The Family History Guide added a new activity on the “Activities for Families” page and it is both informative and a lot of fun (see Anytime Activities F1-11). 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! On the other hand, you may need to play the game a few times to get 100%. David Taylor writes that there is “something truly special about seeing old photographs of your own ancestors,” (see The Family Nexus). He adds that seeing these photos “helps you connect with them as people in a way that few other things can.” Here are the instructions and comments from David:
Simply log in with your FamilySearch account, and then do your best to identify 10 photos of your ancestors. The questions are multiple choice. In my experience, it goes back about 5 or 6 generations. You can take the quiz more than once, and the photos seem to be randomized. So you won’t get the same quiz twice in a row. 
About 3 or 4 of mine were repeated. It appears that the system uses the preferred portrait to display. If you haven’t set the preferred portrait yourself, it will just be the first photo uploaded to the Memories section for that person. This would also be a great time to learn more about the preferred portrait and how to change it. After you make your selection, the correct answer is displayed along with his or her relation to you and a link to view the relationship path. This is especially useful for those that you may not have recognized. In addition, clicking on the person’s name will reveal the Person Card will some key details about their life. From here you could dive right into their page in FamilySearch or explore more of the photos and stories that have been uploaded to FamilySearch. Seeing photos of your ancestors and reading stories about them can really bring family history to life. I have found it is the best gateway to get non-researchers interested in family history. So take a few minutes today and try it out! Don’t forget to share this with your family members, so they can get to know their ancestors, too!
To play another fun ancestor identification game (offline),
Annette Hemsley suggests in this FamilySearch blog post that you gather photos of your ancestors to view at a family gathering and make a game of identifying them using your senses. She writes:
You might start by using sight to identify photos of ancestors. Make it a game! Pass a photo and ask if this person’s nose reminds you of someone you know, or guess the year of a car that a relative is standing by to identify the era the person lived. Making a picture collage to exhibit the life of an ancestor tells a story.
Invite your family to congregate and then proceed to play various sounds you have recorded to identify an ancestors 
occupation, place of residence, etc. An example might be listening to a foghorn. That might be a clue that the person lived by the sea. The sound of a train whistle may tell you the person worked for the railroad.
The sense of smell can be a fun way to identify a beloved relative. You may have a treasured cookie recipe 
that has been passed down from great aunt Bessie. Bake the cookies shortly before you gather your group so the aroma is evident in your home. Tell stories about Aunt Bessie and then have them enjoy her recipe.
You might blindfold your gathering and pass objects around to identify what would hint about an ancestor’s life. Make Family History fun!
If you have a family fan chart, put a star on the ancestor as you do activities and stories to acquaint your family with this person.
Annette closes her blog post with this advice (and I agree): “Remember: Facts are recorded–stories are remembered!” And I might add that recorded stories are passed on more accurately and enjoyed by more people who can also pass them on! The circle of influence of recorded stories grows exponentially!
Note: Annette’s blog post is a recap of a RootsTech presentation given by Stacy Julian at RootsTech 2016
