COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Weekend Update 29th / 30th January 2022

There is no case data from Northern Ireland today. Some Scottish data may also be missing, and from tomorrow we get reinfection data - because at the moment most cases only count if they are a first time for someone.

UK Daily Statistics:
Cases: 16,468,522 (+62,399)
Losses of Life: 155,698 (+85)
Tests: 1,285,156
Vaccinations 1st Dose: 52,331,601 (91% of UK age 12+)
Vaccinations 2nd Dose: 48,385,074 (84.1%)
Boosted: 37,263,317 (64.8%)

Rep. Of Ireland: 1,169,645 cases and 6,136 losses of life (not yet reported today)

World: 374,079,792 reported cases and 5,678,233 officially reported losses of life.

"30 January 2020 - two years ago today, WHO declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern to alert the world to the dangers of COVID19.
A Public Health Emergency of International Concern is  WHO’ s highest level of alert under international law."
The World Health Organisation. 

Happy Anniversary to all of us... 2 years ago I was mostly a games and young adult books reviewer who loved STEM and kids science, and in a previous life used to teach people for the NHS. I certainly cannot believe I'm still here...
Sometimes life makes plans for us.  

It's been just over a year since the first cases of COVID emerged, and yet we already seem to have been under restrictions for about 4 years. Being at home doesn't mean the end of all entertainment - lots of folks have moved online, and lots have been working online for years, but you might not have noticed.... 

Here are a host of people who are still entertaining us, teaching us and putting on events - and anyone can join in, whatever the weather, wherever you are.... 

It's all very different, but that doesn't mean we can't still make it fun! When we look back, we won't really remember 2 weeks of self-isolating that turned into nothing, or all the hours we were trying to work while the kids asked endless questions. The things we'll remember the most will be the times we laughed at technology fails, the zoom calls with Grandma, the fact we sent parcels and letters. The precious hours getting to really know our family, the NHS, the rainbows, Marcus Rashford, and most of all, the way we still made it work.  

Here are lots of people who are still making it work in order to entertain us, and maybe teach us a few things along the way... Throughout the post are some printables that you can click on, save and print off on A4 paper... 

To book onto sessions you need to join the Bright Sparks, which is free to families on low incomes, and during the Coronavirus pandemic the £15 membership is also being waived, so that everyone can benefit. The sessions are FREE. Toddler sessions run on Tuesdays, family sessions on Saturdays. Sessions are open to all, and have to be booked via the Z-Arts website up until midnight the night before (you only need to book one ticket per family).

Toddler Sessions - Tuesdays, 10.00 - 10.30am
1st December, led by Gill - Kitchen Disco – let’s get fruity! Join Gill in a playful bendy yoga session themed on the fantastic story 'Kitchen Disco'.
8th December, led by Natasha - Hibernating - with The Very Hungry Caterpillar as inspiration.
15th December, led by Tom - Sticks and Stones workshop - create some winter characters that may be hidden outside. 

Family Sessions - Saturday 11.30am - 12.30pm
21st November, led by Gill - Find joy in the everyday - a mindful nature treasure hunt and then join Gill in creating a superb stick crown and some fantastical sculptures.
28th November, led by Yemi - Make & believe heritage in your home! You will uncover, search and explore items that represent your family’s culture.
5th December, led by Natasha - Christmas creations – reuse, recycle and repurpose.
12th December, led by Janine - Create your own Dreamcatchers - collect items on a winter's walk and join Janine to teach you the magic of  creating your very own Dreamcatcher.
19th December, led by Tom - Storyteller Tom shares his tips and tricks for creating new settings where your stories can be set.  Walk around your neighbourhood and put the things you see into your stories. 

Waterside are working with renowned family theatre company Wrongsemble to deliver an alternative online Festive Christmas show – HUMBUG – to homes and schools throughout the country.
All ages can enjoy seven filmed episodes of this exciting story throughout December, accompanied by an interactive HUMBUG ‘Fact File’ filled with 13 artefacts sent directly to your home.
HUMBUG takes place deep beneath the city, where a secret world full of wonder awaits; a place where wizards bake endless gingerbread, goblins bottle festive cheer, and there’s a whole department devoted to detangling fairy-lights! This is the Ministry of Make Believe.... Recently strange things have been happening at the Ministry. From nose-less snowmen, to exploding baubles, and a forest of bald Christmas trees – things are not quite right… It’s almost like someone (or something) is trying to sabotage Christmas! Together with Secret Agent Dash, audiences will help to solve the mystery and save the day!

1 - 31 December 2020, 7 short films - A £10 family ticket gives access to all 7 episodes of this online digital adventure throughout December, and is accompanied by an interactive HUMBUG Fact File filled with 13 artefacts sent directly to you.

Find out more and book online at Diverghub - online platform for Waterside arts & theatre

Everyone who would usually keep you busy out of the house will need to hold on to some of their plans for a while until it's safe for everyone, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to do. A lot of folk are still determined to entertain you and they have temporarily moved online, so here are some of the sights you can still see....virtually...

2019 is here with a bit of a blur for me. I seem to have fallen into it rather than the usual meandering approach through Christmas, possibly because I've slept more in the last 3 weeks than I did in the previous 3 months. Back to Earth with a bang, and a little reflection on the year just gone.


I've been invited to join in with the Top 7 tag by Laura from Tired Mummy Of Two. It was started by One Frazzled Mum and asks me to look back at 2018. To share my favourite 7 blog posts, 7 things I loved about 2018 and 7 things I'm looking forward to in 2019. Then I get to tag 7 other bloggers to take part.

The Young Explorer Kit from Trends UK is an excellent and well-working science set for children aged around 8+. It's not as 'young' as you might believe, with an impressive and useful Pocket Field Microscope, Binoculars, Compass and Notebook & Pencil. This is for intermediate explorers!


Everything is inside the box in a plastic insert, which can be used for storage afterwards, although realistically it's a big box and these are handy pocket-sized items which my son has instead stored in his treasure drawer. The Binoculars, Compass and Microscope all have a carry strap with a safety release, so you are less likely to have to pick them out of the mud when on explorations.

To see as we do, our brain takes the information it receives from both eyes, puts it together and makes sense of it. Your eyes can't take in everything all at once non-stop, so our brain fills in any missing information. Sometimes it gets it a little bit wrong...

EQUIPMENT:
Yourself
Paper - scrap paper is fine
A pen or something to draw with
Optional - A photograph

Normally we need to add or remove heat to change something from a solid, to a liquid, to a gas. Non-Newtonian Fluids are a liquid when left alone, but they behave more like a solid when we try to move them quickly or apply pressure... It can pour, but if you hit it, it can feel as hard as rock.



A Non-Newtonian Fluid is a fluid that breaks Newton's Law Of Viscosity. Viscosity is what we would call 'thickness' (for example, oil is 'thicker' than milk) and it usually affects how quickly something will move. Non-Newtonian fluids will pour, but they don't quite follow the rest of the standard rules for liquids.

This is a great little activity which takes seconds and, like the Gluten activity earlier, it helps children understand what it is that really makes up the foods they eat. We are going to scare colour into running away...


EQUIPMENT:
A breakfast bowl
About 2oz milk - enough to cover the bottom of the bowl. Any milk should work, although I've not tried them all!
A tiny amount of food colouring
2 drops of washing up liquid

It is time for this month's smiles, and it has been a pretty hard month for us. The Summer holidays are full of memories and waiting for results is very difficult to stomach, even if you disregard anything about the stress of the actual outcome.

Our young people, no doubt like yours, worked so hard and all had to keep going when they already had more than enough stress. Our household was not a happy place yesterday and one of our teenager's future career depended on really tough entrance qualifications. Thankfully that wait is now over and it's with a huge amount of pride that I say we will have 3 young people at University next month.

Not getting what you hoped never makes you a failure, it just makes it more difficult to take that path. There are a million more routes and a billion other options. You are so much more than your exam results.


Yesterday marked 4 years since we lost our 16 year old, Elspeth, and it made this week especially hard. I wrote about that yesterday, and I have to thank everyone who sent messages, replied to posts, commented, changed their profile photo or shared a sunflower. You are always there for us, and we couldn't be more thankful. To have so many people who care makes us richer than any amount of money ever could. Thank you.

Back in the old days, before plastic and huge toy companies filled our toy boxes, children had to make their own toys at home. Here's one we can all make which can also help us understand colours...


EQUIPMENT:
Large cardboard pieces - cereal box or pizza box is great. If you have no card then stiff paper works too.
A small plate - the cardboard must be at least as big as the plate.
Scissors
Pencil
Colouring pens or pencils
Ruler or a straight edge
A small book
A teaspoon with a plain handle
Sticky tack

This project helps you to understand some really complicated Scientific principles, including pressure, volume and buoyancy - but it is really easy and it's fun... And you don't need anything special.


EQUIPMENT:
A water bottle with a screw top lid.
Water
Small square interlocking construction bricks - 4 stud LEGO or similar.
Sticky Tack or Dough

Playing with water is great fun, but always make sure you are safe. Never lean your body over water more than 5cm deep without a safety harness or a responsible grown up, in case you fall in. You actually only need a sink half full of water to test your boat, but safety first...


EQUIPMENT:
A4 Paper - it will not survive it's bath, so scrap paper is perfect.
Wax Crayons

Hopefully you've made a paper boat before, and if not then it's definitely time. Paper isn't generally a very floaty material, but our boat can float for 5 minutes or more...

Every child has to make their coppers shiny at least once, it's a right of passage. This is a very effective experiment to make us all consider what we are really putting into our mouths and tummies...


EQUIPMENT:
Money - only coins. 1p and 2p 'copper' coins work best.
Small cups or jars - NOT metal. Glass is best.
Acids - for example, Cola, vinegar, lemon juice
Patience.

Human beings think we have free-will to do whatever we want, but nature has other ideas. We are bound by instinct and our bodies' will in just the same way as fish returning to their spawning grounds and birds flying South for Winter. Most of it is necessary to keep us alive and protect us from harm, or at least used to be necessary, and we often take our cues from people around us...


EQUIPMENT:
Yourself
Another person
We react to what other people do and even copy their actions - it is built into us and has protected humans from potential danger and made us 'part of the pack' for thousands of years. There is safety in numbers, not only because our mates can help us fight off bears, but they can help us spot potential dangers too.

There are absolutely loads of things you can make other people do without discussing it. Not everyone will fall for every trick, and a few people won't be completely caught out by any - but you should get some degree of success with anyone. Here are a few to try. If you want to prove your powers, write down what you are going to make them do, and show them afterwards.

We can't see lots of things, including a lot of gasses, but we can prove that they are there. We can create Carbon Dioxide gas very easily, and because it is heavier than air, we can use it for a trick...



EQUIPMENT:
1 candle - a tealight is perfect
1 bowl with about 1cm water in the bottom
A small jug, mug or beaker.
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 big glugs of vinegar (about 1oz)
Cling Film

Cavemen probably played with miniature catapults as children, the technology is incredibly old. They are very simple to make and this is one of the simplest. It is a great way to use energy and motion to create different types of energy and motion. Mechanics, powered by your finger...



EQUIPMENT:
Small collectible toys, rubber are best*. The type that come in blind bags and don't cost more than 50p each - then your mum won't be mad you won't be sad if you do temporarily lose any (don't use your favourites).
Dessert or soup spoon
Plastic water bottle, half full of water with the lid on tightly or cardboard tubes (kitchen roll or crisp tubes).
Sticky tape
Plastic bowls or similar for targets

*Small objects to fling - if you don't have any small collectible toys or yours are too precious to risk losing, you can use tightly crunched up paper. There are other rules:
a. Your objects cannot be metal or glass, or feel heavy or hard like metal or glass - e.g. dice.
b. Your objects cannot have sharp edges, points or corners.
c. Never aim towards animals or people, and watch out for your cat/baby brother getting into the way.
d. Your objects must not be bigger than the spoon, if they overlap the edges, they're too big.

The Butterfly Effect suggests that when a butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazon jungle, the ripples around the world might cause a roof to blow off in China, an apple to fall from a tree in the UK, or a Russian woman's hat might blow away. We see the butterflies' wings flap, but we can't see the waves of pressure it causes. In this activity we can hear them though...


EQUIPMENT:
A sheet of A4 paper

Today's 5 minute activity is one of the very simplest, but most effective. Our bodies and brains are incredibly complicated and clever, and most of the time they work together really well, but it is possible to confuse our brains and make it appear that something isn't what it seems.


EQUIPMENT:
Your hands
1 bowl cold water - from the cold tap
1 bowl lukewarm water - 2/3 cold and 1/3 hot
1 bowl warm water - comfortably warm and toasty

Science can't explain everything, but sometimes it has a very simple explanation for something that seems impossible. If you hit yeast extract (Marmite, Vegemite etc) it appears to change colour from very dark brown to very light tan colour, almost from black to white. But why?


EQUIPMENT:
1 level teaspoon Yeast Extract - Marmite, Vegemite etc.
A spoon, fish slice or other utensil to hit the yeast extract with.
A plastic plate or shallow bowl - not a Melamine camping plate, it'll break. The softer sort of plastic.