Your daily kids news podcast.
Our PM meets the real PM; a traditional Mexican bird parade; electric planes take flight; and lucky socks avoid the wash.
12-year-old Jett swapped the paddock for Parliament and met the Prime Minister! He shared a clever idea about saving “wonky” veggies from the bin—and even got a shoutout in Parliament.
Imagine walking through streets full of singing birds stacked in sky-high cages! 🐦🎶 In Mexico City, this colourful tradition is still alive—but it’s slowly fading as people work to protect the birds.
Planes that sound like whispers? Yes please! ⚡✈️ New electric planes are zipping mail across Scotland without noisy engines or fossil fuels.
Would you wear smelly socks for luck? Lots of people do! Some even refuse to wash their “lucky” clothes before big moments.
For the full episode transcript, click here.
Transcript
Squiz Kids acknowledges the traditional owners of the layers on which we
podcast, the terrible and comber-marry people. Squiz Kids! It's your daily news
fix. One, free, fresh.
Hello and welcome to Squiz Kids today. Your first take on what's happening in the
world around you. I'm Kristi Kijareena. It's Wednesday April 1. In Squiz Kids
today, our PM meets the real PM. A traditional Mexican bird parade, electric
planes take flight and lucky socks avoid the wash. That's what's making news,
Kinstile. The Low Down. What would you do if you were prime
Minister for a day? That's the question that we asked you, our clever audience, and
one kid found out the answer yesterday when he traveled to Canberra from his
home in Country Queensland. To meet with the Prime Minister himself as the winner
of our PM for a day competition. Jack Jarvis is his name. He's a 12-year-old and
lives in Dalvin near Warwick in Queensland. And yesterday took his cowboy
hat and jeans and traveled all the way to our nation's capital to see first
hand how our country is run. Starting his day with an appearance on live TV
with a cross from ABC's Parliament House studios, Jack was later honoured at a
special morning tea organised by the Speaker of the House, Milton Dick, before
taking his hat straight to the Prime Minister's office. Once there, he told the
PM all about what he'd do if he were prime Minister for a day. Namely, educate
Aussies about food waste and how much fruit and veg gets thrown into the bin
before it even reaches supermarket shelves, just because it looks a little bit
wonky. For his part, the Prime Minister couldn't have been more supportive, agreeing
that it impacts both the environment and farmers. In fact, he was so impressed
with Squizz Kids PM for a day that he stood up in Parliament during question time
and told all the MPs gathered from all over the country what a pleasure it had
been to meet our jet. What a day! And to the almost 500 others of you that
sent in an entry are huge Squizz Kids salute to each and every one of you. Your
ideas were all so great, your videos so clever and witty, if we could have taken
you all to Canberra we would have. Hmm, maybe that's an idea for next year's
competition. Meanwhile, to get a flavour of Jet's visit to Canberra and listen to
an interview he did with the PM, a special PM for a day episode will drop on this
very channel at 2 p.m. today.
Spin the globe. Each day we give the world globe a spin and find a news story
from wherever it stops and today we've landed in Mexico where the streets are
filled with colour, music and towers of tiny tweeting travellers. Have you ever
seen a stack of bird cages taller than a person? Every year on Palm Sunday
that's the Sunday just gone, marking the start of the week leading up to
Easter, hundreds of Paharreros or traditional bird sellers head into Mexico City
carrying towering cages filled with finches, parakeets and cardinals all
chirping in chorus. On this day the Paharros decorate their cages with flowers,
tinsel and images of the Virgin of Guadalupe, that's Mexico's patron saint
turning the whole scene into kind of a walking chirping celebration. It's a
tradition that's been passed down through generations, part culture, part
livelihood, but it's also a tradition under pressure. Animal welfare groups
have raised concerns about keeping and selling birds and authorities have
introduced stricter rules to protect wildlife. That means fewer bird sellers are
taking part each year, with many families choosing different work for the
future. So while the songs still echo through the streets for now, this once
common sight is becoming a little rarer with each passing year.
Weird science! Have you ever felt that chest rumbling roar of jet engines
charging down a runway? Well, what if your next plane ride sounded more like a
whisper than a roar? A Scottish airline, Logan Air, has begun
testing battery-powered planes. For now they're using them to deliver
mail to remote parts of Scotland. Letters and parcels zipping through the
skies without the need for jet fuel. The planes built by American
electric aerospace company Beta Technology can travel about 622 kilometres
or 336 nautical miles and carry up to 560 kilograms. That's around 1,235 pounds.
And what's driving the push to this new technology? Rising fuel prices and the race to make
flying cleaner and quieter. And if it works, one day passengers could be hopping on
board for short flights between islands and cities. And it got me wondering though,
just how many AA batteries would it take to get that thing off the ground and hoping that somebody
has a charger. Believe it or not, we're staying in the UK for this story and moving from
the realm of science to superstition. Have you ever put on an outfit and thought,
today is my lucky day? Well if you have, it turns out that you are not alone. A UK survey
of 2,000 people found that more than half believe their clothes can actually bring them luck,
especially for things like job interviews and tests. So what's considered lucky? Socks,
sentimental jewelry and even specific shoes top the list, with 10% swearing by a trusty pair
of undies. And colour matters too. Green is seen as lucky, while black and brown got the thumbs
down. But here's where it gets a bit wiffy. Around one third of people won't wash their lucky item,
just in case they wash the luck away. And some have avoided the laundry for more than two weeks,
which might explain a few things about my daughter's footies socks.
Time for the quiz. This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you've
been listening. Question number one, on which religious festival do the parraeros of Mexico decorate
their birdcages? That would be Palm Sunday. Question number two, what is the name of the Scottish
airline testing electric planes? It is called Logan Air. Well done if you got that one.
Question number three, what percentage of people surveyed said that they had a pair of undies that
gave them luck? That's right, it is 10% of people.
Shout out. It's Wednesday, April 1. Also known as the one day of the year when you should trust
absolutely no one. That's right, it's April Fool's Day. A day dedicated to pranks, tricks
and harmless hoaxes where people all over the world try to catch each other out with a good old
fashion gotcha. So keep your wits about you today and maybe double check anything that sounds a
little too strange to be true. It's also a special day for these quiz kids celebrating a birthday
Dante from Windale, Laila from Yarrawonga, Pearl from Cannon Hill and Sadie from West Aubrey.
Classroom shoutouts today go to Class 4 Blue with Ms. Lewis from Dallas College into Womba.
Class 5 Q3 with Ms. Williams at Springfield Central School. Class 3 four jungle explorers with
Ms. Lanahan at Bald Blair Public School in Gyro. Class 3 to 6 with Mr. Benderski at Lord Howe
Island Central School. And lastly but most definitely not leastly, Class 5 read with Mrs. Hamilton
at Marta Day Catholic Primary School in Woga Woga. Don't forget if you have a birthday coming up
and you want a shout out or if you're after a classroom shout out you can drop us a line at
squizzkidsatthesquizz.com today or you can feel at the form on our website. Well that's all we
have time for thanks for listening to Squizz Kids today we'll be back again tomorrow. In the meantime
yeah out there and have a most excellent day, go to the end out.