Great Links to Family History Fun

Familysearch.org has such wonderful activity ideas for turning the hearts of our children to their forefathers that I wonder why I even have this blog.  If you want some amazing activities to do with your family, check out these pages!

https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Family_History_Activities_for_Youth
https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Family_History_Activities_for_Children:_3-11
https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Family_History_Activities_for_Children:_12-%3F
https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/FamilySearch_Kids_Camp
https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Involve_Children_and_Youth_in_Family_History

These are wikis so you can add your ideas to the site, and the site keeps getting better and better.  Enjoy!

Fun Photo Page

This idea is for people who have a family website or blog.  I found it on Family History Is Fun.

To have family photo fun, make a page with photos.  Inform your readers that they can find out more about any of the pictures by clicking on the picture.  Here is my photo page:

My Family Photo Page
To find out about a person, click on his or her photo.

Book It!

Does someone in your family tell jokes, use funny words, have a lot of embarrassing stories, etc?  Why not celebrate it by writing a small, custom-made book just for them?  Entitle it "Dad's Joke Book" or "Momish to English Dictionary" or maybe "The Perils of Polly."  Make it funny and fun.  Draw pictures if you are brave enough.  It will double as both a gift and a small bit of history to keep and share through the years.

Family Memories Game

What better way to help your children connect with family members than with a custom-made family game filled with stories, laughter and fun.  Find out how to make one for your family on my other blog--   http://sisterical.blogspot.com/2011/12/family-memories-game.html

Make a Family History Coloring Book

I found on familysearch.org, a link to dumpr.net where you can turn your family photos into coloring pages.  First, choose a family picture that you would like to include in your coloring book.
                                                                                 
I chose this picture of Clarence and Esther.  Aren't they beautiful?

Ancestor Desktop Slide Show

Use labeled pictures of ancestors to make a slide show on your computer desktop to help your children get to know their faces as well as help them choose the right as they use the computer.  How to do it:  First, scan or save pictures of ancestors to "My Pictures."  Next, go to your desk top and right click on an empty space.  Choose the "Personalize" option.  Click on "desktop background."  option.  Choose "Browse" and then "Libraries."  Find "My Pictures" and click on it.  Choose the pictures you want displayed and click "save."

Family History Games

Games are a great way to introduce family history to your children. 
The Game of Memory--My dear grandmother, bless her heart, is 90 years old, living alone, and doing a wonderful job.  When I was young I loved going to her house and playing all of her home made games, but the best game Grandma had was one she came up with herself.  The game was Memory or Concentration.  You know, the one where you turn all the cards face down and try to draw matches.  What made this game special was that on the cards were twin pictures of cousins, aunts, and uncles so as we played the game, we saw faces of loved ones far and near and felt closer to them.  Whether you use pictures of living family or ancestors, your children will learn about who they are from seeing where they came from.

Go Fish--You can use the same cards you created for the game of Memory above to play Family History Go Fish.  The sets you collect will only consist of two cards each, instead of four.

The games Grandma used to play--If Grandma wrote about specific games in her personal history, gathering the children around, telling them a bit about Grandma, and teaching them how to play the games will help them get to know her.

Stay Tuned--I have big ideas for this post!

Family History Toys To Make and Give

I love toys, and what better way to help kids learn about their ancestors than through the toys they play with?

Ancestor Dolly--My Aunt Katherine is only three years older than I am.  No, BTW, I don't call her "Aunt Katherine."  I do not think she'd like that.  Anyway, when she was young, a little native American girl named Bernice came to live with my grandparents, and she was Katherine's special friend.  Sadly, Bernice didn't stay long because she was understandably homesick.  When she left, Katherine was heart broken.  A few days later, my grandma came into the room where Katherine and I were playing and handed Katherine a custom-made rag doll with thick black braids saying, "Her name is Bernice."  Of course her new dolly could not take the place of the real Bernice, but it did help Katherine remember her friend.  This experience brings me to my first idea--an ancestor doll.  Is your daughter named after her great grandma?  Does your grand daugther have curly hair like Aunt Sue?  Why not make a rag doll dressed in period clothes with the same features of an ancestor?  Remember Cabbage Patch dolls, how they came with papers stating their names, etc?  This special dolly could come with papers about your ancestor.  American Girl Dolls have books about their characters, maybe your ancestor dolly will also come with a book about her life.  She, of course,will be better than any dolly you can buy at the store. First, because it will be made by you, and second because it will be a reminder to your daughter of someone who really lived and who loved her even before she was born.  If you want your dolly to have the exact face of your ancestor, check out my coloring book post.  Use the same instructions there to print out a a line drawing of your ancestor's face on iron-on paper and use it for the dolly's face.

Ancestor Paper Dolls--Is the above idea too much work?  Try mustering your drawing abilities and making ancestor paper dolls with features of ancestors and clothes from their period.  Though they may be lacking in artistry, your little child will love them because of who made them and who they represent.

Family History Car Mat--When my brothers were little, they had a canvas mat that they would roll out flat on the floor, "driving" their matchbox cars to various beloved destinations.  The matt was custom made by my mom and included places her kids were familiar with like TG&Y and their elementary school.  Roads connected the places, and the boys had a blast driving the roads to church, home, etc.  It is probably obvious where I am going with this.  It would be pretty easy to make a similar mat as a gift for a sweet grandson with historical places to drive to.  The walk by the river where Grandpa and Grandma got married would be there along with the old homestead where they lived without electricity and water for a time.  A mat like that would know no borders, with the air base where Grandpa trained to be an air traffic control man just two turns away from the temple where your their parents and grandparents were married, making you all a family forever.

Stay tuned--Hopefully there will be more ideas to come!

Heirlooms: Using them, Choosing them, Making them, Giving them

I've been thinking about Heirlooms lately. . .

Heirlooms we own—Use and share.

The purpose of an heirloom in my opinion is to pique the interest of the younger generation so that they will want to hear its story, thus becoming connected with generations past.  The value isn’t in the item; it is in the story behind the item.  I think it’s important to ask, “How am I using my heirlooms?”  If I am letting them just sit in a box, I do not own heirlooms, I own white elephants—worthless items that have no purpose.  But I don’t have to despair because all that heirlooms require for their value to be restored is for their story to be told.  So lets dig out that old hand-tatted collar every year or so, gather the children around, and tell them about the hours Grandma spent making it and how beautiful Grandpa thought she looked wearing it on her wedding day.

Heirlooms we choose—Small and simple.

Sometimes we are lucky enough to choose what we receive as heirlooms from loved ones.  If this is the case, I think the choice should be made based on an item’s beauty, usefulness or the story behind it, not it’s economic value.  Why?  Because it will never be sold.  If it’s beautiful, useful, or has a story and happens to be valuable, too, that is one thing, but if it is merely valuable monetarily, I say let Brother Bob have it. 

Also, consider the size of the heirloom and the capacity of your home.  My Grandpa Richard arrived home from a hunting trip one day with a huge buck triumphantly in tow.  He was so proud of his trophy that he stuffed it, named it John Henry, and hung it on the wall.  When my Grandpa Richard passed away, I chose a lovely flower from his funeral bouquet, pressed it and placed it in a tiny frame.  It sits on my dresser taking less than two square inches of space.  It is enough to remind me of my grandpa every day—no John Henry required.   So if Sister Sue wants the full-sized plaster sculpture of the mule that Grandpa Gus owned, I say, let her have it and take the kids and grandkids on a yearly field trip to her house to see it and to hear the story of how the mule saved Grandpa’s life. 

Journal time with Preschoolers

I hope that reading these memories of how I had journal and scripture time with my preschoolers will trigger an idea that will work for you in your family.
When my children were small, life was so busy, there was little time to spare.  By nap time which came after lunch, I was exhausted and looking forward to a bit of quiet time.  I'd put the baby to bed,  take the phone off the hook, and then snuggle up in bed with my preschooler, my scriptures, tons of story books, and our journals.  We'd start with my preschooler's journal.  I'd ask them about their day and then record their response word for word in their journal, asking questions as needed to keep them going.  Next, I'd give my child a pencil and a clean journal page and ask them to draw a picture about their day.  While they drew, I would write a bit in my own journal.  After that, I'd ask my child to tell me about their picture and I'd label it according to their responses.  After that I'd read them a story or two, and then give them books to "read" their own story while I read my scriptures.  Usually my preschooler was asleep when I was done reading and I'd either tip toe out, hang up the phone, and get to work on whatever needed it the most, or fall asleep myself, depending on my level of exhaustion.  Even a power nap of ten or fifteen minutes was wonderful!
No, it didn't go perfectly every day, and, yes, other things sometimes got in the way, but it was a priority that was worth keeping, and I did.

Journal writing tips

Things I have learned about journal writing:
--If you are just beginning to keep a journal, start with today, don't back track, it gets way too overwhelming.  Use my idea for Personal History cards instead to begin recording the past.
--Include the good, and the not-so-good, but keep it positive.  If you love life, show it by the things you write!
--Journaling increases your memory.  What I mean is, you can only store so much in your head, so store the rest of it in your journal!  If you journal on a regular basis, important happenings are automatically written down and are not forgotten.
--Remember to write about prayers that have been answered, and spiritual promptings that you have had.
--If you are writing with paper and pen, circle the words that express the main idea in your entry such as "outing to the park" or "Jonathan's homework," or write them in the top margin.  This will help you find events or entries about a particular person easily later on.
--If you are writing your journal by computer, remember to back it up often, keeping the disk or memory stick in a fire safe, if possible.
--Don't journal in pencil, it fades.  If you have old journals written in pencil, transcribe them NOW.  It is amazing how quickly it will become unreadable.  Having said that, I have to admit, I haven't finished transcribing my seventh grade journal written in pencil yet.

That's all I can think of for now.  If I think of more, I'll add them later.

Personal History Cards

Most of us don't have much time to sit down and start our official family history, but we can all make significant contributions to our histories little by little when make Personal History cards.
Here's how its done:
Purchase a small index card file and some index cards or create a document file on your computer.
Whenever you remember something from your past, write it down in your file.
If you use index cards, on the upper right margin, write the date as close as you can figure, on the upper left, write a topic such as "Elementary School" or "Childhood Friends"  Stick it in your file.
Arrange the cards by topic or date.
If you use the computer, create a file and place your memories in the file.  Type in the topic and date at the top of each document.  Name your documents either by topic or date that they occurred.  Example "Elementary School--sixth grade,"  "Elementary School--seventh grade," Etc.
The other key to preparing to write a personal history is keeping a simple journal
Remember, how do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time!

Family History Activities

Summer is a great time to rally the troops and get them moving on family history work, and here are some great ideas from genealogy.com to get you started 

Family History Activities

Publish a Family Newsletter
Is your child the inquisitive type that likes to ask questions? Use that energy and curiosity to have them create a family newsletter. They can interview relatives about their interests, incorporate family stories, and create a calendar of family events. If you have a scanner they can insert photographs into their creation. Let them e-mail their publication to interested family members or photocopy on brightly colored paper and send via regular mail.

Create a Family Home Page
Lack the time to put all your family history research online to share with others? This is a great project for the child with some computer literacy. It makes use of their time and expertise. By following a few easy steps they can create a free password-protected Family Home Page at Genealogy.com. They can post family history, create links to their favorite Web sites and add photographs. Each home page can hold up to 10 MB of information.

Have a Treasure Hunt
Encourage children to learn about their ancestor's lives by having them locate items in the house or outdoors that were either known or unknown to different generations. For instance, a simple inquiry, "What was in Great Grandmother's Kitchen?" helps children imagine what life what like. This will naturally lead to a set of other questions regarding her daily life. Or if you have artifacts around the house ask your children a list of leading questions that will help them discover information about those items such as how they were used and who owned them.

Play Old Games
Many of the games that children play today are variations of those played by generations of family members. Hopscotch, jacks, and horseshoes can become more interesting when played in the original way and called their old names of Scotch Hoppers, Jackstones, and Quoits. A little library research can help them discover "new" games such as Thread the Needle and Hoop-Rolling or variations of ones they are already familiar with like marbles and checkers.

Old Photographs
Pull out all those family photos that are stored away and let your children react to the images. Tell them the stories associated with the images if you know them, if not ask them to imagine what is happening in the photograph. It is advisable to hand out pairs of clean white gloves (available at most hardware stores) before handling the images. No matter how clean our hands are we still cause damage through touching the pictures. Purchase a couple of inexpensive magnifying glasses and have the children examine the pictures for clues as to what's going on. You may not have the time to spend organizing and identifying your photographs, but your children may have fun looking over the images, creating stories, and writing down their discoveries. Learn more about handling photographs from "Protecting Family Memories from Time."

Visit Relatives
Do any relatives live near you? Plan a visit and have your children interview that person. Let them develop a list of questions based on what you know about them. They can either write down their answers, tape-record them or use a camcorder, it depends on what equipment you have available. Be sure to have them make the arrangements to visit by asking the family member for permission ahead of time.

Create a Free Family Tree Online
Have your child go online and create a family tree. This is a free activity and one that requires no additional supplies. Your well-organized family history research is all that a child with computer skills needs to start this project. You may decide to work with your child to discover new information on the family by posting messages on surname lists and doing some online searching. Just be sure to verify all your family history data before you post it.

Take a Family History Vacation
Use the family history information that you have gathered to plan a different type of vacation.

• Have your child or children plot the places their ancestors lived on a map. They can then help by researching either online or at the library events and locations related to their family history. By visiting those ancestral places, you will be helping them develop a sense of family history.
• Do you have postcards written by relatives or souvenir booklets of places they visited? Take photocopies of those items with you on your next journey and use them to compare and contrast the experiences of other relatives with your own.
• Let your children experience family history first hand by going to a Living History Museum. Whatever your ethnic or cultural background there is probably a museum that helps children gain a sense of their past through hands on activities. Many Living History Museums use costumed interpreters that can answer questions. Each region of the country has something to offer. Some of the more popular destinations are Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Massachusetts, Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, African Village, Sheldon SC and if you want to experience travel from pioneer perspective contact Oregon Trail Wagon Train.
• Bring along the basic supply kit and let your children create a memory album of their experiences. You provide the tools and they decide the format.