🐇 Ideas to Engage Youth and Children in Family History During Spring 🌷
For those of us in the northern hemisphere, Spring begins today, March 20 (although the current weather may not reflect it 😉). There are many things I love about Spring, including the incredible variety of colorful flowers, vivid greenery after a wet winter, and yes, even spring cleaning that gives me a fresh perspective on life.
Spring is also a great time to begin again, and start incorporating simple and fun family history activities in your own life as well as the youth in your life. Try some of these engaging and meaningful ways discovery opportunities:
1) Trees are budding and blooming; why not your family tree? 🌳
There are so many different ways to create and represent a family tree. For children and youth, keep it to a few generations. Allow the youth to be creative, use different kinds of crafts, notions, and even nature to express their family tree vision.
Consider putting your family tree on a: place mat, pillow case, in a frame, on a quilt, in a pizza box (diorama-style), out of rocks or flowers in the garden, in a book, on a PowerPoint slide, out of playdough or clay, in jewelry, on a wreath (even a photo wreath), or in a shadow box.
Check out some fun creative family trees here and here.
2) While spring cleaning, gather family history photos and artifacts to display or share at a family reunion or with family members on social media. 👪️
Give everyone a box, including the kiddos, and make a game out of it looking for objects, artifacts, and photos that tell your family story. These could be used for gathering, but also may be part of the memory box that each person creates. So, they can decorate it however they want. You could assign an ancestor or ancestral family to each person to focus on. Consider giving a time limit, like a few days to gather items.
Then, encourage each person to decide how to they want to share it and with whom. Maybe it's during family night with those in the same household; or, taking photos and sending to a family member that lives far away. It could be creating a video to share at an upcoming family reunion, or making another unique kind of display and sharing the story of your ancestor on social media with other family members. Keep it fun, and watch imaginations flourish!
Get some ideas here and here (click Next below the photo to move to the next page).
3) Plant a family garden outside, then plant a family garden in the hearts of the kiddos in your life by sharing family stories and doing discovery activities. 🌻
See below for some simple and engaging activities to try:
-Learn about you, your name, and the year you were born
-See where your ancestors came from and find out more about countries of your heritage
-Discover what famous people you're related to
-Find out what your ancestors might have worn
-Record a family story or experience important to you
-Choose one or more fun family history activities to try
Spring is a great time to start discovering more about your family! 🌼 Watch the youth in your life "blossom" as they gain strength, courage, and support as they come to know their ancestral family and where they come from.
What's worked for you and your family? Share your ideas below. 💡
