1. About Family History
2. My Family Tree
3. Group Fun and Games
4. My Memories
5. Family History Stories
6. Service
7. For Latter-day Saints
Family
Individuals
Youth |
Index
Kids Corner
Have fun with family history!
6. Service
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.
6. Service Activities
Parents and LeadersIn a blog post for FamilySearch, Rachel Coleman wrote: “Knowing, recording, preserving, and sharing our family histories can provide countless benefits to individuals, families, and entire societies.Family history is more than pedigree charts, censuses, and birth dates—it can be a powerful antidote against adverse life experiences that we face today, giving us a stronger understanding of who we are and motivating us to deepen our roots for generations to come." She listed six reasons why we need family history now more than ever – core identity, connection, compassion, resilience, selflessness, and self-worth. Describing the need for human beings to have attachment, belonging, and connection, she quoted a popular TED talk, "Everything You Think You Know about Addiction Is Wrong." In this presentation, British journalist Johann Hari teaches that the opposite of addiction is not sobriety, it is connection. Rachel added, "Connecting with members of our family past and present by learning their history fills an innate need in each one of us.: Read more in Creating Ancestor Connections. In addition to the links in this section about service, see Interviewing Relatives and Activities to Share with Children.
Activities marked by an asterisk (*) take little or no prep time.
*K6-01: Interview Others with the FamilySearch Audio FeatureGrandparents love to tell family history stories, and you can audio record these for the future. Watch the video on the left, and then learn how to record stories and preserve and share photos. This makes capturing a family history moment very easy, and sharing it even easier!
K6-02: Index RecordsIndexing makes records searchable online and is something most everyone can do once they are old enough. Each indexed record is a gift to people everywhere, allowing them to learn about and gather ancestors into the family tree. Indexing is not hard to do (you can select the level of difficulty) and it is so much fun! See FamilySearch Project 5 in The Family History Guide to find out how to get started, manage batches, and set goals.
*K6-03: Do Sibling ServiceIf you are an older child in your family, take time to help younger siblings learn to love family history and teach them by doing activities with them. Look through the activities on this page for ideas and have fun together!
K6-04: Help Your Family Plan a Family ReunionThere are lots of great family history activities you can help prepare for your family gatherings! Check out these fun family history activities, and more.
K6-05: Celebrate Your Living GrandparentsIf you are lucky enough to have grandparents close by, plan some celebrations of their lives including writing their stories, making timelines, photo books, posters, and family history gifts. If your grandparents live far away, remember them by sending pictures and letters, e-cards, postcards, and do family history together online.
Find more activities here: 1. About Family History 2. My Family Tree 3. Group Fun and Games 4. My Memories 5. Family History Stories 7. For Latter-day Saints