Category: Colors

#MyColorfulAncestry for Kids

3/30/2016

A week or so ago, a genealogist by the name of J. Paul Hawthorne posted an image of five generations of his ancestry, which was color-coded by birthplace. Well, his idea (and his Excel template) went viral, and genealogists have been creating their own colorful ancestry charts and posting them on social media. (Read more about it and download the free template on J. Paul Hawthorne's blog, GeneaSpy.)

Instead of making one for my own ancestry, I decided to go one generation forward and make one for my kids. And instead of limiting it to five generations, I completed the chart until I reached the 'immigrant' generation of each line. As you can see, my kids' Ohio roots run deep, but they also claim ancestors from seven separate present-day European countries. In other words, this is a great opportunity to use their ancestry to teach them some European geography.

My daughter loves to color, so she used colored pencils to fill in the states and countries listed on the chart onto blank, black-and-white political maps. There are lots of free, printable map resources out there on the Internet, but my favorite one is the Maps section of SuperColoring.com.

The color I used for each location on the chart is the same color my daughter used to color that location with. Visually, I think it helps her connect the chart more with the map than if we had used different colors. Feel free to talk about the locations and the individual ancestors as much or as little as your child will tolerate. Perhaps hang the colorful maps in their room or playroom as a reminder of where they come from. :-)

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A Shower of Ancestors

2/2/2015

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A Shower of Ancestors // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

A month or two ago, via Pinterest, I came across a fun post on the blog, This Simple Home. The blog owner and author, Annette, shows us how to make her Love Rainbow Craft. I just loved it so much that I decided to re-create it with my daughter, using photos of ancestors instead of names and an ancestor quote instead of the Bible verse. I thought it would be an especially fun activity with Valentine's Day rolling around.

For this activity you will need: a white poster board, scissors, a marker, a pencil, a ruler, yarn, tape, small photos of ancestors, and an assortment of scrapbook paper.

First, I drew a simple 'puffy' cloud on the poster board in pencil and then cut it out. Next, we chose six patterns of scrapbook paper. My daughter and I decided to do rainbow colors, so we chose patterns in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, but obviously you can do whatever patterns or color you like.

I cut the scrapbook into 3-inch squares. Then, I folded each square, drew half of a heart on the fold and cut to get a nice symmetric heart. (I did let my daughter help with the cutting, since this is a skill they are working on in preschool, but she became bored with it after a few hearts, so I took over.)

Next, I printed out small photos of my daughter's ancestors. As we have done before, we talked about what an ancestor is and I named all of the people in the photos as we glued them on the hearts. If you do not have enough photos of direct ancestors (grandparents, great-grandparents, etc.), feel free to use photos of aunts and uncles as well.

A Shower of Ancestors

We used plain old Scotch tape to attach the yarn to the cloud and hearts, and I wrote an ancestor-related quote on the cloud. We used a hole punch to made a hole in the top so that we could hang it.

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Family Flash Cards

1/9/2015

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Back to basics. Before you can start introducing the children in your life to family history, first they need to acquire a basic understanding of family relationships AND be able identify present family members. You can start teaching children who their family members are at a very young age, and, with enough repetition, that fundamental knowledge of people and relationships will stay with them as they grow.

My four-year-old daughter and I made family member flash cards this past week. Here are the supplies you will need:

Thicker card stock or sample paint cards from the hardware store
Glue
Scissors or a paper cutter
Hole punch
Book rings
Digital headshot photos of family members
Names of family members, either printed from a computer or written by hand
Laminating machine or clear peel-and-stick film (optional)

Last Spring, we made Family Easter Eggs, and that activity required that I compile and crop family member headshot photos. I had saved that file, so I just printed out a new set, along with a list of family names that I just created in Word.

We used sample paint cards that I had accumulated over time, but you can use colorful card stock paper, too. (If you do plan on laminating or covering the cards in a clear plastic film, construction paper will work just fine, but it may not hold up well if not laminated, whereas a thicker card stock does.)

Family Flash Cards // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

I let my daughter pick out a color for each person's card. We did not really 'color code' by family unit or by relationship, but that is something that you can do, if desired. Then, we glued on names and photos. I kept the names simple, and used mostly first names only, with the exception of grandparents, because my kids use surnames to distinguish between their two sets of grandparents. If your kids call their grandparents words like Nana or Papaw, feel free to use those words for labeling the photos. I also included important family relationship words like aunt, uncle, and cousin. My daughter is starting to recognize some words, so I figure it can't hurt to have her look at these family relationship words over and over again.

After a little trimming, I sent the cards through my home laminating machine and then used a hole punch to make a hole in the upper-left corner of each card. I put the cards through a book ring, which you can find at most office supple stores. Some office supply stores provide laminating services, or you can buy a roll of the clear peel-and-stick plastic film and cover the cards that way, too. Obviously, this step is optional but it will keep the cards more durable, and it will make them washable, too!

Family Flash Cards on a Book Ring

We arranged the cards on three book rings: one for mom's side of the family, one for dad's side, and then one with just our little nuclear family. A fun activity for slightly older children would be to re-arrange the rings into various family units; for example, Mom is a part of our family, but she's also part of Grandma and Grandpa K's family along with her brothers and sister (aunt and uncles).

For toddlers and preschoolers, I recommend making cards for the people in their families who they have met and see fairly regularly. For elementary-aged children, you can go a step further and make cards for ancestors who they haven't met. I made a few cards with some of my children's great-grandparents who passed away before they were born. I simply explained to my daughter that these were Grandma and Grandpa K's parents. Obviously, the older the child, the more information you can include on each card. For example, on the back of each card, you could list each person's full name, birth/death dates, occupation, and other simple facts like that.

My daughter had fun flipping through each set of cards and identifying people and colors. It's a great little 'toy' to keep in your purse, in the car, or to keep them occupied at church or at the doctor's office.

As always, let me know if you have any questions! Don't forget that this and all of my other family and genealogy activities can be found at the new website, http://www.growinglittleleaves.com

©2015, Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Family Unit Turkeys

11/11/2014

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Family Unit Turkey

In previous posts, I've explored activities that help children recognize extended family members and learn relationship vocabulary. (Easter Egg Family Faces, The BIG Family Tree). But I've noticed that my kids, specifically my four year old daughter, still have trouble with how parts of her extended family are more or less "organized." She didn't quite realize that, for example, Daddy is a member of two smaller family units - our family and his parents' family. I needed an activity that could demonstrate 'nuclear' family units in an interactive, visual manner. Combine that with the fact that Thanksgiving is right around the corner and Family Unit Turkey's were born!

Supplies needed for this activity:
- Colorful paper
- Cardboard box
- Scissors
- Glue
- Pencil and Markers
- Googly Eyes (optional)

Each turkey we made would represent one family unit. We would write the family's surname(s) on the belly of the turkey and each feather would represent one person in the family.

First, I created tracing templates from the sides of a cardboard box. I cut them out, and my daughter used these to trace the turkeys' bodies and feathers.

Turkey Body Tracing Template

I showed my daughter how to trace on the back of the paper, so that the pencil line would not show when we cut it out. She chose each color/pattern for each family member.

Tracing One of the Turkey Feathers

After the tracing, she wanted to cut out the turkey feathers on her own. (Cutting with scissors is a skill they are practicing in her preschool class.) Of course, we used safety scissors and I watched her carefully the whole time. The feathers shapes do not have to be cut perfectly; in fact, I think they look better with some jagged edges - more like real turkey feathers!

Cutting out a turkey feather.

After we were done cutting, it was time to glue the feathers onto the turkey body. Then, we used various markers to label the turkey with the family surname and each feather with a family member's first name. This was a teaching moment in and of itself, because my daughter did not know all of her grandparents' first names. (Young children do not inherently realize that adults even HAVE first names!)

I cut out little triangles for the turkey beaks and we found some googly eyes in our craft cabinet. If you do not have googly eyes available, you can cut circles out of the paper or just draw on eyes with markers.

We made three turkeys in all; her attention span was done after that. We created a turkey for our own little family, for my family, and for my husband's family. Each turkey had a different number of feathers, so we counted them and talked about how some families are bigger and some are smaller. We also talked about how mom and dad are actually a part of two family units, and I think this activity helped her better associate each of her aunts and uncles with the correct side of the family. ("Uncle Jeff is Mommy's brother and Grandma and Grandpa K.'s son.")

Our Finished Turkeys!

Please do not feel like you have to have perfect nuclear families in your tree to do this activity with the children in your life. A family unit can be defined however you wish. You could stick with traditional biological family units, or you can create your turkeys based on family members who live together. Children can and should put themselves in more than one family unit if they share their time with their parents' or guardians' separate families.

Have fun making your turkeys and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

©2014, Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Family Heritage Flags

10/6/2014

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Family Heritage Flags // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

Today, October 6, is German American Heritage Day. On this day in 1683, the first group of German immigrants to settle in America sailed into the Port of Philadelphia. I do not have any German ancestry myself, but many, many of my husband's ancestors were from Germany, and so my children share in that German heritage.

I wanted to do a simple craft or hands-on activity to 'celebrate' the day with my kids - nothing too complex or too difficult to understand, especially for my four year old. One thing that both of them seem to understand is that different countries have different flags. They recognize the American flag when they see it, and during the Summer Olympics earlier this year, we looked at and talked about other nations' flags. So, I thought, why not do a craft involving the German flag?

Fortunately now, in the age of the Internet, it is super, super easy to look up what each country's flag looks like. There are also several free-access websites that allow you to print off blank black-and-white versions of world flags for coloring or other crafts. This website has eight pages of printable black-and-white flags for nearly every nation of the world (scroll down to see links to all eight pages of flags). This website is not as globally-comprehensive as the previous link, but for the countries that are represented, the coloring printables go beyond just the country's flag. It has maps, symbols, folklore pictures, and other cultural items related to that nationality.

I printed out two blank German flags. My daughter simply colored - ok, scribbled - one of the flags with crayons. I found a picture of the German flag on my phone and asked her to copy it. Then, we used a circular paper punch to make red, black, and yellow circles that she glued onto the other flag I had printed out. Her artistic interpretation was minimalistic, but that's ok! Let the children be creative with it and design the activity around what your child enjoys. You could color it by finger-painting, or maybe by gluing on small colored pompon balls. You could even use colored beads or candy, like M&Ms. You could tear off small pieces of paper, glue them on, and make a mosaic.

As you are doing this activity, be sure to show your child where the country is located, using either an atlas, globe, or a map on the Internet. Younger children who are still learning colors will benefit from identifying the individual colors within each flag. With older children, you can discuss the symbolism within the flag - what the colors and pictures represent. (In Wikipedia, if you type in 'Flag of (country),' the site will return a page that is all about the symbolism and history of that country's flag.) And, of course, be sure to mention who in their family tree has ancestral roots in that country. For younger children, it could be as simple as saying, 'Grandma and Grandpa S's ancestors came to America from Germany a long time ago.' As children get older, little by little you can start talking about specific years of immigration and names of ancestors.

Our children are fortunate to live in a time and place that recognizes the importance of ethnic diversity and celebrates different cultures throughout the year. Of course, you don't have to wait until a special month or day to celebrate your family's heritage, but it is a good idea to know when these months occur because your community or surrounding communities may have special ethnic celebrations to look out for. Here is a list of some of the common heritage months and days in America, as well as some traditional holidays still celebrated in the 'old countries.'

African-American History Month (February)

Irish American History Month (March)
St. Patrick’s Day (March 17)

Greek American Heritage Month (March)

Arab American Heritage Month (April)

Scottish American Heritage Month (April)
National Tartan Day (April 6)

Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (May)

Cinco de Mayo – Mexican American (May 5)

Haitian Heritage Month (May)

Jewish American Heritage Month (May)

Caribbean American Heritage Month (June)

French American Heritage Month (July)
Bastille Day (July 14)

Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15)
Mexican Independence Day (September 16)

Italian American Heritage Month (October)

Leif Erikson Day – Norwegian American (October 9)

German American Heritage Month (October)
German American Heritage Day (October 6)

Filipino American Heritage Month (October)

Polish American Heritage Month (October)

Native American Heritage Month (November)
Native American Heritage Day (Friday after Thanksgiving)

Dutch American Heritage Day (November 16)

St. Lucia’s Day – Traditional Scandinavian Holiday (Dec 13)

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The Rainbow Fan Chart

6/7/2014

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In recent years, the fan chart has become an increasingly popular way in which to display one's family ancestry. For those who are not familiar with this type of pedigree chart, it is an arc-shaped chart with the primary descendant in the middle and the ancestors radiating away from the center in a circular fashion. Below is an example of a simple fan chart from Misbach.org. You can download several blank pedigree charts for your personal use at this link.

I really like the idea of using the fan chart to introduce children to the concept of pedigree charts, and as a simple way to illustrate how the number of our ancestors increases the further back you go in time. Fan charts are very visual and that appeals to children. They also show the child at the center of the chart, and, let's face it, children inherently think of themselves as the center of their world.

Now, even with these child-friendly qualities, am I going to show my kids a full fan chart of all their ancestors? No way - that would be much too overwhelming and, frankly, boring to a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Before they are old enough to take in all of those names, dates, and families, I needed a way in which to introduce the concept of fan charts, while at the same time teaching them about family relationships and visually illustrating just what a generation is.

In case you missed it, I introduced the concept of generations to my kids using the Play-Doh Pedigree Chart. In that activity, we used different colors to represent different generations. So, I decided to create a rainbow out of craft foam sheets, in which each color, again, represents a separate generation. The rainbow shape resembles a fan chart, and kids are naturally drawn to anything with bright colors.

I used craft foam sheets, but you could just as easily use colored cardstock or construction paper.

Rainbow Fan Chart // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

Then, starting with the red, I cut out successively smaller arcs to make the rainbow. (Because of the way the sunlight bends through the raindrops, primary rainbows always have red on the outside and purple on the inside.)

Next, I simply used a black permanent marker to write the names of each generation on the corresponding arc. The central purple piece I labeled as 'Me.' Using six colors gives you the opportunity to go all the way back to great-great-great-grandparents.

So, this basically gives children a different way in which to visualize their family 'tree.' And, if you have a child who is learning how to read, it's a great way to introduce these genealogical words and their meanings. As you talk about each generation, the child (depending on his/her age) may be able to identify by name their parents, grandparents, and maybe even great-grandparents if they have had the opportunity to meet them. Explaining the older generations is a bit tougher. At first, I would recommend just telling children that their great-great-great-grandparents lived long, long ago, perhaps in a different country, but you are still related to them and they are still part of your family, even though they are no longer around. (I've said it before, don't be afraid to talk about the cycle of life and death with your children; children are generally pretty open to talking about it and they only start to fear death when adults with whom they interact make it a sad and taboo subject.)

To make this activity a little more hands-on, I made a puzzle out of the rainbow. I purchased self-adhesive Velcro dots and placed them on the fronts and back of the different rainbow pieces. My three year old loves to put the rainbow together and take it apart, and while she is doing it, I can read her the words and try to convey who each section represents in our family. (It's also useful for teaching and learning colors!)

For my older child's benefit, I wrote a sentence on the back of each arc. On the 'parents' one, I wrote, "I have 2 parents." Then, for the 'grandparents' one I wrote, "I have 4 grandparents." I did this for each successive generation. This can give the child a sense of how our ancestors increase in number the further back you go in time, but without confusing them with specific names or family lines yet.

After you play around with this rainbow for awhile, you can begin to show school-age children a REAL fan chart with names and perhaps even photos added so that they can start to learn more specifically about the people related to them. But there is never any hurry to push the details - providing a solid background of simple vocabulary and concepts upon which to build over the years is the best way to not only get children interested in their family histories, but also to KEEP them interested as they grow older.

©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder.

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Easter Egg Family Faces

4/22/2014

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Easter Egg Family Faces // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

Easter Sunday has come and gone, and, if you are like my family, you may have a healthy collection of plastic colored eggs left over from various hunts in which your kids may have participated. That was certainly the case in our house this past weekend, so I decided to set a bunch of the eggs aside to use for another family tree activity that can be used with a range of different age children.

If you are interested in trying it with the kids in your life, here are the supplies I used:

- Plastic colored eggs
- Scissors
- Glue stick
- Black permanent marker
- Construction paper or cardstock in the same colors as the eggs
- Family photos

The first thing I did was to decide which and how many family members I wanted the kids to identify. I decided to use both my and my husband's immediate family members (and their spouses/children), as well as my husband's grandparents, who my kids know and visit occasionally. I ended up needing 28 eggs. Who to include in your family is completely up to you; and remember, you can always make MORE and only bring out a few at a time so that the child isn't overwhelmed by too many at once.

I then wrote the name of each family member on an egg using the black permanent marker. I used the terms by which the kids would know each person. For example, for my brother, I wrote "Uncle Jeff." For their cousins, I wrote "Cousin Nolan." I also made eggs for each of my kids and put their names on them, along with the words "son" and "daughter" and "brother" and "sister."

Next, I needed to find photos of all of these people. All of my recent photos are in digital form, so I went to the computer. You want to use clear photos in which the person is looking pretty much straight-on at the camera. When I found a good photo to use, I cropped it so that it was basically only a 'headshot' of the person. I printed out the edited version on plain white paper - photo paper isn't necessary - and I glued it on cardstock that was about the same color as the egg. (Make sure your photos are small enough to fit inside your eggs. It's ok if you have to roll them up a little, but make sure their height is not taller than the egg.)

So, how did I use this 'game' with each of my children? For my six year old son, we laid out all of the photos and eggs on the floor. He chose an egg and had to READ what it said (I helped him with the words and names he did not recognize.) Then, he had to find the correct photo of that person. The colors acted as clues and helped him narrow down his choices. Then, he had to roll up the photo, put it in the egg, and close it. This step was actually a great little fine motor skills exercise. Since he had to read the words 'aunt,' 'uncle,' and 'cousin' several times, which are words I don't think he has encountered much in school, I am hoping that he would now be able to recognize them if he saw them again in print.

6yo son reading each egg

Putting the photo into the egg

I did things differently with my three year old daughter. I put all of the photos into their respective egg. Then, I had her chose eggs one-by-one. I asked her "What color is this egg?" Then, after she told me, she opened the egg (fine motor skills!). I then asked her, "Do you know who that is?" If she got it right, we did high-fives and moved on, but if not, I let her guess a few times before I told her the person's name. For aunts and uncles, I also used terms like, "Daddy's sister," and for great-grandparents, I said "Grandpa S.'s mom."

You can't expect preschoolers to know the names of everyone in their extended family, even if you do see a lot of them (and we live fairly far from most of our family members, so we don't see them that often.) And if you do this 'game' enough, it WILL help them learn names and faces faster than they would otherwise. Gradually, with the younger children, you can even start to read and show them the names and words on each egg - if you repeat it enough, they may start to recognize those words!

With older kids, you could for further back in past generations, and include photos of ancestors who passed away before they were born, plus you could get into more complex family relationships, such as grand-aunts and uncles and second cousins.

This activity was inspired by two separate blog posts I found on the web. The first is very basic and is great for toddlers. The second involved a somewhat 'competitive' egg hunt with no candy/prizes in the eggs, which I didn't see ending well with my own kids. So, I combined elements of each for the activities I created above for my kids.

Family Tree Color Sorter by Nicole Kavanaugh at The Kavanaugh Report

Easter Egg Family Tree Game by Michelina at Preserving Heritage

©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder.