Australian group Junkyard Beats spotlights reuse, sustainability

A high-energy performance titled “Junklandia” by the Australian percussion group Junkyard Beats transported young schoolchildren into a magical world of music and dance at the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF 2025), which got under way at Expo Center Sharjah on April 23.

The three performers from Junkyard Beats introduced themselves as siblings from the faraway planet Junklandia who were out on a mission to Earth to teach its inhabitants the Junklandian ways of music and creative recycling.

For this, they transformed ordinary household items into musical instruments to create a toe-tapping, electric atmosphere that soon had the primary schoolchildren dancing away under the stage.

The interactive school show was also a lesson in sustainability where children learnt that everyday objects that are often discarded – barrels, waste bins, water cans, paint buckets and the like – can become snazzy musical instruments. The explosive beats, dynamic dance, and circus tricks were just the heady mix of non-stop fun the children needed to boost their day.

The female lead of the group introduced children to the oldest musical instrument – the body – and demonstrated how they could make different sounds by cupping one’s palm and clapping over the mouth.

The next performance used everyday kitchen utensils like pans, scrapers, and ladles to produce sounds that had a musical twang to them.

Improvised buckets, cardboard boxes and long-handled brooms were next in line engaging and inspiring the tiny tots while also giving them lessons in creativity, teamwork, and sustainability. They clapped and laughed and danced as the show raged on with never a dull moment in it. It was also a revelation that one man’s junk can be another’s treasure and source of joy, and to find happiness in the ordinary.

Taking place from April 23 to May 4 at Expo Centre Sharjah, the 16th edition of SCRF promises an immersive experience under the theme “Dive into Books”. Organised by the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA), this year’s agenda will feature 133 guests from 70 countries, and 122 Arab and international publishing houses from 22 nations.

For more information on this free-to-attend event, visit www.scrf.ae.

Cyner sleuths

The Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF) witnessed a buzz of excitement as young school students became cyber detectives for the day, participating in one of the 12-day festival’s many hands-on workshops, ‘Password Cracking’.

The session tasked each child with a unique challenge: to crack the password on a simulated portal using only the clues and tools provided.

“Each portal has a unique set of instructions. The aim is for children to see first-hand how weak or predictable passwords can be effortlessly broken by hackers,” explained Ikrim Aljuli, the workshop instructor and a computer engineering expert. “What surprises us most is that while these children have grown up with tablets, many still struggle with the basic mechanics of using a laptop, mouse, and keyboard. It’s a timely reminder that exposure to technology isn’t the same as digital literacy.”

In an era where children are digital natives, one might assume that today’s youngsters are innately adept at navigating the perils of the online world. Yet, as the 16th edition of the Reading Festival reveals, there remains a critical gap in children’s understanding of cyber security – a gap that this year’s festival is working hard to bridge.

When asked about the importance of teaching cyber security at such a young age, instructor Abdullah Rfare noted, “Most kids have no idea how to protect their accounts. Through sessions like this, they learn to recognise signs of hacking and the importance of creating robust passwords. Instead of using ‘12345’, they’re encouraged to create complex passwords – blending letters, numbers, and special characters – which are much harder to crack.”

The workshop took an ethical hacking approach, allowing children to adopt the persona of ‘white hat’ hackers – those who use their skills for good, in contrast to ‘black hat’ and ‘grey hat’ hackers. The session illustrated how quickly a simple password can be compromised: “If your password is only six letters long, it can be cracked in just 11 hours. But a nine-character password? That could take a thousand years to break,” said Ikrim, as the children readied to test their new skills.