A year ago, we shared fun family history activities your whole family can enjoy. We hope it’s been a fun year for you and your family! If you’re looking for future fun things to do with your family, we’d like to offer a few more!
Visit Your Ancestors’ Hometown
If it’s in your budget or just a short road trip away, try visiting your ancestors’ hometown! You may be able to see older buildings (maybe even ones your family members helped build or frequented!), or just take in the view that they likely would have seen. Either way, this makes for a great historical tour and offers insight into how your ancestors might have lived.
Sometimes in these areas, you can also find your ancestors’ gravesites. You can have your kids do rubbings of the gravestones, or just visit the site and tell his or her story.
Make Traditional Foods
Cook up some tempting dishes that your family might have eaten. Working together, make and serve meals based on your heritage. If one of your family members came from or lived in another country and knows how to make these things, this could be a great bonding experience!
You don’t have to be limited to cultural foods if you don’t want them. You can make meals that your grandparents or parents made, especially if they’re cozy family traditions. Go ahead and make any occasion special–you don’t have to wait for a holiday!
Tell Stories
This doubles well as a school project! Have your family members research an interesting story from one of your ancestors. Then, gather everyone together and have them tell the stories to the whole group. It doesn’t have to be a long and involved story, especially for little ones. For smaller children, you could have them share what an ancestor did for work, or other simpler but informative details. Sharing these stories helps your whole family get to know your ancestors and their lives.
Play “Ancestor Look-Alike”
If you have a lot of old family photos, gather them all up for this activity. Show them to your family and have everyone decide which ancestor resembles him or her the most. You could also seek out similar interests or careers between your modern family and your ancestors. You might see where your daughter gets her acting streak from, or that your son has your great-grandfather’s eyes!
These family history activities are just a few of many. Try out as many as you like to spark interest in family history. If you have any other ideas for other engaging family history activities, please let us know in the comments section. Also, if you do try one of these activities, let us know how your experience is!
