Ancestor Cup Timeline
I'm always looking for unique, interactive ways in which to help my children create and understand timelines. In general, timelines are great for teaching kids about historical events, but they can also be effectively used to illustrate and understand our ancestors' individual lives. I came across a pin on Pinterest entitled Stacked: Learning With Styrofoam Cups. One of the activities illustrated on the page was creating a historical timeline using simple white Styrofoam Cups. I thought this would work great for creating an ancestor's timeline, so that's what we did!
Supplies:
Styrofoam cups
Photos, symbols, newspaper clippings, documents related to ancestor's life
Scissors
Glue or clear packing tape
Black marker
First, you must decide which life events you want to be represented in the timeline. I chose to make one for my maternal grandmother (my kids' great-grandmother). I included the main events, such as birth, death, marriage, graduation, and births of children. I also included other events such as immigration and joining the military, which are more unique to her life. You could also include events like moving, receiving sacraments, starting a new job, retirement - it's really up to you and your child. Once you choose the events you are going to include, write each year on the lip of a Styrofoam cup.
Supplies:
Styrofoam cups
Photos, symbols, newspaper clippings, documents related to ancestor's life
Scissors
Glue or clear packing tape
Black marker
First, you must decide which life events you want to be represented in the timeline. I chose to make one for my maternal grandmother (my kids' great-grandmother). I included the main events, such as birth, death, marriage, graduation, and births of children. I also included other events such as immigration and joining the military, which are more unique to her life. You could also include events like moving, receiving sacraments, starting a new job, retirement - it's really up to you and your child. Once you choose the events you are going to include, write each year on the lip of a Styrofoam cup.
The next step is to find photos, symbols, newspaper clippings, or other documents to represent these different life events. Be creative! For example, I didn't have a photo of my grandmother emigrating from Italy, so, instead, I printed out a small clipping from her passenger ship manifest that shows her name, along with her mom's and sister's names. You could also just print out a clip art image of a ship or plane to represent immigration. I found a small newspaper clipping which mentioned my grandmother's work in the U.S. Coast Guard, so I printed it out and taped it, along with a photo of her in uniform, to that cup. It's a great way to introduce children to some of the records we use in genealogical research.
Cup representing immigration
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Cup representing Coast Guard service
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It was easiest for us to simple use clear packing tape to attach the photos, pictures, and newspaper clippings to each cup. Using glue was taking a little longer, because we had to hold the image around the cup until the glue dried. I also think the packing tape with hold up more in the long run as the cups are stacked and unstacked multiple times by the kids.
I also recommend writing a 1-2 word description of each event on the cup on the opposite side of the date.
I also recommend writing a 1-2 word description of each event on the cup on the opposite side of the date.
Not only is this a great activity for teaching a child about one of his or her ancestors, but it also helps the child develop a sense of the past. Getting kids to look at dates and helping them understand the progression of years is an important step in understanding family history. You may find that the child would like to make a cup timeline of his or her own life, which would be a great idea!
For older children, I recommend making cups to represent important events in local or national history that influenced your ancestor's life. For example, the U.S. Coast Guard SPARS would never have been created if WWII hadn't happened, and my grandmother's life would have likely taken a completely different path if she hadn't joined the SPARS and subsequently met her future husband at a USO event. Adding these bigger events to your ancestor's timeline will help children realize the importance of historical events AND it will (hopefully) give them a sense of how their own lives are influenced by the current events of today.
For older children, I recommend making cups to represent important events in local or national history that influenced your ancestor's life. For example, the U.S. Coast Guard SPARS would never have been created if WWII hadn't happened, and my grandmother's life would have likely taken a completely different path if she hadn't joined the SPARS and subsequently met her future husband at a USO event. Adding these bigger events to your ancestor's timeline will help children realize the importance of historical events AND it will (hopefully) give them a sense of how their own lives are influenced by the current events of today.
Ancestor Cup Timeline
©2015 Emily Kowalski Schroeder
