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Welcome to this week's TUESDAY TOTS. Brought to you weekly by Learn with Play at home (that's us), Rainy Day Mum and One Perfect Day.

This week we are showcasing

"7 free kids printables"

I think collecting free printables is something I quite enjoy. Have a look at my Free Printables Pinterest board and tell me what you think. With over 2,000 great quality free printables on it, it's no wonder there are more than 20,000 board followers. I guess I'm not the only one who loves a good free printable. The amount of possibilities from a printed piece of paper is pretty mind blowing really. Here are 7 fabulous kid printables for all sorts of useful purposes.

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On this weeks Tuesday Tots we are showcasing

"10 ways to play and learn outside"

Generally the only activity my kids need when they're outside, is being outside. There is so much that nature provides that can keep children entertained for ages. However, if you're looking for a few ways to enhance your outside experience or to find new ways to learn with play outside, here are 10 lovely ideas for you.

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Welcome to TUESDAY TOTS. Brought to you weekly by Learn with Play at home (that's us), Rainy Day Mum and One Perfect Day.

This week we are showcasing

"10 Toys for kids that you can make yourself"

So many of the toys nowadays have such limited uses for kids. When buying toys for kids, I try and look out for open-ended educational toys with multiple uses. The price of toys has also gone up so why not save yourself some money and have a try at making some of these fun items for the kids to play with? Many of them use materials that you should already have around the house and it's great to recycle wherever you can. Time to get making!

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Welcome to TUESDAY TOTS. Apologies that it is late this week (again). I really should call it Wednesday Tots, haha. 
Brought to you weekly by Learn with Play at home (that's us), Rainy Day Mum and One Perfect Day.

This week we are showcasing

"6 Play Ideas for Babies"

There are a million and one "baby toys" available in the shops. That should be enough to keep baby entertained and learning, right? Shame my babies were never really interested in the colourful plastic that kept showing up at our house, and the uses of many were so limited that it's no wonder they never really captured their attention. There are so many ways that babies can play and learn from the materials you already have in your house or can buy cheaply from craft shops. (They usually find them much more exciting as well.) Here are 6 interesting ideas for babies that will keep them entertained and more importantly will aid in practicing a variety of different skills and learning areas.  **As with all activities involving young children, be sure to supervise.

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Follow us on Pinterest for tons of great kids activities and ideas.

Welcome to TUESDAY TOTS. Apologies that it is late this week. 
Brought to you weekly by Learn with Play at home (that's us), Rainy Day Mum and One Perfect Day.

This week we are showcasing

"5 Activity Ideas for Creative Kids"

Here are 5 creative, arty, open-ended activities for your kids. Most of these activities use materials that you're bound to already have in your supplies and are simple to set-up. Suitable for creative kids of all ages. (My 2 year old and 5 year old both equally loved doing #1 in their own ways and would have a red-hot go at any of the others.)

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Welcome to TUESDAY TOTS. Brought to you weekly by Learn with Play at home (that's us), Rainy Day Mum and One Perfect Day.

This week we are showcasing

"10 Pretend Play Ideas"

Pretend Play or Imaginative Play is a huge part of growing up. Children are naturally drawn to imitating and copying the actions of those they see around them. Pretend play provides them with opportunities to practice a wide variety of skills in a safe way. From oral language development and socialisation to specific physical skills and creativity, imaginative play allows for so much and is to be encouraged. Here are 10 fun ideas that you could use to encourage your child's love of pretend play, with lots of clever little props and additions that you can provide to make the experience even more fun and entertaining.

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Welcome to TUESDAY TOTS. Brought to you weekly by Learn with Play at home (that's us), Rainy Day Mum and One Perfect Day.

This week we are showcasing

"7 water play activities"

Water play is often thought of as "summer play" or something reserved for hot weather, however, depending on the activity, children can incorporate water play whatever the weather. As a readily available sensory material (in our part of the world, anyway),  water play is often very inexpensive, easy to set-up and loved by children of all ages. Here are a collection of 7 different activities involving water, one for each day of the week. Number 6 would be best saved for warmer weather, but the rest can be attempted at any time, with a number being suitable for indoor play.

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Welcome to TUESDAY TOTS. Brought to you weekly by Learn with Play at home (that's us), Rainy Day Mum and One Perfect Day.

This week we are showcasing

"6 Games to practice Reading"

Learning to read is one of those very important developmental milestones for kids. The completely awesome thing about learning to read is that really, all you need to do to learn to read, is to read (and read, and read, and read).
Ok, so generally there is a starting point to learning to read formally, which is by learning letters. But learning to read should start long before individual letter learning and it comes from being read to as a child. For children to learn how to read they need to be read to continuously and they need to have opportunities to read text in all forms.
To help with the comprehension of text, children often practice sight words so that their reading flows more easily and understanding is not lost. Just reading over letters and lists of sight words isn't the most interesting activity for kids though, so here are 6 games from last week's Tuesday Tots link-up, that make practicing reading fun.

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Welcome to TUESDAY TOTS. Brought to you weekly by Learn with Play at home (that's us), Rainy Day Mum and One Perfect Day.

This week we are showcasing

"10 Rock Activities"

Rocks are a favourite material at our place and are often used in a variety of sensory activities or imaginative play scenes. We have a large tub full of smooth black river rocks that we purchased for a few dollars from a place that sells garden supplies. Here in Australia places like Bunnings, The Reject Shop, Big W, etc. all stock them and won't set you back much for enough to play with. Here are a bunch of fun activities and ideas we found for playing and learning with rocks.

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Welcome to TUESDAY TOTS. Brought to you weekly by Learn with Play at home (that's us), Rainy Day Mum and One Perfect Day.

This week we are showcasing

"Activities for Preschoolers"

Preschoolers are at that amazing stage of being open and receptive to trying new things and new experiences, but have reasonably well developed fine and gross motor skills that allows them to more confidently approach certain tasks, that may have been a little too involved for when they were a toddler. Their attention span is also generally better so they can concentrate on activities that they may not have had the patience for before. Here are a collection of activities that preschoolers would enjoy and learn from.

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Activities for teaching children to write

Before children can write, they need to build up the necessary fine-motor skills. Involving them in a range of fine motor activities will allow them to develop the muscle strength and coordination necessary for writing.

Like many things that children must learn, writing is something that comes with time and practice. It also often goes hand in hand with learning letters and learning your name.

Enticing children to write and make marks in a variety of ways and for a variety of purposes will help them develop the skill over time. In the title picture above, we were practicing writing our name. I wrote the name in highlighter and children can write over that with pen or pencil. Little dots with arrows showed where the letter needed to be started and the direction they needed to go.

Below are a good range of activities and ideas to help with teaching children how to write.

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Welcome back to TUESDAY TOTS. (Apologies for the late posting this week). Brought to you weekly by Learn with Play at home (that's us), Rainy Day Mum and One Perfect Day.

Announcement: In order to keep up with the demands of our own households and also those of our readers, Cerys (from Rainy Day Mum), Ness (from One Perfect Day) and myself, have decided to open the Tuesday Tots link up to play ideas, activities and child related posts suitable from birth to teens. 

Where once we only shared ideas for those under the age of 5, we will now be sharing activities, ideas and posts for a larger range of ages/abilities. We look forward to seeing all the new material that is linked up from talented bloggers worldwide and featuring our top picks for the week.

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Welcome back to TUESDAY TOTS

Brought to you weekly by Learn with Play at home (that's us), Rainy Day Mum,
and One Perfect Day

This week we are showcasing

"10 simple Sensory Play ideas"

Currently, my son (aged 2) is completely mesmerized by sensory play. He is particularly interested in the sense of touch and the squidgier and squashier (and messier) it is, the more he enjoys it! Sensory play isn't just all messy play though. It includes activities that allow children to explore through their senses, including sight, feel, smell, sound and taste. It is through sensory play that children learn and discover more about the world around them. Here are a collection of 10 simple ideas from last week's linkup, that cover various senses and use materials that most of us have easy access to. 

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Welcome back to TUESDAY TOTS

Brought to you weekly by Learn with Play at home (that's us), Rainy Day Mum,
and One Perfect Day

This week we are showcasing

"8 Activities to help learn colours"

One of the first things that many children learn are their colours. (Yes, that's how we spell colour (color) here in Australia). It is such an obvious and everyday occurrence for children that it makes sense that they would find the need to classify, organise and understand their world in colours. Here are a fun collection of ideas from last week's Tuesday Tots linkup, that will help children learn their colours, but at the same time work on important skills such as fine motor, sorting, grouping, gross motor, numbers/counting, patterns and more.

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Welcome back to TUESDAY TOTS

Brought to you weekly by Learn with Play at home (that's us), Rainy Day Mum,
and One Perfect Day

This week we are showcasing

"9 Rainbow themed activities and ideas"

With St Patrick's Day approaching, it's no surprise that last weeks Tuesday Tots linkup was full of great Rainbow themed ideas. Here are 9 different ideas to give your day that splash of colour it needs!

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Follow us on Pinterest for tons of great kids activities and ideas.

Welcome back to TUESDAY TOTS

Brought to you weekly by Learn with Play at home (that's us), Rainy Day Mum,
and One Perfect Day

This week we are showcasing

"10 cool things to make with kids"

Making things with kids isn't always about the end result. There is so much to be gained from a bit of DIY with children. From learning concepts of recycling to language, maths, creativity and so much more. The process is almost always enjoyed more than the end result, but you'll find with many of these 10 ideas, (which came from last weeks Tuesday Tots linkup) you finish up with something really cool at the end. Bonus!

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Welcome back to TUESDAY TOTS

This week we are showcasing

"10 simple maths activities for kids"

These fun, hands-on activities came from last weeks Tuesday Tots linkup and most are suitable for kids aged between 2-5. For the younger children, focus more on the really open-ended hands-on play ideas like the sensory tubs and baskets and look at things like shapes, colours, basic size differences and counting small collections. As your child gets older, activities that are a little more focused like corresponding amounts to numbers, counting and adding larger numbers and basic measurement are great to build upon the foundations they have already learnt.

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Follow us on Pinterest for tons of great kids activities and ideas.

Welcome back to TUESDAY TOTS

Brought to you weekly by Learn with Play at home (that's us), Rainy Day Mum,
and One Perfect Day

This week we are showcasing

"9 Fine Motor Activities for Kids"

These great posts came from last weeks Tuesday Tots linkup and most are suitable for children aged from about 6 months up. When it comes to toys and activities to develop fine motor skills, you will find that you don't need to buy anything special. Here you will find a fun range of ideas and activities that you can make or put together yourself, generally using stuff you already have at home.

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Welcome back to TUESDAY TOTS

Brought to you weekly by Learn with Play at home (that's us), Rainy Day Mum,
and One Perfect Day

This week we are showcasing

"8 Painting Activities for Toddlers"

These great posts came from last weeks Tuesday Tots linkup and most are suitable for children aged from about 6 months up. Toddlers in particular should have a great time trying out all these different ways. Painting offers a wonderful sensory experience for children and allows them to develop their creativity, colour knowledge, oral and descriptive language skills, fine-motor skills and more.

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Welcome back to TUESDAY TOTS

Brought to you weekly by Learn with Play at home (that's us), Rainy Day Mum,
and One Perfect Day

This week we are showcasing

8 FUN snack ideas for kids

These great posts came from last weeks Tuesday Tots linkup

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