Summer is almost upon us, friends, and that means only one thing.
Holidays!
School's about to break up and while our daily news pod will take a break over the Christmas school holes, we've got plenty of excellent summer content planned to keep the boredom monster at bay.
In the week before Christmas, we've got you covered.
A school holiday movie guide, brain teasers, a bumper quiz, a science of Santa shortcut and, of course, our great big Squiz Kids QA with the big man in red, where Santa himself will take the Squiz Kids hot seat and answer questions you've sent in.
And then throughout the new year and January, right up until school goes back.
Settle in for a Squiz Kids brain teaser every Monday and Wednesday, a bumper holiday quiz every Friday.
Our ever popular science shorts on Squiz Kids YouTube every Saturday and a special episode of From the Vault every Sunday, where we dust off a classic Squiz Kids shortcut and give it new life.
Just subscribe to Squiz Kids in your favorite podcasting app and you won't miss a thing.
Happy holidays.
Squiz Kids acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands on which we podcast the Turrbal and Combermeri people.
Squiz Kids!
It's your daily news fix.
Fun.
Free.
Fresh.
Hello and welcome to Squiz Kids today.
Your fresh take on what's happening in the world around you.
I'm Christy Kidgerina.
It's Wednesday, December 10th.
In Swiss Kids.
Today, Bluey levels up the Swiss yodel to the UN Shed smashes, speed record and some mullet magic.
That's what's making news, kid style.
Today is the day that the social media ban for teens officially kicks in around Australia.
Which means that, from today, anyone under the age of 16 will no longer be allowed an account on platforms like Snapchat, Instagram and YouTube.
It's a huge change for lots of young people and their families, which is why the Prime Minister himself yesterday made a video message for kids all over Australia.
The PM said that the new laws had been designed to make kids' lives better and protect young minds from being exposed to stuff online that may not be appropriate, or information that's just plain wrong or AI generated.
In fact, it's the very same reason that we created NewsHounds, the classroom resource that teaches kids to stop, think and check before believing everything they see online.
The PM yesterday said instead of focusing on all the device scrolling you're going to miss out on, think about all the stuff you can be doing instead.
He said, make the most of the school holidays coming up.
And rather than spending that time scrolling on your phone, start a new sport, learn a new instrument or read that book that's been sitting on your shelf for some time.
And importantly, spend quality time with your friends and family face to face.
We'll be right back.
While it's not exactly playing outside or reading a book.
Bluey herself has a suggestion of what you might do over these school holidays with the very big news yesterday that the first ever Bluey video game is set for release today.
Called Bluey's Quest for the Gold Pen.
The game follows the Heeler family as they leap into a series of kids' drawings brought to life just like those in the imagination-packed episodes Dragon and Escape.
Whack-a-doo!
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 Switzerland, where the hills are alive with a very special sound of music, yodelling.
Yodelling is a special kind of singing that flips super quickly between low voice and a high voice.
Long before phones or even walkie-talkies, Swiss herders and shepherds use yodelling to send messages across the Alps from one mountain to another.
And now Switzerland is hoping that the United Nations will officially recognise yodelling by adding it to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
That's a list that protects important traditions from around the world.
The UN is deciding this week and Swiss yodelers are crossing their fingers and maybe warming up their vocal cords.
There are about 12000 yodelers in Switzerland today, singing in hundreds of clubs, and you can even study yodeling at university.
Yep, there's a real-life master's degree in yodeling.
If this story has sparked your curiosity and you haven't yet taken a trip with us to Switzerland, you can listen to our Squeeze the World Switzerland episode.
The link is in the episode notes.
Biggest, furthest, longest.
If you're a bit like me and you think a garden shed is a stationary little shack for mowers, blowers and the odd redback spider, one British bloke has proved that wrong and sheds can move, and I mean really move.
His name is Brian Cade.
And he loves building things and tinkering with engines.
So he thought why not put the two together?
The result a fully motorised garden shed that now holds the Guinness World Record for the world's fastest shed.
During an official test at an airfield in northern England, Brian's shed hit a top speed of 198 kilometres an hour.
Faster than lots of cars on the road can go and definitely faster than anything you'd expect to find next to a lawnmower.
Guinness confirmed the record and Brian said he's not done yet.
He wants to make his shed even quicker and maybe even street legal.
Imagine seeing that cruising down your street.
Pop Culture Corner.
Finally, today we couldn't say farewell to 2025 without celebrating the most Aussie haircut of them all the mighty mullet.
Business in the front, party at the back and absolute chaos when the wind blows the wrong way.
Over the weekend, the short sides long back legends gathered in Currie Currie for their annual Mullet Fest Grand Final, where competitors from all over Australia strided their stuff and their fluff together In categories like Rangers Over 50s Extreme, Everyday Grubby and the fiercely competitive Junior Division.
Some contestants spend years training their locks for this moment.
One long-time mullet grower, Daniel Cooper, said the vibes were unmatched.
Everyone smiling, cheering each other on and fully embracing the mullet lifestyle.
Because for these legends, it's not just a haircut, it's a community.
Mullet Fest also raises money for charities, including brain cancer research and men's mental health, proving that even the wildest hairstyles can do a world of good.
And if you need to see this and, let's face it, you totally do.
There's a link to a photo gallery and to video from the hair raising event in the episode notes.
Music Once again, a huge thank you to all the Squiz Kids who sent in a question for Santa.
Our Santa Claus Q&A will be in your ears on Tuesday, December 16.
And a huge thank you to everyone who's emailed us their craziest elf photos.
You've still got time to get yours in.
Just get an adult to email us at squizkids at thesquiz.com.au.
And, for a giggle, get that adult in your life to check out our Instagram page, where we've been publishing them.
Shout out to Alice and Max, whose elf has been very busy.
To Rosie, Ella and Charlie, whose elf has taken to riding around on the back of a cat.
To Handari, Pearl and Momo, it appears as if their elf got stuck in the freezer.
I hope it's okay.
And I'm also a little concerned about Eden's elf.
Eden, do not turn that blender on.
And what is it with these elves?
To Danielle, who works in a hospital and has seen their elf in the operating theatre and zooming around in the hospital's vacuum canister.
And finally to Olivia and her elf, listening all the way over there in Washington DC, Wishing you guys a white Christmas.
And yes, there's a Lego prize pack for the wackiest elf hiding spot, and I'll be announcing the winner this Friday.
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.
Bluey's new Australian-made video game is called... Is it... A. Bluey's Golden Goose Chase...
Is it B, Bluey's Quest for the Gold Pen, or C, Bluey and the Great Crayon Caper?
MUSIC It is in fact B, Bluey's Quest for the Gold Pen.
Question number two.
This is a true or false one.
True or false, the new social media ban applies to all teenagers under the age of 18.
MUSIC
That one is false.
It applies to all teenagers under the age of 16.
Question number three.
The world's fastest shed reached a top speed of how many kilometres per hour?
It was a whopping 198 kilometres an hour.
Congratulations if you got that.
Shout out.
It's Wednesday, December 10, Human Rights Day.
This year's theme is our everyday essentials and a reminder that human rights aren't just big ideas in books.
They're things that we rely on every single day, often without even noticing.
Did you know that kids have the right to play?
Now that's a human right we can all get behind.
It's also a special day for these quiz kids celebrating a birthday today.
Zach from the Gold Coast, Milton from Yass, Kayleigh from Exeter, Carter from Orange, Violet from Guymea Bay, Ruben from Cromer, Annabelle and Edward from Crow's Nest and Isabelle listening all the way over there in London UK.
And a belated birthday shout out goes to Ariana from Devonport and Tarmone from Mackay.
Classroom shoutouts today go to Class TA19 with Mr Hampshire at South Balladura Primary School.
Class 6S with Mr Sargent at Tregear Public School.
Class 6E with Ms Crawley at Blackburn Lake Primary School.
And a very special shoutout to Class 5GM with Ms Phillip at Pacific Pines Primary School on the Gold Coast, who I met earlier this year, and they are legends.
And a reminder if you celebrate a birthday over the Christmas break, send us your birthday shout-out by this Friday, December 12, and we'll make sure to include your birthday shout-out in the weekly quizzes that will be going out each Friday of the school holidays.
Drop us a line at squizkidsatthesquiz.com.au or you can fill out the form on our website.
Well, that's all we have time for.
Thanks for listening to Squiz Kids today.
We'll be back again tomorrow.
In the meantime, get out there and have a most excellent day.
Over and out.
