UK – Dyson has created a series of science and engineering tasks to help children stay entertained during lockdown.

The concept, consisting of 44 challenge cards, aims to provide stimulation for kids as families adjust to spending more time at home. Created by Dyson’s designers, the cards include activities such as making a marble run, building a periscope and designing a bridge made of spaghetti.

Each project comes with a brief, a list of materials – most of which can be found at home – and an explanation of the science behind the challenge. In this way, Dyson is helping to mitigate the need to spend on new toys and games during lockdowns, while also stepping in to ease the difficulties faced by families in place of formal education.

By focusing on hand-built tasks that use objects found at home, the brand is also encouraging people to step away from screen-based activities, with further potential to support families and children from lower income backgrounds.

According to research by Alibaba Group, its dedicated live-streaming channel Taobao Live has demonstrated notable growth during the Covid-19 pandemic.

With local retailers quickly rethinking modes of operation to retain sales, Taobao Live has attracted more than 800m monthly active users to Alibaba’s e-commerce sites. In February, during China’s coronavirus peak, the platform waived its fees for bricks-and-mortar retailers, resulting in an increase of 719% in first-time merchant users compared with the previous month.

In particular, car brands became some of the most active, using live-streams hosted by in-store employees at authorised dealerships. The platform says it has hosted more than 15,000 car-related streams to date.

With an increasing number of brands hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, retailers have been opting for live-stream opportunities as an alternative to physical operations.