To celebrate a big anniversary, the children at a local day care facility are putting on a show.

The Children’s Center turns 50 this year, and as part of that celebration, each of the 10 classrooms picked art pieces to display as part of an art show to be hosted at The Albert Lea Art Center.

“Every kid has something,” said Brianna Oftedahl, head teacher of the preschool room.

For kids club, the afterschool program, a large number of the projects were things done with recycled or donated materials, said kids club head teacher Diane Landaas. They made sculptures from paper towel and toilet paper rolls and God’s eye crafts out of plastic forks.

The event promotes not only the creativity of the children, but of the teachers, too, said The Children’s Center co-Executive Director Samantha Register. The younger children’s teachers turned footprints into ice cream cones.

The Children’s Center students have a few opportunities for art throughout the day, but every classroom has art in the mornings, Register said. They can also do free art in the afternoon, Oftedahl said. Kids club participants also get free art time, Landaas said.

The gallery exhibit is an opportunity for families to see what their children are doing at day care, Landaas said. It also gives children credit for the work they do, she said.

The artwork is created by children between 6 weeks and 10 years old, Landaas said.

In addition to the art show, The Children’s Center will celebrate with a carnival from 4 to 7 p.m. Sept. 12 at its facility, 605 James Ave. There will be corn dogs, Sno-Cones, cotton candy and cookies available for purchase, a bounce house, games and activities. A free will donation will be collected to help with carnival costs. The carnival is open to the public.

The Children’s Center will also sell a cookbook full of submitted recipes as part of its 50th anniversary celebration.

If you go

Who: The Children’s Center

What: 50th anniversary art show

When: Sept. 7-28; open house from noon to 2 p.m. Sept. 7

Where: The Albert Lea Art Center, 101 S. Broadway Ave.

How much: free and open to the public