1. About Family History
2. My Family Tree
3. Group Fun and Games
4. My Memories
5. Family History Stories
6. Service
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Kids Corner
Have fun with family history!
3. Group Fun and Games
In his book, The Secrets of a Happy Family (quoted here), Bruce Feiler records a conversation he had with Marshall Duke, a professor at Emory University who researched American families. According to Professor Duke, "The more children knew about their family’s history, the stronger the sense of control over their lives, the higher their self-esteem, and the more successfully they believed their families functioned." The Kids Corner of The Family History Guide is a place where children can go to discover and experience the joys of family history.
Read more in this blog post: Six Tips for Involving Children In Family History And Helping Them To Love It
More helpful links:
- Obituaries Help: Ways to Get Kids Interested in Genealogy
- Youth Genealogists' Association
- Archives.com article
- Independent Study Course from BYU (helping children love family history; free registration)
- Genwriters: Genealogy for Children
- Genealogy Gems Podcast 162
- Family Tree Magazine for Kids—Teachers and Parents
- Kid Genealogists: Inspiring the Next Generation
- The Genealogy Kids
- Family Genealogy
Here are some additional coaching and motivation tips:
- Know the interests and limitations of the children you are working with.
- Choose age-appropriate activities for learning. If you have mixed ages in a group, design different levels for the activity if needed.
- Keep the activity time brief so the attention doesn't wander. Activities can be continued in a later session.
- Be flexible. If a particular activity isn't working well, change the approach or switch to another one.
- Be attentive. Stay involved, to answer questions and watch for potential issues.
- Be positive and encouraging. Children need to know their efforts are appreciated and valued.
This is your place for family history fun!
* Learn about your family tree, your parents' and grandparents' lives, and about other ancestors.
* Play cool games and discover some great activities for family history.
* Try this page out, and share the ideas and activities with your siblings, cousins, and friends!
* You can find more activities in the Family, Individuals, and Youth pages of The Family History Guide. When you need help, be sure to ask your parents, a leader, or a family member you know.
3. Group Fun and Games
Activities marked by an asterisk (*) take little or no prep time.
K3-01: The Family History Fun BasketPrepare slips of paper with questions and actions written on them. Place in a basket to be pulled out and followed by family or group members one at a time. Have fun passing the basket! Here are some ideas you can write on the slips of paper, with instructions on how to play the game. Watch the video to see why parents, grandparents, and any group of people will love playing this game!
*K3-02: The Human KnotIn a group, everyone stands in a circle and with closed eyes, grabs onto the hands of others in the circle. Now the group tries to untangle themselves without letting go of hands. Talk about how this activity relates to doing family history and holding on to family no matter what.
*K3-03: Ancestor Dress-up Storytelling FestivalDress up like ancestors and have a get-together to tell their stories. This is fun with cousins! One idea is to keep the name a secret until the end of your story and have everyone else guess who it is. (See F2-01: Ancestor Guessing Game.) This activity can also be done without costumes, but it might not be quite as fun! See K5-01 for help finding stories--including asking parents, grandparents, and other relatives to share them. Another idea is to have a contest to see which cousin looks most like an ancestor. See also K2-07.
*K3-04: Play Games Your Ancestors PlayedFor an example, try the old classic game Hide the Thimble on the The Genealogy Kids site.
*K3-05: Family History CharadesThis game is fun for all ages and all kinds of groups. As individuals or with others you select from the group, you take turns acting out family history stories that you draw from a hat (key words from the story are written on a slip of paper). The object is to get the rest of your family to guess the answer using gestures alone. That's right: when a player is acting out the word or phrase, they aren't allowed to talk.
*K3-06: Play GeneopardyThis fast-paced family history game, Geneopardy, helps you learn about your ancestors in your family tree. You can play it alone or with teams. Click on the link and then log in to FamilySearch on your account or your parents' account (or your grandparents for more generations) to select categories like "places, people, dates, or facts." Have fun selecting the answer you think is right or making a good guess. If you don't select the correct answer the first time, you will learn why another answer is the right one, and then you will know that information about your ancestor. Show your parents this blog post so they can see how fun and rewarding this game is for the whole family!
*K3-07: Scavenger Hunt In Grandma's AtticExploring Grandma’s attic can be quite an adventure! Family Tree Magazine suggests a Scavenger Hunt. "At first glance, you might think your grandparents' attic or basement is full of old junk. But grownups keep lots of interesting stuff in those places—including papers and 'artifacts' with clues to your family history. Give yourself one point for every artifact you collect. Five bonus points if you get Grandma or Grandpa to help you with your hunting!" Make a museum of the things you find, for all to see. See more ideas on the Family Locket site.
*K3-08: Play Outdoor Family History GamesFeatured in this video: The Family History Fun Basket (see K3-01), The Human Knot (see K3-02). and the family history game "If, Then." Watch the video for ideas..
*K3-09: Fruit Basket, Ancestor-StylePrepare to play this game by setting up the room with places for everyone to sit except one person - just as you would for Fruit Basket. Assign every couple of people the name of an ancestor (instead of the name of a fruit). More names can be used with larger groups. When a new person is the last person to be standing with no place to sit, before he calls out the next ancestor name, he must tell something about an ancestor that has not been shared yet in the game. Be ready for some quick thinking by looking through photo books and sharing stories beforehand, and get ready to laugh a lot!
K3-10: Ancestor Photo Memory GameA simple memory game can help you get to know your ancestors as you try to match photos. You can make your own game set using a layout or word processing program and photos you find in FamilySearch Family Tree or photos you have on hand. This is a fun game for you older kids to play with younger siblings.
K3-11: Family History BingoCreate a series of bingo cards with up to five columns and five rows. Put the names of all pictured family members into a bowl and call out names until someone gets everyone in a row, column, or diagonally. For a different twist on a bingo game, find family photos and watch family videos and then identify who is in them.
K3-12: Index RecordsThis is something most everyone can do once they are old enough. Each indexed record is a gift to someone, somewhere—allowing him or her to learn about and gather ancestors into the family tree and that is why this activity is also posted in the Service Activities section: K7-02 where you can read about how to index.
K3-13: Ancestor Guess WhoMake this family history game from a Guess Who game. Replace the character faces in the game with photos of your ancestors from your family tree. Photos can be downloaded and printed from the Memories section of FamilySearch, or you can use photos you already have. Check out more fun ideas on the FamilySearch Wiki here and here.
K3-15: Ancestor Puppet ShowWrite/act out a story from the life of an ancestor/relative as a puppet show with your family. Have an older family member make a video of it and post it on YouTube or Memories in Family Search. Perform it at a family reunion. Check out these ideas for ancestor puppet shows.
Find more activities here: 1. About Family History 2. My Family Tree 4. My Memories 5. Family History Stories 6. Service 7. For Latter-day Saints