City of Clearwater, Florida Aging Well Center, 25 Feb 2021

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From YouTube: Family History Fun with the Grandkids

Description

Looking for something fun to do with the grandkids? Want to find ways to get your grandchildren interested in your family’s history? This video will present a variety of activities that you can do with your grandchildren to help inspire them and develop a love of your family’s unique story. Presented by the Clearwater Aging Well Center.

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Hello and welcome to family history fun with the grandkids sponsored by the city of clearwater's, aging well center.

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The activities that I'll be showing you in this video are intended to not only be fun, but also to help you find ways to preserve your family's history by passing it on to the next generation.

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These activities can help you to pass on your family's stories and maintain your family traditions.

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Research suggests that families that help maintain their family history and pass it on can form stronger family bonds.

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It also indicates that it's important to explain not only the good things that happen to your family, but also the bad things by learning young that adversity can be overcome.

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It can help them better to cope with situations that they encounter later in life. It can also help give them a better understanding of history and their place in it.

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At the heart of these activities is telling stories.

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Children love to hear stories, find activities that the children will find interesting if they're not interested, they're less likely to want to hear more or retain the information that you told them.

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Many of that these activities are also visual and hands-on. All of us, including children, learn a bit differently. Some learn better by hearing things, others by seeing things and some are more tactile and need that hands-on connection.

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Many of these activities incorporate all of these elements find what best suits your grandchildren and their styles, and what gets them excited try to keep things simple, especially for the younger children.

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If an activity is too complicated or too difficult, they're more likely to become frustrated.

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Also, when possible, make an activity relevant to them, for example, find out what they are learning about in history class or what books they may be. Reading that took place in the past if you're able to show them photographs or tell them stories about family members who live during that time, it can better reinforce what they're learning about in school and making that connection to the past.

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By putting real people into that history, the most important thing is to keep it fun, keep the children engaged in the family stories and the family history in order to make them want to come back for more, for example, find the funny stories and pictures that you have, especially when they're first getting started with these activities when possible, use props such as photographs, heirlooms and other objects, as you'll see I'll, be incorporating many of these into the activities I'll be presenting here.

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I've tried to pick activities that have a variety of age levels pick which activities are most appropriate for the age of your grandchildren.

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I've also tried to pick some that can be done in person or long distance if you're not able to visit with the grandkids at this point in time or not as often as you would like. There are still plenty of activities that you can do together.

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Try to appeal to the different interests and personalities of your grandchildren.

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For example. Do you have a grandchild? That's crazy about animals find some of the photos and stories that incorporate pets and other animals that you had in your family.

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Maybe your grandchild is interested in vehicles and transportation, find photos and stories that have things such as boats and trains and automobiles are your grandchildren interested in science or art or sports, or acting or making things find activities that best appeal to your particular grandchildren and adapt these activities as needed, make them simpler or more complex as needed.

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More active or less active, also keep in mind your needs, substitute materials that you already have on hand or can easily obtain, make things again simpler or more complex. Depending on your circumstances, I've also tried to incorporate activities that you can do if, for some reason, you do not have a surviving family history collection or it's very limited.

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These are things such as photographs and heirlooms and other objects, or even family stories, feel free to pause or watch again portions of this video as needed, so that you can find what activities best suit you and your grandchildren, as I mentioned a moment ago at the core of many of these activities, is storytelling and giving the children the opportunity to ask questions rather than starting with an ancestor that the children never knew start with yourself.

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Tell them stories such as what activities did you do when you were their age? What was life like in your household when you were young?

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What places did you like to go, such as the park or a playground or a neighborhood store?

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What do you remember about the visits to your own grandparents and how do they differ from what the children experience when they visit you?

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How were holidays celebrated when you were young, who were some of the other family members that you have memories of that the children never met?

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What stories were you told about the family's history, encourage the children to think of their own questions about what they would like to know? If you have them, photographs are a great way to catch. The interest of the children.

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Have them look at some of the photos that you have and identify for them? Who are the people in the photographs where and when was the photograph taken?

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Why was the photograph taken? Was it to commemorate a particular event, such as these examples of wedding photographs?

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Look at other things in the photos.

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What other clues tell you the story, such as the buildings, the landscape? What objects are in the photo, what style of clothing and hairstyle and other accessories were the people wearing.

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And if you have group photos or a collection of photos, have the children try and guess how the people in the photos are related to each other.

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Heirlooms are another great way to catch their interest. If you have them, an heirloom doesn't have to be something fancy or expensive.

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It can just simply be something that was passed down in your family, because it meant something to someone.

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For example, in my collection, I have a lock of my mother's hair that my grandmother kept when my mother had one of her very first haircuts as a young child, show them the objects and have them figure out. What is it if it isn't something obvious.

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Tell them who in the family, acquired the object when and how was it obtained?

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Why was it passed down? What did it mean to that person and who did they pass it down to and what stories does this object have to tell about your family.

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Have the children pick a photo or an object that they would like to hear a story about now? Let's look at some of the possible activities that you can choose from scavenger or treasure. Hunts are always fun if you have them place: family photographs and heirlooms around the house or apartment for the children to find, of course, keep in mind the age and enthusiasm of the children.

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If there's any chance that the items might get damaged, try instead using copies of the photographs and pictures of the heirlooms rather than the original items, you might also consider limiting the hunt to one or two rooms, or just a portion of the house and move anything that might be fragile to another area or into a locked room as needed, provide written or verbal clues so that the children know what they're looking for.

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You might also consider using a theme for the hunt, for example, placing items that are related to a particular person or to a favorite family story. There are many different ways that you can bury this activity to suit. Your particular circumstances, for example, show them a picture with several different objects in it, and let them know that one of those objects is somewhere in the house and see if they can find it.

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Another is to place an item that has to do with the story that they know about to see if they can find that, if you don't have photographs or heirlooms or very few, try instead coming up with a series of questions such as what was the occupation of a particular great grandfather, write the answers to the questions on slips of paper to place around the house when the children find them have them, come back and see if they can match up the right answers to the questions.

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If your grandchildren aren't able to visit at this point in time and are old enough to use a computer to search online, try instead coming up with one or more questions that they can look for on the computer, for example, see if they can find a picture of a train from a railroad line that one of your ancestors used to work. For there are many many different activities that involve arts and crafts.

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I'll just show a few of them here for you to choose from print or create a simple family tree. If you go online, you should be able to see many different examples that you can either print out or use for ideas.

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Have the children write in the names in the appropriate boxes?

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You can also have them use copies of photographs and attach them above the appropriate names, have them color or decorate around the tree to help personalize it and make it more fun.

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They can even draw something next to each of the names to symbolize that person such as a dog.

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Next, to someone who has a dog or a truck next to someone who is a truck driver or owns a truck, you can also have them glue a copy of a photograph to construction paper, cardboard, poster board or whatever you happen to have on hand and then allow them to decorate the frame using markers, crayons stickers, buttons strips of cloth, whatever you happen to have on hand of course, make sure that you only use copies of the photographs for this and not the original, so it doesn't become damaged if you're into scrap booking, try having them make a family scrapbook using copies of the family photos and creating their own captions.

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Have them create a collage with copies of photos either on paper or poster board or on the computer. The example I used here are scanned images that I just moved around on a word document.

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Have them create a photo book with copies of family pictures?

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If you want to do something fancy, you can always do this with scanned images through online sites such as shutterfly office depot or even cvs or walgreens, or you can also use whatever you have handy, such as printer paper or construction paper, simply cut them out.

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Have the children attach the copies of the photos and decorate them and then staple one end of them to create a little booklet.

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You can create a calendar and add birth dates or other important dates for various family members, both living and ancestors.

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There are a number of different sites that you can do fancy ones such as shutterfly and office depot, as I mentioned, but there are also online sites that allow you to print out calendar sheets for free. Some of them will allow you to personalize the information before you print it, or you can print them and write. The information in by hand keep a copy yourself and then give a copy of the calendar to the child as each important date comes up. Tell them a new story about that person.

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Create or copy a paper doll and have them color or create period, clothing, hairstyle and accessories.

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They can do this, of course, using crayons or markers, or you can use fabrics and craft items such as yarn that you may have on hand if you're not sure what clothing style to use, try searching online for period costumes or ethnic costumes, or check with your local public library and see what books they have about period. Costumes.

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Create a holiday ornament or refrigerator magnet.

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There are many different sites that have instructions on how to do these use copies of family photos or come up with something that represents something connected to your family or a family story. For example, on my holiday tree, I have several ornaments that represent my family background.

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Here you can see one of the ornaments has the eiffel tower to represent my french background and a maple leaf for my canadian heritage. There are many different variations on this choose. What works best for you?

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Do you have grandchildren who like to play dress-up, consider having the children dress up like a family member or ancestor as seen in a family photo?

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It doesn't have to be anything elaborate, or even that exact see what old clothes you might have on hand or can easily find at a local thrift, store, recreate a scene from a family photo using old clothes or props as appropriate.

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Take a picture of the child and then compare that to the original photo if you're handy with sewing, consider making a period costume, something similar to what an ancestor would have worn or even just styling their hair like an ancestor.

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If you don't have an exact picture, try going online or checking your local library to see what hairstyles were typical of certain time periods use craft materials to create a hat or other accessory worn by one of your ancestors.

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Do your grandkids like acting, consider having them create and act out a scene from one of their favorite ancestor stories.

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Games are always a fun way to get the kids engaged.

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Have them identify the people or person in an old family photo that they haven't seen before, create a matching game using pictures of family members as a baby or a young child and see if they can match it up with the correct person as an adult teach them a traditional game, one that you may have played, or one of your ancestors might have such as hopscotch jacks, marbles cats, cradle goose or boar game or card game.

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If you're uncertain of what the rules were go online to look it up or again check your local library, family history activities can not only be fun, they can also help teach the children new things, as I mentioned earlier, find out what the child is. Learning about in school, see if you can find an activity or family story to help reinforce what the child is.

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Learning in school teach them how to cook a simple, traditional, family or ethnic recipe, of course, make sure that they only attempt to do this when they have adequate supervision in the kitchen, teach them or, if you don't know yourself, learn with them.

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Some words in your family's traditional language or languages, teach them a traditional craft, such as candle or soap, making sewing or cross stitch directions for many of these activities can be found online, but you might also want to check with your local public library to see what books on this topic are available in the youth department, with simplified directions.

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Learn together about an ancestors occupation, find out what it was like to be a farmer in the past or a blacksmith or minor. The bottom picture here shows my great-grandfather in his uniform when he was a streetcar conductor.

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Have you taken a dna test kit from a website such as ancestry, if you have go over the ethnicity results with your grandchildren?

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Make sure that they're aware, however, that the ethnicity results for these tests may not be completely accurate and that the results may change over time.

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As information is updated and improved, explain what parts of the world your family came from, if you know tell them which ancestors came from which countries that are represented in the results, if appropriate, explain how dna is passed down if, while you're talking to the child, about dna, they're interested in taking a test to their own, make sure that this is only done with the full knowledge, participation and consent of the parent or legal guardian.

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Research together, a country that one of your ancestors came from, if you know it teach them the basics of genealogy or learn it together.

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Look for your family in the 1940 u.s census. This can be found free on both ancestry.com and familysearch.org.

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The 1940 census asks questions such as. Where was the person born? How old were they when the census was taken, were they attending school and what grade was the highest that they completed, because this was around the time of the great depression and the new deal era?

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It also asked whether family member had worked for the works, progress, administration or the civilian conservation corps.

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If you had an ancestor who came through ellis island or castle garden, look together to see if you can find that ancestor's name in the databases on those websites.

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Have them discovered the answer to a question such as, where was a particular great grandparent born this could be done using family papers that you already have, or by searching online.

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You might consider doing the research in advance and seeing how difficult it is to find that answer and then help guide the child to the answer, while you're doing the activity together.

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Maps can be a great visual aid, use a map with your grandchild to mark where current family members live and then mark where known ancestors lived.

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If you have a map of the town or city where you grew up, show them the different places that you remember, such as where you lived when you were their age where you went to school and the places that you used to go to play.

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If you don't have a printed map easily available, try using an online site such as google maps show them how the family move from one place to another, whether that was from one country to another one state to another or even one city to another.

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If you want to try something a bit more elaborate, try creating a tour of an ancestor's life using the google earth project, feature instructions and tutorials on how to create a project in google earth can be found on their website when you're able to travel.

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Consider taking the grandchildren on a field trip such as some place that you remember from your childhood, consider taking them to some place where an ancestor lived. If you know it, for example, this is a picture that I took of the house where one of my great grandfathers grew up.

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If you're not able to travel very far, consider looking to see if there's an historical village or museum near you or where your grandchildren live.

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These can be great places to learn more about the past and what life might have been like for your ancestor.

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If you can find one nearby try taking your grandchildren to see a demonstration of an activity that was typical in the past, such as black smithing or quilt, making. I love to go to demonstrations of glassblowing.

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Not only is it fascinating, but I have multiple generations of glass workers in my family.

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If you know it take your grandchildren to the place where one of your immigrant ancestors arrived in the united states.

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If you don't know that location consider taking them to some place like ellis island, which would show them what the experience of an immigrant ancestor was like, you might also consider taking them to cemeteries so that they can see the headstones where some of their ancestors are buried.

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Of course, you probably want to get the approval of the child's parent or legal guardian just to be sure that they're, okay with this in all of the activities that I've shown you today make sure that you use that opportunity with those activities to tell your family's stories and make sure that they're passed down to the next generation.

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These are just a few of the websites that are available for showing you yet more activities that you can do with your grandchildren feel free to pause on this slide and take a screenshot or write down any of the websites that you're interested in visiting. To find more.

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Thank you so much for joining me for this presentation, and I hope I gave you some great ideas for family history: fun with the grandchildren.