We had the best time yesterday doing this inter-generational heirloom activity. What objects from the past have you kept because they have special meaning to you? What has been passed down in your family? Do your children know about them? Kids and families can work together on this heirloom hunt to learn about the heirlooms in their family. My son recently interviewed his grandparents over video chat to fill out his inherited traits chart. We...
Announcing the theme for our June “Family History for Children” blog link up: fun family history ideas for Father’s Day. What stories from our family’s past can help our sons become better fathers? What exemplary fathers do you have in your family tree whose stories can help your kids? Our purpose is to strengthen children with stories from the past by creating a fun project. Hopefully families and can use our projects to celebrate father’s...
Do you know a memory keeper? The person in the family who captures a moment in time with a photo or video, sharing and displaying, collecting and keeping? I have the good fortune to be the daughter of a memory keeper. As long as I can remember, my mother, Anna Mae Kelsey, had a camera in her hand, snapping photos of birthday parties, family vacations, babies. Those photos went into picture frames and albums. Her simple...
For our Kid’s Book club this month, we are reading The Wall by Eve Bunting. As a history teacher, I loved talking with my students about the origination and history behind the holidays we celebrate. Although for many of us, Memorial Day is just a day off and a time for vacationing, it can be a valuable tool for teaching children to honor and remember those who died in our country’s service. I’m still planning exactly how...
I’ve always wanted to volunteer at the Tucson Family History Center near where I live. After giving a presentation at their Family History Fair in February (Kid Genealogists, a presentation I also gave at RootsTech with Emily Schroeder and Melissa Finlay), I got to talking with one of the directors about possibly starting a children’s family history group. I thought about it the whole way home and realized that I had plenty of lesson ideas...
Happy DNA Day! Below are 15 activities to teach kids about DNA, genetics, and heredity. Each of these ideas are free and have worksheets, printables, or easy lesson/activity ideas that can generally be done in a day. If you want to do some advance planning and have your kids take a DNA test, there are so many fun things you can do with the results. One of my favorites is the grandchild report from gene...
Mothers are at the heart of family. Researcher Marshall Duke found that family stories are primarily transferred by mothers and grandmothers and that these stories give children personal strength and moral guidance. Mothers are often the memory keepers of the family. We honor our mothers and their influence in society each Mother’s Day (May 14, 2017 in the United States). Let’s celebrate them by remembering the advice, memories, and stories they passed on to us,...
After my third baby was born last year, I have been relearning how to manage my time effectively. I thought I learned how to do this in college, yet after each new addition to the family, I have to figure it out again. This time, I focused on finding out what was taking up my time, then cutting out non-essentials, and simplifying. This has helped me be able to continue working on my passion: family history....
What potential time thieves are stealing away bits and pieces of your day that could be spent on something you really want to do – like family history? By identifying and eliminating those pesky thieves, you just may find that you have freed up 30 minutes to an hour of time each day that you can now spend on finding your ancestors and sharing those finds with your children. What is a time thief? Anything...
Last week I taught a cub scouts group (ages 8-9) about genealogy. I wanted to connect with their interests, so I decided to talk about science. I brought this book with me: The One and Only Me: A Book About Genes by Ariana Killoran, a 23andMe Book. Preschool – Grade 3 (ages 4-8). It’s a fantastic introduction to inheritance and variation of traits for children. Poppy has red hair, freckles, blue eyes, and likes making pizza....
