Child development sophomore Megan Thelen, left, paints a heart on the face of Gaia Yun, 4, of Okemos at the MSU Child Development Laboratory’s 80th birthday celebration Saturday at the East Lansing laboratory. Current and former students along with staff were all invited to the celebration.
The sound of mandolins, pianos and playground equipment filled the East Lansing MSU Child Development Laboratory on Saturday as more than 300 current and former students and staff celebrated the school’s 80th anniversary.
Kellye Wood, director of the East Lansing laboratory, 325 W. Grand River Ave., said the idea for the celebration came unexpectedly.
“We were reading some of our archive materials and we realized it’s our 80th birthday,” Wood said. “It’s been the most enduring experience, because people have come in before today to give us photos (or) to bring us old newspaper clippings.
“It’s been a wonderful chance for people who care about children to come together and talk about everything the (laboratory) has meant in their lives.”
As a part of the College of Social Science, the Child Development Laboratory provides preschool programs for children 19 months to 5 years old and gives MSU education and family and child ecology students a chance to observe and volunteer in the classroom.
The laboratory has another location in Haslett.
The two laboratories focus on early childhood development research.
Grace Spaulding, who has been teaching at the laboratories for more than 20 years, said the focus on the children at the laboratories has contributed to its lasting success.
“I think it’s the building of a positive relationship with the children,” Spaulding said.
“Parents like it when you know their kid and when you have an interaction with them.”
The event featured students’ artwork and crafts, music from former teacher Laura Stein’s band and refreshments, as former students such as East Lansing resident Thomas Lammers reminisced about his time at the school.
Lammers, who attended the East Lansing laboratory for two years, credited the atmosphere as the reason why he returned.
“(After) eight years of not seeing everyone, it’s good to come back, and everything just seems so smaller now,” Lammers said.
The Child Development Laboratory has been a part of MSU since 1927, when it was located at the Union and known as the Laboratory Preschool, said Laurie Linscott, director of the Haslett campus.
The East Lansing laboratory moved around campus before landing at its current location when Breslin Center was built in 1988.
Linscott said she hopes the research and teaching accomplishments of the laboratories will continue into the future.
“I would hope that we continue to develop a knowledge about child development and best practice so that 80 years from now, families are coming back and still have those fond memories of their time here,” Linscott said.
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