Summer for All Comes to Connecticut

Summer is a time for outdoors, water fun, and laughing with friends. However for millions of children across the country, summer is a time of isolation and choices that may have negative consequences for years to come in their lives. While middle and high income peers are provided a multitude of summer activities, low income […]

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Ice Dye Color Theory

Back in February, Shawna shared a worksheet to help staff create activities based on their own interests, and as promised she’s back with her tie-dye inspired activity, Ice Dye Color Theory. Shawna found her love for tie-dye, especially using the ice dye technique, during the pandemic. We even hosted a team building where the network […]

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Teen Art Exhibition!

This month Shawna had the team help her demo a few Mizzen activities! They gathered to create a call for art for the fall conference using the Teens Curate Teens Collection. The collection is a series of 6 activities, empowering teens to curate their very own art exhibition. The activities begin with developing a theme […]

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Making Comics!

The Network surveyed the field recently, and found that you wanted more arts content, so Shawna’s answering the call with this month’s PD Bite. She explored the first two activities in the Making Comics! Mizzen collection. A collection with 7 different parts, making it an easy to implement curriculum.  The first activity, Making Comics Part […]

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Creating Activities based on Staff Interests

Are you struggling to keep students engaged during program time? Finding activities, a little dry, even for you? Have you ever thought about developing activities based on your interests? Shawna created a worksheet for you to explore just that. In this month’s PD Bite, Shawna linked the worksheet so you can print it and use […]

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Activities for Indoors

Now that the weather is cold, that means more program time is spent inside. It can be hard to keep kids engaged while they are all cooped up. I’ve explored the Mizzen App to find some activities that are great for the colder months.  One of my favorite activities I tested while doing the Mizzen […]

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The Network is Celebrating 35 Years!

The Network is celebrating 35 years of after school excellence…and more! In 1989, the Network was founded as the Connecticut School Age Child Care Alliance (CSACCA) at the first After School Conference. Since then, we changed names (2x), moved to several locations and employed over 20 people. In addition to our after school work, we […]

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OST STEM Experience

The Connecticut Science Center and CT Network for Children and Youth (CTNCY) are thrilled to offer a brand-new series of workshops centered around developing skills, expertise, and programming to assist afterschool providers in creating meaningful, fun STEM experiences and engagement opportunities for students. We know your time is very valuable, stipends will be offered to […]

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Building 3D Sandwiches & Color Collages

Two years ago, I created a YouTube video highlighting the playlist feature on the Mizzen app. The playlist “Art Projects for K-5th Grade at Home or in Small Groups” included the “Building 3D Sandwiches” & “Color Collage” Activities. My 3D Sandwich is one of my most prized decorations in my office, as you can see […]

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Help Us Help YOU!

Hi, I’m Ashley! I’m a graduate student in the Community Psychology program at CCSU and I’m interning with the Network this fall to help conduct a needs assessment project. In the spring, a group of my classmates and I worked with the network on a pilot needs assessment in which we heard from some afterschool […]

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