Squiz Kids

Some dads brave the Antarctic winter to protect a single egg… others give birth to hundreds of babies… and almost all of them believe their jokes are hilarious. In this Squiz Kids Shortcut for Father’s Day, Christie and Bryce meet some of the animal kingdom’s most extraordinary fathers. From egg-balancing emperor penguins and pregnant seahorses to fish dads that occasionally eat their own offsprin...

Your daily kids news podcast. Nepal’s glacier landslide explained; Roger the working seagull; Media literacy in the spotlight; and Fat Marmot Week crowns a winner. Rescuers are working around the clock after catastrophic flooding devastated communities in Nepal and Tibet. All hail Dawn, the newly crowned champion of Fat Marmot Week! More Aussie kids are turning to AI for their news, but research s...

To celebrate World Lake Day, we went searching through the Squiz Kids Vault for an episode all about water. Which was lucky, really, because we’d sprung a leak and were well on the way to creating an underground lake of our own. Thankfully, we found this Shortcut sitting safe and dry on a high shelf. Join us as we discover where Earth’s water came from, why it’s essential to life and how the same...

Look up on a clear night and you might see hundreds, or even thousands, of stars. But where did they all come from, and what makes a new star begin to shine? This week, Isabella from Cammeray asks: How are stars formed? Christie travels into a stellar nursery to discover how gravity gathers enormous clouds of gas and dust, why a growing protostar becomes incredibly hot, and how nuclear fusion turn...

A fun kids vs adults news quiz to test who’s been paying the most attention to the week in news. For the full episode transcript, click here.

Your daily kids news podcast. The world remembers Dolly; Spain’s food fight festival; Sniffing out voice clones online; and Game of Thrones meets Harry Potter. The world is remembering country music superstar Dolly Parton, not just for thousands of songs, but for her enormous generosity. More than 20,000 people have turned a Spanish town into the world’s messiest salad, hurling squishy tomatoes at...

Your daily kids news podcast. A billion-galaxy telescope prepares for launch; 10,000 animals step onto the scales ; robot-made records get the boot; and a googly-eyed gamble pays off.  NASA is preparing to launch a telescope with some seriously gigantic ambitions. Click here for the NASA livestream link. From teeny snails to hefty capybaras, London Zoo’s residents are hopping, waddling and sl...

Each fortnight, we give the world globe a spin and see where we land. Then we take the kids of Australia on an audio excursion to visit that country and its people. Join your captain, Christie Kijurina, on an audio adventure to Scotland, a country of rugged Highlands, ancient castles and deep, mysterious lochs. We’ll discover why Scotland’s national animal is a unicorn, meet the legendary creature...

Your daily kids news podcast. The infinite scroll goes on trial; Raccoon racket rocks Germany; Saving Aussie sea lions; and the robot that runs faster than Usain Bolt. Social media’s addictive scroll is getting its day in court. US states are taking on Meta over claims its platforms were deliberately designed to keep young people hooked. Usain Bolt, meet your robotic competition! A humanoid robot...

Book Week is here, so we’re dusting off a favourite Shortcut from the Squiz Kids Vault. Travel back thousands of years to discover how books developed from clay tablets and handmade paper to the invention of the printing press. Then, meet the author behind the first book written especially for children and count down some of the bestselling children’s books of all time... from much-loved animal ad...

Every night, your sleeping brain creates strange new worlds filled with familiar people, powerful emotions and events that make absolutely no sense. But how does it build a dream—and why do we dream at all? Inspired by a question from Will, Christie explores what happens inside our brains while we sleep and whether animals dream too.

A fun kids vs adults news quiz to test who’s been paying the most attention to the week in news. For the full episode transcript, click here.

Your daily kids news podcast. Spaceship splashdown near Christmas Island; baby whale shark nursery revealed; a zero-gravity fake; and why otters love to watch. A SpaceX rocket booster the size of an Olympic swimming pool has splashed back to Earth and is being towed toward Christmas Island. Scientists think they may have found a nursery for baby whale sharks off Indonesia after tiny youngsters wer...

Your daily kids news podcast. Parliament takes on betting ads; monkey business in the Scottish Highlands; some picture-perfect animals; and the Milky Way’s ancient feeding frenzy  Australia is moving to put more distance between sport and gambling. Luka the macaque fancied a Scottish adventure, escaping his wildlife park and wandering kilometres into the Highlands. Smile for the camera! More...

Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for more than 160 million years… then, 66 million years ago, almost all of them disappeared. In this Shortcut, Christie and Bryce fire up a time machine to visit the final days of the dinosaurs, discover how a thin layer of rock helped scientists work out what happened, and follow the chain of events after a giant asteroid struck Earth. Then they meet the survivors, inclu...

Your daily kids news podcast. Operation Fairy Penguin; Earthquake in Indonesia; Socceroo’s Michael Jackson moment; and the world’s ugliest dog. Roll up those tiny sleeves! Victoria is launching an enormous operation to vaccinate thousands of fairy penguins against bird flu. The ground is rumbling again, with powerful earthquakes striking parts of Indonesia following other major quakes and volcanic...

It’s National Science Week, and what better time to celebrate one of the most important things about science: sometimes, it gets things wrong. People once believed the Earth was at the centre of the universe, illness was caused by an imbalance of blood, phlegm and bile, and maggots simply appeared from rotting meat. So how did we go from those ideas to the science we know today? This week, we’re h...

Felix, from Hunters Hill, wants to know why slicing into an onion can leave our eyes stinging and tears streaming down our faces. In this week’s Squiz Kids Science Short, Christie breaks into the onion’s tiny chemical security system, discovers how cutting it releases an irritating mist into the air, and reveals why a blunt knife may make things even worse. Plus, do any of those strange onion-chop...

A fun kids vs adults news quiz to test who’s been paying the most attention to the week in news. For the full episode transcript, click here.

Your daily kids news podcast. The President, the plane and secret escape; Wallaby on the run in Netherlands; a Bunnings sausage saga; and shark scientists on hurricane watch. It sounds like a spy thriller: a president, a super-secure jumbo jet and a secret escape involving a catering container! Catch me if you can! A runaway wallaby has spent six months hopping around the Netherlands. Forget weath...

Your daily kids news podcast. A total eclipse over Europe; Colombia’s earthquake emergency; Aussie teens make their mark; and Brisbane’s underwater light show. The Northern Hemisphere is getting a cosmic double feature! A total solar eclipse will briefly turn day to darkness before the Perseid meteor shower lights up the night. Rescuers and volunteers are working through rubble after Colombia’s st...

Squiz Kids Q+A with kids' author extraordinaire Andy Griffiths. Andy braves the Hot Seat for the fifth time with his new book... You and Me and the Gigantic Knucklehead. From what Andy's favourite snack is when he's writing, to where he gets his funniest ideas, whether there's an idea too gross to put in a book,  and whether he's ever laughed so hard that he needed to stop writing.... The Squ...

Your daily kids news podcast. It’s Census time in Oz; Brazil’s capybara invasion; Mice plague a feast for owls; and Minecraft comes to Switch 2. Australia, prepare to be counted! Census night is rolling around, giving the country a giant snapshot of who lives where and how we live. Move over politicians... there are some new rodents in the house! A pair of curious capybaras wandered into a parliam...

The James Webb Space Telescope has been sending back extraordinary images of newborn stars, distant planets and some of the earliest galaxies ever seen. So, this week, we’re blasting open the Squiz Kids Vault and revisiting our Shortcut to the telescope that some people call the Just Wonderful Space Telescope. Join Amanda and Bryce as they discover HOW the JWST works, WHAT its first spectacular im...

Bird flu has reached Australia, but what exactly is H5N1, how does it spread, and what can families do to be prepared? In this special Science Short, Christie speaks with Dr Tiggy Grillo from Wildlife Health Australia about how bird flu affects birds and other animals, how Australia prepared for its arrival, and what scientists are watching for now. They also explain whether people and pets can ca...