Individuals Activities

1. Anytime Activities and Games

Overview: When schedules are sometimes hectic, it's nice to have some quick and easy ways to strengthen family history connections and relationships. Take a look at the ideas on this page, and see what fits you and your current situation. In addition, check out the Family Activities page for what may be fun and helpful for you, your family members, and your friends. See this blog post for more information.

Activities marked by an asterisk (*) take little or no prep time.

I1-01: Enjoy and Learn from RootsTech Video Presentations
Search the On-Demand Library to find what you're looking for in more than 1,500 sessions on 185 topics in over 30 languages. Check out the RootsTech Home page and the RootsTech Facebook page. Also search for The Family History Guide presentations for RootsTech.

I1-02: Celebrate Events in Your Ancestors' Lives
The Calendar of Ancestral Moments provides reminders of important events that happened in your ancestor’s births, marriages, and deaths throughout the year. See this blog post for details and easy celebration ideas.

*I1-03: Find Your Relatives in the Room
See how the people around you may actually be related to you, when you all sign into FamilySearch (using the Family Tree app). You will all need to sign in at the same time and be within 100 feet of each other. Follow the directions found in this FamilySearch blog post. You can also listen to a fun description on this KSL Radio podcast.

I1-04: Test Your Family History Knowledge
Play Geneopardy to learn more about your family on your FamilySearch family tree. This can also be played with others in teams (see this blog post).

*I1-05: See Which Ancestors You Resemble
Find out where you got your good looks with this FamilySearch's Compare-A-Face app. When you upload a photo of yourself, it will be compared to the photos of your ancestors on your family tree, and give you a percentage. Also, check out this blog post: Who's Who In Your Family History.

I1-06: Learn How to Do FamilySearch Indexing
Watch the video (click the picture on the left) to see what indexing is all about. Plan get-togethers with family and friends to multiply the fun! To get started with web indexing, Project 5: Indexing in The Family History Guide and read this FamilySearch blog post.

I1-07: Write Your Family History
Use the helpful FamilySearch Booklet My Family: Stories That Bring Us Together to organize photos, names, dates, and write about stories that make your family unique. In the video, you'll see a grandmother preserving this information for future generations and sharing it with her grandchildren. See FamilySearch Project 2: Goal 8 to see how to preserve stories on FamilySearch. Also check out 20 Reasons Why You Should Write Your Family History and the #52 Stories Project.

*I1-08: Family History In 5 Minutes a Day
Divide and conquer with these 20 suggestions from Deborah Gamble's 2018 Rootstech Presentation: How to Do Family History in Five Minutes a Day or read her article here. Check out The Family History Guide Online Tracker to document your progress in a myriad of family history areas.

*I1-09: The Wheel of Family History Fortune
This is a fun, interactive game that tests how well you know the names of your ancestors, from hints you receive and from your own knowledge. Play alone or add other players (up to four) for even more fun.

*I1-10: Save Memories on Your Smartphone
Marco Polo is a free, face-to-face messaging app for one-to-one and group conversations. It brings family and friends closer together than ever with short video conversations and moments shared. See this blog post for more details.

*I1-11: Take the Ancestor Identification Challenge
Find FamilySearch Discovery Activities and then log into your FamilySearch account. You'll see several fun games and activities to try. With the Search Family Tree app you can enjoy them on your mobile device. This FamilySearch game offers ten photos of your ancestors and asks you to identify who it is that you are viewing in the picture. You may be surprised at how many you recognize!

*I1-12: Practice Your Storytelling Skills
Crista Cowan shares tips for telling your family stories in this video from Ancestry. Read Remembering Memories for more hints and inspiration, and find specific help in Teaching Children the Art of Storytelling.

*I1-13: More Fun with Games and Apps
The possibilities seem endless! Check out this blog post for a myriad of links including 5 Apps and Games That Make Family History a Family Affair, Ancestor Guru (this site includes Fast Photo, Life’s Journey, Memory, and Scrambled Tree), and GrandMem. You will also find many more options in the FamilySearch Solutions Gallery. Check out Pinterest for more ideas, and this blog post for holiday family history activities and games.

Find more activities here: 2. Plan-Ahead Activities   3. Making Family History   4. Documenting the Past   5. Social Media Activities   6. Service Activities   7. Activities for Research   8. Latter-day Saint Activities