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.
