‘Contagious Tunes’ in Marquette

To kick off the Upper Peninsula Early Childhood Conference Thursday night, child development specialist Jim Gill, performed a special Family Fun Concert Thursday night.

Contagious Tunes is the name and fun learning is the game.

Jim Gill has been spreading music play to families for twenty years now.  Gill had a full house of kids and parents as he showcased his sing-a-long performances at the Peter White Public Library.

“It uses all of the different ability levels that they have, cognitive, physical, social, emotional, it’s all challenged through play. The kids are learning more through play than the tiny little things we may teach them. Colors, days of the week all of those things, through play they are learning that but much, much more,” Gill said.

“It’s important for them to be active and hands on as they learn and not sit with pen and paper, they will get that chance later on in life, the early years are really for them to explore and play,” U.P. Early Childhood Conference co-chair Corey Holcomb said.

The two-day conference starts Friday at the Bottum Center on Northern Michigan University’s campus. For more information on the conference go to www.upecc.org