Bob versus the virus

Bob woke up and went to give his Mummy a cuddle. He did this every morning before school.

This was Bobs second day of home school. School had finished early this year because of a virus that made people poorly.

When Bob cuddled up to his Mummy she said that things had changed AGAIN!

She said that the world was feeling very poorly and needed to rest for a while before we could all go out and play again.

This made Bob feel sad.

He asked his Mummy what we were doing to help the world feel better? He was worried that leaving it alone would only make it lonely.

His Mummy told him that the best thing for the world was to rest for a while.
But this didn’t make Bob feel any happier.

Bob loved to make people feel better, and he loved to invent things!

He ran to his room and started to think of all the things that made him feel better when he was poorly.
Sometimes his Mummy made him drink yucky medicine, which made him feel better. He wasn’t sure if the world had a mouth though, so he carried on thinking.

His Mummy always gave him hugs when he felt poorly and that made him feel safe and loved.
What could he invent to give the world a hug?

He drew in his inventing book a picture of some giant hands, big enough to hug the world. They would need to be powered by gigantic rockets in space.

This could work!

But then he remembered how squished he felt when he was hugged and he wasn’t sure if the people on Earth would like being squished by giant hands.

He turned over the page in his inventing book.

There must be something he could do to make the world feel better!

It was lunch time, so Bob ate and did some more thinking.

Bob remembered how much much he enjoyed being tucked into bed with a cosy blanket and his favourite teddy when he was poorly.

He got drawing and invented the biggest blanket for the world. He would have to get all the Grandmas knitting, it was going to be huge!

But then he remembered that the world needed the Sun to live, and even though some of the world was always dark, it was never for very long. Bob didn’t think that the world would want to be covered in a giant blanket all of the time.

Bob had spent all day inventing and thinking and hadn’t come up with anything!
This made Bob feel very sad.

As Bob went to sleep he hoped that the next day he would think of an invention to make the world feel better.

The next morning, Bob had another brilliant idea!

Since the virus that was making everyone and the world poorly started, his Mummy had told him that he must wash his hands with soap and water, as it made the virus go away!

Bob decided to invent the biggest bar of soap in the world so that the world could get better!
He ran to the bathroom to get a bar of soap so he could think of how to make it bigger.

Bob remembered he had seen on a TV show a super cool gadget that could make things grow bigger!
Bob spent all morning drawing and thinking, trying to invent a gadget, but it couldn’t.

This made Bob feel very sad.

At lunch time Bob asked his Mummy how soap was made. She said that you need a mould, which holds the liquid soap until it sets hard.

After lunch Bob tried to invent a giant mould to make a giant bar of soap. Then he thought of a really clever idea!

Bob decided that he could take the roof off the biggest building in the world and use it to make the soap with.

But there was a problem. Once the soap set, Bob would need to break the building apart to get to the soap. He didn’t think anyone would be happy with that idea.

This made Bob feel sad. But Bob did not give up.

The next day after another good night's sleep, he had yet another brilliant idea!

His Mummy used other things to clean the house with apart from soap and water!

Bob wasn't allowed to use the dangerous cleaning things, but he loved using the broom to sweep the floor with.

Bob rushed to find the broom and took it upstairs to his inventing desk.

The broom had a long wooden handle, and soft brown plastic bristles at the end. Bob drew it very carefully in his book.

The broom would need to be HUGE if it was going to sweep the virus away from the world.

Bob had to think very hard about how to make a giant wooden broom. Then Bob remembered that the trees in the forest were also made of wood!

He could go to the forest and find the biggest, tallest tree, chop it down and use it as his broom handle.
But there was a problem.

Bob thought the world would get very sad if he chopped down a tree that had been growing for years and years. He thought of all the time the world had spent looking after the trees, watering and feeding them until they grew big and strong.

Bob didn’t want anyone else to feel as sad as he was, and he thought that the world must be feeling pretty sad already if it was feeling poorly.

At lunchtime Bobs’ Mummy decided that Bob should stop trying to invent a way for the world to feel better. She set him a new inventing challenge.

That afternoon, Bob was very busy inventing. This time, he couldn’t find any problems with his ideas.
This made Bob feel very happy.

When Bob had finished drawing out his inventions he proudly showed his Mummy the ideas that he had. At the top of the page was the title

Inventions to make Bob happy

Bob had designed an ice cream making machine, a football machine and a TV watching machine.
The next morning Bob and his Mummy spent time playing football together. In the afternoon they sat and watched TV with a bowl of icecream to share.

This made Bob (and his Mummy) very happy indeed.