Family Activities

*F1-01: The Family History Fun Basket
Circle up the family for a fun, easy to create family history game at a moment's notice! With almost no prep, this activity is ready when you are!

1. Look for "no-prep" activities and games on this family activities page and on the activity pages for Individuals, Youth, and Kids.
2. Select those you want to use for a particular occasion, write each one on a separate slip of paper and put them all in a basket, jar, or hat.
3. Take turns drawing an activity from the basket to have some family history fun for any length of time.
4. Have the basket and paper ready for use at any time, adding different activities to adapt to the group and gathering.
5. See this blog post for ready-to-copy-and-print activity ideas for the basket, including family history apps to add to the fun.

*F1-02: Record and Share Family Stories
Share from memory, interview others, read from a family history book or letters, or find stories on your family tree on a safe Internet site. With The Family History Guide, you can easily learn how to add memories in FamilySearch, Ancestry, MyHeritage, and Findmypast. Check out the ideas under the "Documenting the Past" link on all of the Activity pages. See this blog post, and learn how to use the FamilySearch Audio App to record and upload stories.

*F1-03: Google Maps/Google Earth
View and share memories of family history sites, travels, missions, houses, (countries, counties, etc.) and places where family members have lived (or now live). Try Google Earth and Instant StreetViews to get started. For more fun (and for research), use The Family History Guide Countries page along with Google Earth (see this blog post).

*F1-04: Family History Charades This 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 players are acting out the word or phrase, they aren't allowed to talk.

*F1-05: Ancestor Look-Alike
Have an Ancestor Look-Alike activity, make a photo collage, or give this FamilySearch app a try: Compare-A-Face. You can see where you got you good looks! This activity will need your part of the FamilySearch tree filled out for a few generations.

*F1-06: Re-create Childhood Photos
How much have you changed over the years? How about your parents and siblings? Recreate childhood photos, for a blast from the past (see blog post).

*F1-07: Re-create Ancestor Stories
Watch the video to see how one family learned about grandpa from his journals, dressed up in his flight uniforms, and re-enacted his stories. Have fun finding the stories of your ancestors and creating fun ways to personalize them. See this blog post for more ideas.

F1-08: Home Movie Challenge
Take the Home Movie Challenge to make a home movie about life as you know it (see this blog post for details).

*F1-09: Geneopardy
Try the Geneopardy game for fun and to find our more about your ancestors. It puts a family history twist on the classic trivia game and can be played alone or in teams. See this blog post for details and learn just how fun it can be! Geneopardy needs four generations filled out on your FamilySearch account: learn how here with The Family History Guide. See this blog post for more details on using Geneopardy.

*F1-10: Play the Fruit Basket Game, Ancestor Style

1. Prepare to play this game by setting up the room with places for everyone to sit except one person, just as you would for the Fruit Basket game.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Be ready for some quick thinking by looking through photo books and sharing stories beforehand, and get ready to laugh a lot!

*F1-11: Play Outdoor Family History Games
Take family history games outside (weather permitting). Featured in this video: The Family History Fun Basket, The Human Knot, and the family history game "If, Then"— an action-packed game. "If, Then" is played by having the leader call out facts and fiction about a family's ancestors with an action to do for each. See how much you can learn by guessing the answers you don't yet know, and doing the action the leader gives. Watch the video for ideas.

*F1-12: Quick and Easy Family History Activity Time Fillers
Make a list, perhaps on your phone, to have handy for the odd moments when you could use a family history time filler! Some ideas are:

• "I am thinking of an ancestor who (lived in this place ... did this ... was this age when ... had this many children ... etc.)". Everyone guesses who it is as more clues are given.
• 20 Questions, to discover who you are thinking of (everyone asks you yes-or-no questions).
• Tell family stories with a twist, such as each person telling a part of the story and the next person starting when the previous person stops).
• "Matthew Mark Luke John" played with names of ancestors (see instructions here).
• Family History Pictionary where you draw pictures about your family history, and everyone guesses what it is.
• Write a letter of gratitude to a deceased ancestor.