Genealogy for Kids

Posts Tagged ‘family tree’

Let’s go back to the family tree chart and family group sheets you completed earlier this week. Based on your interviews with your parents, can you fill in any more information? Do you have more questions you want to ask?

Look at the information you have collected and what you want next and keep moving forward with your research.

Today you are going to interview your mom and write a short story about her. Grab a piece of paper and a pencil and jot down these questions. Some you can just look at your mom and know the answer, but the point of this exercise is to learn to interview relatives and gather information.

1. What is your full name?
2. What is your maiden name?
3. Where were you born? What city and state? What hospital?
4. When were you born?
5. What are your parents names?
6. When were they born? Where?
7. What are your siblings names?
8. When were your siblings born?
9. Who did your siblings marry?
10. Are you right or left-handed?
11. What is your eye color? Hair color? Do you wear glasses?
12. If your parents are married, when and where did they get married?
13. What is your job?
14. Do you have a nickname?
15. Growing up did you live in a house or apartment?
16. Write down the date of your interview and the address where you are living. Keeping a log of addresses when you take interviews or find documents can help you locate new information.

Did you finish filling out your family tree and family group sheets? Great! Let’s move on to a writing activity. Today you are going to interview your dad and write a short story about him. Grab a piece of paper and a pencil and jot down these questions. Some you can just look at your dad and know the answer to, but the point of this exercise is to learn to interview relatives and gather information.

1. What is your full name?
2. Where were you born? What city and state? What hospital?
3. When were you born?
4. What are your parents names?
5. When were they born? Where?
6. What are your siblings names?
7. When were your siblings born?
8. Who did your siblings marry?
9. Are you right or left-handed?
10. What is your eye color? Hair color? Do you wear glasses?
11. If your parents are married, when and where did they get married?
12. What is your job?
13. Do you have a nickname?
14. Growing up did you live in a house or apartment?
15. Write down the date of your interview and the address where you are living. Keeping a log of addresses when you take interviews or find documents can help you locate new information.

Now that your family tree or pedigree chart is complete, the  next step is the family group sheet. You can download and print that here.

To fill in this sheet, put the names of your parents at the top in the appropriate spaces. Fill in as much of their information as possible.

Below them is a space for children. Add you and your siblings, if you have siblings, to this bottom portion. List the children in birth order.

When this sheet is complete, you can print more sheets and work backwards. The next sheet should be your dad’s parents and list him as one of the children with his siblings. The following sheet should be your mom’s parents and list her as one of the children. Continue working backwards filling in as much information as you can find.

Start with what you know.  Download and print the Pedigree or Ancestral Chart from Ancestry.com.  The chart starts with one person and works backwards to that person’s parents, grandparents, great grandparents and so on.

This chart is unnumbered so we need to number it. The person on the far left of the page is number 1. This is you. Above and to your right is your father, number 2. Below your father is your mother, number 3. Return to the top of the page and continue numbering down the page starting with number 4. This is your grandfather and below him, number 5 is your grandmother. Men are even numbers, women are odd numbers.

Starting with person number one to the far left of the page we will enter as much information as possible. Write your name here. Write down your birth date and place.

Next, go to person number 2, which is your father.  Enter as much information as you can from his full name to the dates and places of birth, marriage and death.  Then go on to number three which is your mother. List that information.  Then go to Person 4, who is your grandfather. Continue filling in as much of the chart as possible.

Congratulations!! You have just started your family tree!

Looking for a more fun way to create a family tree? Purchase my Ebook Family Tree Projects for Kids at my store. The Ebook is $3.99 and contains two hands-on projects. In the first project kids will create a poster board-sized family tree with pictures. The second project features a more standard family tree that kids can create. This version contains photos to guide kids through the process.

Knowing where we came from and the history of our family gives us roots. It helps us understand why we live where we live, eat what we eat, act the way we do, and have the traditions we do.

Here are some questions to ask yourself to get you thinking about your family history.

1. Why do I live where I live? Which part of my family came to this place to settle down? When did they come and why?
2. My mom makes special desserts or meals for holidays. Where did those recipes come from? Why does she always make those same recipes year after year?
3. Most of us have light colored hair and eyes. Or, most of us have darker colored skin and eyes. What is our background?
4. Every year at Christmas my mom places a pickle on the tree and we have to look for it. The child that finds it gets a present. Why do we do this? Where did this tradition come from?

Just starting with a few of those questions will get a child thinking about his roots. The answers will also help the child come to a better understanding of who he is.

Hey kids! Have you heard the terms genealogy, family history and social history but are not quite sure what they mean? No so sure any of that can be exciting because isn’t history “boring”? I hope to show you that it can be exciting and fun.

Genealogy is defined as a study of the family. It identifies ancestors and their information.

Family history is defined as the research of past events relating to a family or families, written in a narrative form.

Social history is defined as the study of the everyday lives of ordinary people.

What does all this mean?

It means that you and your ancestors have stories that should be told. How they should be told is up to you. Are you crafty? Could you make a photo collage or scrapbook? Do you like to write? Could you write a short story about one of your ancestors? Do you draw? Could you sketch out a family tree?

Stop by soon for ways to tell your family’s stories.