collect tadpoles?
That’s exactly what a bunch of zoologists from the Melbourne Zoo have been up to this past week – and they couldn’t be more excited at what they found.
They’ve gone and collected a whole bunch of tadpoles which will eventually turn into the rare giant burrowing frog.
As its name suggests – the giant burrowing frog burrows. And it’s rare because we’ve had so much dry weather these last few years and so little rain – that they’ve been hard to find. But with the big wet that’s just swept it’s way down the east coast, puddles were formed, tadpoles appeared – and a team of clever scientists swooped. The tadpoles are now being looked after at Melbourne Zoo – where its hoped they will turn into frogs, be nurtured at the zoo and help to ensure the longevity of the species. Ribbit to that!
ANDY GRIFFITHS
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Yippee ki-yay people … today’s the day to find out which Squiz Kid has the best joke in Australia as we release the special Q+A episode with Treehouse Joke Book author, the very excellent Andy Griffiths.
If you’re listening on a podcast app, the Q+A will play immediately after this episode of Squiz Kids – or it’s otherwise available on our website: squizkids.com.au.
Be sure to tune in as Squiz Kids very own Amanda Bower serves up your jokes to Andy – and he decides which one tickles his funny bone the most.
Enjoy!
EASTER HOLIDAY PROGRAMMING
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This is it friends .. the last regular episode of Squiz Kids before we sign off for the Easter break. But don’t worry – we’re not going to leave you completely alone … no indeed — we have a whole slate of Easter Holiday Programming in store for you.
Starting tomorrow, and every Friday of the hols, you’ll have yourself a Kids v Adult S’quiz – where you get to test how smart you are compared to the adults in your life. Go the kids!
And next Wednesday: because we had so many excellent jokes sent in for Andy Griffiths and not enough time to air them all – we’ve created an Easter Holiday Squiz Kids Joke-A-Thon … ten minutes of the best jokes in all of the land! Get ready to wet your pants!
And then normal Squiz Kids programming will resume on Monday April 19.
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 …
- What’s the name given by Native Americans to the full moon that is thought to have caused a worm tornado?
- In which city in America is Ash Barty playing a semi final tomorrow?
- What’s the name of the frog whose tadpoles were scooped up recently by researchers from Melbourne Zoo?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s April 1 … on this day, twenty five years ago, aliens came to Earth from Planet Mars and revealed they had a weakness for peanut-butter flavoured fairy floss … April Fool’s! Yes – today is April Fools Day – where you’ve got until midday to play a trick on someone. So don’t just sit there – get plotting!
It’s also the day before a long weekend – which means we have heaps of shoutouts to get through – and might need the birthday reggae tune to help us out … hit it ..
Happy birthday to these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today … Terence from Fairfield Heights, Eloise from Lysterfield, Emily from Jindalee, Cameron from Fadden, Eva from Sydney, Sarah from Oran Park, Michael from Ainslie, DJ from Lake Coogee, Elodie from Darlington, Holly from Sheoak Grove, Flowers [real name] from Pascoe Vale, Jack from Craigburn and Hamish from Dubbo.
And some shoutouts to all the Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday over the Easter long weekend… Riley from Craigburn, Junayd from Sydney, Talia from Harden, Rose from Brighton East, Stella from Spreyton, Ki (as in key) from Fairfield Heights, Toby from Shoal Bay, Zoe from Brisbane, Kobus from Ithaca Creek, April from Mortlake, Isha from Wentworthville, Dot from Pascoe Vale and Summer from Albany Creek
Happy birthday one and all.
And a special classroom shoutout to Mrs Mathers of 5/6M at Coniston Public School, who is going on maternity leave. Miss Walker and Stage 3 say she will be missed very much by all the staff and students!
The S’Quiz Answers:
- Worm Moon
- Miami
- Giant Burrowing Frog