🗺️ Back to School: Family History Scavenger Hunt (online or with physical photos) 👀
For many children and youth, the school year has started once again. As a former educator, this time of year was always exciting preparing both at home and in the classroom, meeting new students, and organizing learning activities. To support
There are variations of this activity available online. You can use one of them (see a few below), search online, or create your own:
You can do this scavenger hunt activity in multiple ways and adapt for different age groups or complexity level, as needed.
To do the activity online, try the following steps:
Adult or Older Youth Preparation
- Create a free FamilySearch account. (Click here for simple instructions to create a free account, including how to sign in with Facebook, Google, or other social sign-ins.) This activity could also be done on other family history websites that include family trees and photos, such as Ancestry or MyHeritage.
- Make sure there are a variety of Memories (photos, stories, documents, audio) for different ancestors on your family lines. These can be uploaded by you or by other descendants.
- Develop a family history scavenger hunt list. Examples include: Find an ancestor wearing a hat, has glasses, is doing a sport, has 3 children, lived in a different country than the one you were born, etc. Already-created lists are found online, such as this one. You can create the list based on just photos and stories, or include the person page information, such as vital details and family relationships.
Activity Steps
1) Go to Familysearch.org, and sign in with you username and password.
2) Using the online scavenger hunt list, try to find an ancestor that meets the given criteria. Write down the ancestor's name. For older children, they could also write down the specific information that meets the criteria. (Example: Find an ancestor with the 3 siblings. The ancestor is Jose Flores, and his siblings are Maria, Diego, and Isabella.)
3) After the scavenger hunt is over, as a family, consider reviewing the ancestors you have learned about or how the children/youth have physical, personality, interests, etc. traits that were found to help make a connection to the ancestors.
4) If desired, and the child/youth is doing this by themselves, they could try to beat a certain time. Or, if family members are doing the activity together, whomever completes the scavenger hunt list first, gets a favorite treat or wins the game. You can also just do this for fun at the child/youth's own pace.
To do the activity using physical photos, printed stories, newspaper clippings, etc., try the following steps:
Adult or Older Youth Preparation
- Compile physical family photos, stories, newspaper clipping, artifacts, etc. ensuring there are a good variety.
- Develop a family history scavenger hunt list. Examples include: Find an ancestor wearing a hat, has glasses, is doing a sport, has 3 children, lived in a different country than the one you were born, etc. Already-created lists are found online, such as this one.
- Optional: Hide the photos, etc. around the house for an extra element of fun. As a photo is found, the children/youth can review the list to determine what list item the photo, story, etc. matches.
Activity Steps
1) Using the scavenger hunt list, try to find an ancestor that meets the given criteria, either looking through a box of photos, stories, newspaper clippings, etc. Or, if the photos, etc. are hidden, go throughout the house to find a photo and match it with an item on the scavenger list.
2) Once a photo, story, etc. is identified or found, write down the ancestor's name. For older children, they could also write down the specific information that meets the criteria. (Example: Find an ancestor with the 3 siblings. The ancestor is Jose Flores, and his siblings are Maria, Diego, and Isabella.)
3) After the scavenger hunt is over, as a family, consider reviewing the ancestors you have learned about or how the children/youth have physical, personality, interests, etc. traits that were found to help make a connection to the ancestors.
4) If desired, and the child/youth is doing this by themselves, they could try to beat a certain time. Or, if family members are doing the activity together, whomever completes the scavenger hunt list first, gets a favorite treat or wins the game. You can also just do this for fun at the child/youth's own pace.
Enjoy discovering more about your ancestors and how you are like them!
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Thank you for sharing some great ideas. It is always welcoming to get new thoughts.
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I am so excited about this idea. Our ward is preparing the youth for a trip to the Nauvoo Temple to do baptisms. This will be an exciting way to help them prepare. Thank you for this wonderful idea.
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