CASY Family Newsletter
December 2021
The CASY office will be closed:
December 23rd, 24th, 27th, 31st
The building will remain closed December 28th, 29th & 30th while staff will be working remotely and available by phone and email
Managing the Holidays
Do you wish for stress-free holidays? Join CASY's Family Engagement Specialists for tips and discussions to help your family navigate the holidays with less stress.
Observe, Explore, Discover! Engaging Young Children in STEM
Making the Healthy Choice the Easy Choice
Loose Parts 2: Inspiring Play with Infants and Toddlers
If toddlers learn through exploration, wouldn’t it be common sense to offer them the type of playthings that spark the most curiosity and creative motivation?
Don’t search for these exceptional learning tools in the toy aisle. Look in your kitchen drawers, or perhaps even the recycling bin. Small boxes with lids, measuring cups, cardboard tubes, or jar lids are among the many possibilities.
Call them what you like—loose parts, open-ended toys, or passive play objects—they are essential ingredients for play. Once you intentionally infuse your infant and toddler environment with these materials, the possibilities for learning and play will explode. Find out more.
How to Buy Safe Toys
Children can have a lot of fun playing with their toys. However, it's important to keep in mind that safety should always come first. Each year thousands of children are injured by toys.
Read here to learn what to look for when buying toys and how a few simple ideas for safe use can often prevent injuries.
Holiday Decorating Safety Tips
Twinkly lights, candles, holiday trees and plants, ornaments and other decorations are an important part of holiday celebrations. Besides being festive and fun, the decorations your family brings out every year can help children feel connected to family traditions.
To help make sure your decorations are safe, the American Academy of Pediatrics offers some tips. Find them here.
44 Children's Books About Mental Health
Best books for helping kids understand emotional and learning challenges
8 Creative Ideas to Help Your Child Learn New Words
Language development happens very rapidly in early childhood -- it’s especially amazing to watch in the first two years of a child’s life (Galinksy 2010). This means that infants’ and toddlers’ home and family play a critical role in language and vocabulary growth. Children learn new words mainly by hearing them in a meaningful context (which often includes a story’s illustrations or a speaker’s gestures).
Reading to and with children, and engaging them in conversations, are great ways to build their vocabularies. However, if they are exposed to interesting words only once, or a limited number of times, they may only have a partial understanding of the word meaning (Christ & Wang 2010). Children must be exposed to new words multiple times and in different contexts to fully understand their meaning.
CCDF Eligibility Office Updates
Effective, December 12, 2021, all CCDF/On My Way clients in the following counties will be serviced by the Children’s Bureau:
Blackford, Boone, Clinton, Grant, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Henry, Howard, Johnson, Madison, Montgomery, Morgan, Putnam, Shelby, and Tipton.
We want to assure you that your child care voucher will not be affected by this change. The only difference is clients will contact the new office to apply for child care assistance, schedule appointments, submit documentation, report changes and answer questions in regards to the CCDF voucher program.
Boone, Clinton, Howard, Montgomery, & Tipton Counties:
Children's Bureau, Inc. - CCDF Program
50 Professional Court, Suite A
Lafayette, IN 47905
812-870-8638 Office
833-903-2331 Fax
Blackford, Grant, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Henry, Johnson, Madison, Morgan, Putnam & Shelby Counties:
Children's Bureau, Inc. - CCDF Program
3801 N Temple Ave
Indianapolis, IN 46205
317-545-5281 Office
866-287-2420 Toll Free
317-545-5281 Fax
For personalized support in finding a child care program that best meets your family's needs,
contact CASY, Child Care Resource and Referral, Family Engagement Specialists
at 800-886-3952 and choose option 2.
You can also complete the referral request form by clicking here.
Our Family Engagement Specialists will follow up with you by the next business day when you submit the online form.
Build Learn Grow Scholarship Extended to March 2022
For families with qualifying incomes, classified as essential workers, the state of Indiana can cover 80% of your child care costs for kids up to age 12. That even includes before-school and after-school care.
Visit https://brighterfuturesindiana.org/scholarships/families to learn more and apply.
Many Hoosier families have either lost jobs or left the workforce due to COVID-19. From the job search to the interview, it takes time to find a job, and it’s even more difficult to do it with children at home to care for. To help, Indiana is providing temporary child care assistance so Hoosier parents can spend their time focusing on getting back to work. Families who qualify for On My Way PreK or CCDF financial support are also eligible job searching, participating in job training programs, interviewing, completing employment requirements and getting settled in their new job.
- Want to learn more about temporary child care assistance for job-seeking Hoosier families? Click here!
- Ready to apply? Click here!
Stay Connected
Email: admin@casyonline.org
Website: http://casyonline.org/
Location: 1101 South 13th Street, Terre Haute, IN, USA
Phone: 800-886-3952
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CASY.Inc