www.thefhguide.com
I'm trying to come up with some interesting ideas to motivate youth for family history work, and with distancing in place, we're relegated to some ideas that keep people safely away from one another.
I was wondering if others might pitch in some creative ideas as well.
A couple that I came up with are centered around videos (zoom, perhaps as the medium). We have someone in our ward who is good at doing filming/video and he offered to put something together (okay, he was a cinematographer on a few award winning films), and thought of:
- Virtual trek "out in the wilderness" with pioneer ancestors, where people talk from a script, acting their parts around a "glowing campfire", with darkness, dressed the part in their old clothes. Maybe a storyline that told about a family tradition, or an interesting story that they lived through. A decent script would be needed, and have various people "talk" to one another on their video feed or pass some object (like a horseshoe) to one another as a continuing story, and have it stitched together/edited for a full story. Have bishopric or youth leaders participate.
- Scavenger hunt/escape room: Needs a good storyline about someone's life, and making some of the records come alive by showcasing some of the lesser known aspects of the records (ie, some records show if you own a radio, or rent/own a home, how many years of schooling). I emailed back and forth with someone who has done a few of these, and he uses google forms as the basis for tracking choices made in the scavenger hunt/escape room. Hopefully this link pasted in will work: http://www.thefhguide.com/blog/virtual-family-history-escape-rooms/
- Have competitive contests for teams to crack a tougher case, with both teams connected by zoom with each other, but with an audio phone bridge between the teams, or a virtual scoreboard that each team (or a parent) can monitor for progress of each team.
- Indexing night. Make it a remotely connected indexing effort, with interspersed commentary of historical elements of the ancestors of the youth, for instance, "This ancestor was a member of the civil war, as he marched toward the south, but he was captured and held prisoner for 6 months. He went on to become a country doctor, and had children in the midwest. This youngster is named after this ancestor, and surprisingly looks somewhat similar (show picture). Who is it?"
- Share testimonials of adult leaders of youth about what they have learned about their own ancestors, and what it has meant to them. If they don't have a story, then have them do a little research about their ancestor, or find out from the family historian in the family. (Maybe find those in the ward who have given compelling talks and are good storytellers) Have musicians in the ward provide background music (sad story might have a violin, old western story has a harmonica.)
- Make a video with a montage of family photos while a story is told in a foreign language (of their ancestors), with english subtitles. (Members who served foreign speaking missions could speak the part.) Or have a youth speak AS their ancestor, and tell the story in the first person, and put in some emotion as they went through difficult times. (Method acting, I suppose)
- Put video snippets together with people excited to go back to the temple, and what they're doing to get ready again, and blessings they receive (without being too specific about spiritual experiences, such as strength, revelation, help with tough choices, etc).
- Have returned missionaries give video testimonials about how temple and family history work was done on missions, or how their skills learned before going on a mission blessed others.
Any other activity ideas that have been used to help get youth more engaged, or be touched by their ancestors? We had a "fireside" one time at a bishopric member's home, and the kids had some pretty good stories of their ancestors that they shared, and what those ancestors meant to them. Doing this with zoom recordings might be good as well.
There's a part of me that thinks there's too much work going into this, and kinda drifting away from more simple efforts.
But I wanted to also hear ideas from others (sorry, if the above is disjointed. I got interrupted a few times)
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I think these are absolutely WONDERFUL ideas @Justin Masters! I used to be a youth leader and I think these ideas would have certainly sparked interest with the young men and women I served. I think you are on the right track for sure! I love them.
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@Justin Masters Great ideas! I think this deserves to also be seen in the @Engaging Youth in Family History Group. Additionally, I posted something there the other day that I hope will inspire others to involve even older Primary-age (10-11 particularly) children, as well as YM/YW age youth. You can view the post at:
https://community.familysearch.org/s/feed/0D54V00004yA1mtSAC
--Chris
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Chris, thank you for cross-posting this and letting me know this group even existed! I had no idea!
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I tossed back an idea to our EQ and RS reps in the family history council and suggested that perhaps our award winning cinematographer give a "movie making camp", and teach the elements of putting a story to video, with angles, lighting, storyboarding, etc. (get the leaders involved as well).
Having a requirement that they include at least one other family member (who gets seen in the credits!) and this person can either be an actor in the movie, or do prop design, help with lighting, moving pictures for them, using lego people or dolls.. whatever.
One other derivative would be to have the kids work on this collaboratively and remotely... sharing ideas, or even doing videos amongst themselves like some of those "serial fights" (but not fighting) you see where the action of one person gets carried to the next.
Maybe have a theme as well... getting to know an ancestor... and then taking them along on an activity the youth like to do... kinda of a "legacy" project... "things I'd like to share with my ancestor". (a kind of 2-way, "take your ancstor/descendent to work" day or have a fun day with one another.
LOL... I just had this "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" flashback hit me... going back in time to get "So-Crates" (Socrates) or Abraham Lincoln.. and bringing them to the future.
Of course the "show and tell" in that movie could be something the kids do with their ancestors in front of others, and have a friend or a relatives play that part.
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This would be so much fun for the youth! I love this!
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Justin. I taught many of our wards how to use Billion Graves. You can go out as a family to cemeteries to take pictures, and transcribing the headstones is so much easier for the youth than some of the indexing files.
We had a virtual Family History Seminar for the Youth this year, and we used this as one of the topics. It was so great to see some of the youth get involved in taking the pictures.
Additionally, some of the adults who have not indexed before find transcribing the headstones a precursor to indexing and participate.
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https://www.familysearch.org/discovery/
Using the map in "Where am I from?" I've seen teenagers spend 30-45 minutes looking at photos and stories about ancestors, and I know that I looked at my ancestors' photos very differently than ever before when I used "Compare a Face."
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Using the Billion Graves app to take photos of headstones. Then transcribe them. It's a great introduction to indexing skills. And it let's them use their phones. ;-)
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These are some good additional ideas! Thank you!
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