C.H.I.L.D. Center preps for concert

The Creative Hours in the Learning Development (C.H.I.L.D.) Center will be holding its second annual Christmas Holiday Extravaganza concert performed by children from 2 to 5 years old.

The C.H.I.L.D. Center is a department on campus within the Division of Student Affairs and is also a part of the College of Education and Professional Studies. The center provides care to the children of students, faculty and staff and to the community.

On its homepage, which can be found within the UW-River Falls website by searching C.H.I.L.D. Center, it is said that they also serve as a fieldwork site for programs including but not limited to Early Childhood, Elementary Education, Communicative Disorders, Social Work, Counseling and School Psychology.

Michelle Webb, program assistant at the C.H.I.L.D. Center, said that music professor Camilla Horne had the idea to do the Christmas concert last year. Horne comes voluntarily every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning to teach music to the children in each age group: preschoolers, toddlers and infants.

“Last year we did it in our activity room here and it was very crowded; so this year it will be nice because grandmas and grandpas, aunts, uncles will be able to make it and not be crammed in there,” Webb said.

This year the concert will be from 6 to 7 p.m., on Tuesday, Dec. 17, in the Kleinpell Fine Arts building in the Abbott Concert Hall. The kids will be singing “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” “Frosty the Snowman,” “Jingle Bells” and all the basic fun holiday songs. There is even a sing along for all the family members to get involved with at the end of the holiday concert.

Horne says that the Holiday Program gives the children an opportunity to perform some of the many songs and dances the kids have been learning since September. In addition to her regular teaching load as a professor, she said that it does take extra prep time and planning, but that the benefits of working with the children outweigh the scheduling and time management challenges.

“It will be interesting to see how the children react to being on a real stage,” Horne said. “I am confident that they will do really well and enjoy performing just like the big college kids do.”

With girls wearing their holiday dresses and the boys being a hit or miss in dressing up, they are all excited to share their hard work from the past few weeks of practicing at the C.H.I.L.D. Center.

The little voices will be accompanied by a piano and background music. The concert is mainly for parents and family members, and those invited by Horne or directors at the C.H.I.L.D. Center, but no one will be kicked out if they walk in to listen to the holiday cheer.

“The children are so responsive, enthusiastic, full of energy, and eager to learn. I love making music with them,” Horne said.

Email childcenter@uwrf.edu or call 715-425-0656 for more information about the C.H.I.L.D. Center.