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Recording Ancestor Data: A Nonlinear Approach

8/4/2015

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Genealogists love tables and charts, am I right? We love ordering facts in chronological order in neat little forms and tidy family sheets. However, if you show most young children some of these organizational tables and forms, their interest in recording family history flies right out the window.  
I was recently trying to think of 'out-of-the-box' ways in which to get younger school-aged children into writing down facts about their ancestors, without the structure and tedium of line-after-line tables. I came up with what I like to call the 'Ancestor Fact Circle.' As you can see, it is very simple. There is a place for the ancestor's name at the top as well as how he/she is related to the child ('great-grandmother', 'father', etc.)  There is a small inner circle for a photo. The rest of the space within the larger circle is for the child to write down facts about this person. 
Ancestor Fact Circle FREE Worksheet // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Ancestor Fact Circle (Click to download.)
What facts should the child write down? That's what I love about this sheet - it is completely open-ended. You could sit down with the child and pull facts from census schedules or birth records or family Bibles. Or, you could tell the child to go up to Grandpa and ask him five or so facts about himself. The idea is to get the child thinking about and writing about the ancestors in his/her family without it seeming like a rigid or overly-involved homework project. You could even use different colored pens or markers to make it look more vibrant and colorful.

Once you complete these sheets for several ancestors, use a three-ring hole punch, and put them all in a little binder for the child. It's an easy way to make a little family history journal that they can look at again and again. In the future, if they learn something new about a particular ancestor, it would be easy for them to add that fact to the worksheet.


Here are a couple of sample worksheets that I filled out with very basic information:
Ancestor Fact Circle FREE Worksheet from GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Completed Ancestor Fact Circle
Ancestor Fact Circle Worksheet FREE from GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Completed Ancestor Fact Circle
As always, this worksheet is FREE for all to download for personal use. Click on the image of the blank worksheet above to be directed to a PDF. You can download this, as well as all of my other free printables, from the Printables page of GrowingLittleLeaves.com.

©2015, Emily Kowalski Schroeder. Worksheets for personal use only. Do not reproduce or redistributed without written consent of owner.
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Family Mothers, Past and Present

5/9/2015

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My daughter and I created this fun three-dimensional Mother's Day poster representing some of her female ancestors. 
Family Mothers, Past and Present // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Family Mothers, Past and Present Poster
It was simple to make. You will need:

Poster board (any size, depending on how many mothers you'd like to include)
Cupcake liners
Colored construction paper or scrapbook paper
Photos of family mothers
Pencil and marker
Glue
Scissors

First, we made a title on the poster board. You can title it however you choose; if you choose to do one branch of your family, you can use the surname at the top. I wrote dotted letters for the title and let my daughter trace them so she could practice her writing. I later used a pink marker to make the letters stand out more.
Family Mothers, Past and Present // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Daughter tracing title of poster
I cut out flower shapes from assorted scrapbook paper that I had lying around. The photo headshots get glued into the bottoms of the cupcake liners and then that gets glued onto the flower shapes and poster board. I printed out all of our photos in black and white to give it a little more uniformity, but if you have a mix of black and white and color photos, that's fine, too.
Family Mothers, Past and Present // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Gluing flower shapes onto poster
My daughter enjoyed arranging the flowers and photos. Have fun with it! This activity is another one of those fun crafts that gets your child to look at family photos and learn about the people in them!
Family Mothers, Past and Present // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Gluing cupcake liners onto flower shapes
As always, you can find this craft, and other family history activities at GrowingLittleLeaves.com

©2015, Emily Kowalski Schroeder
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Ancestor Puppet Theater

4/27/2015

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Ancestor Puppet Theater by GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Ancestor Puppet Theater
Putting on a puppet show is a fun, interactive way to engage young children in storytelling. Why not make those puppets and stories about family ancestors! 

Supplies needed:
Small cardboard box (10.5" x 13.75" x 5")
Glue
Tape
Scissors (a box cutter is also helpful)

Popsicle sticks
Family photos
Computer with Internet access and printer
Scrap fabric and wooden dowel (optional)

This activity requires a bit more preparation on the part of the adult than many of the other activities featured on this blog. First, you will need family photos. These may be more recent photos of people your child(ren) know, or you may choose to use older photos of long-gone ancestors, which is what we did. I found full-length photos of my grandmother and her family members, but I honestly don't think most kids would care if you used torso or head shots. 

I printed out these photos and glued each of them to an index card, in order to make them a little more sturdy. Then, I glued the photos onto popsicle sticks.
Ancestor Puppet Theater by GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Ancestor Puppets
Next, I looked for background images to help us tell a story, and for this I turned to the Internet. First, I used Street View on Google Maps to find an image of the house in which this family lived during the late 1930s (about when these photos were taken). Then, I Googled around for other images that would help us tell a story. My grandmother and her sister worked for The May Company Department store in Cleveland, Ohio, and thanks to The Cleveland Memory Project I found an older image of the exterior of that building, as well as some interior images. I also found an image of a Cleveland streetcar, which was the main mode of transportation into the city at that time.

I printed out copies of the images onto normal computer paper, and taped them together in a line. These images would serve as the 'scenery' for our puppet show.
Ancestor Puppet Theater by GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Puppet Theater Background Scenery
For the box, I used a small Amazon delivery box (13.75" x 10.5" x 5"). It was a great size because the paper backgrounds fit just about perfectly in it. Stand the box up on its side, and cut a vertical slit towards the back so that the backgrounds can slide through.
Ancestor Puppet Theater // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Ancestor Puppet Theater // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Now, I added a wooden dowel with a scrap-fabric curtain to make it look more like a theater. This step is not necessary, but I will tell you that my kids LOVED it, and made them SO much more excited. (You may also choose to cut off those side flaps, but we found that they actually help the 'theater' to stand up better.)
Ancestor Puppet Theater by GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Ancestor Puppet Theater
Now, it was time to play! We arranged the background images so that we could tell a story about my great-grandmother and her daughters going shopping. They started at their home and took the street car downtown to the department store. Inside the store, it was very crowded in the accessories department, but there were fewer shoppers in the shoe department. They bought some shoes. Then they met up with my great-grandfather, who had been at one of his Italian War Veterans meetings. They all got back on the street car and went home. The older the child, the more detailed you can be with your storytelling. Let the child run with it; my daughter remarked that she liked the clothes they wore back then. My son was much more interested in the concept of a streetcar than anything else. Whatever their interests, they're looking at family photos, learning about their ancestors, AND learning a little bit about what life was like in the 1930s and 40s.
Ancestor Puppet Theater // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Family History Storytelling
Ancestor Puppet Theater // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Family History Storytelling
Be sure to check out all activities that have been featured on this blog at Growing Little Leaves.com

©2015, Emily Kowalski Schroeder
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Ancestor Cup Timeline

3/20/2015

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Ancestor Cup Timeline // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
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.
Ancestor Cup Timeline // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
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.
Ancestor Cup Timeline // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Cup representing immigration
Ancestor Cup Timeline // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Cup representing Coast Guard service
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.
Ancestor Cup Timeline // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
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.
Ancestor Cup Timeline // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Ancestor Cup Timeline
©2015 Emily Kowalski Schroeder
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Family Member Hopping Game

2/24/2015

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Family Member Hopping Game // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
It's been a long winter - too long. If your kids are like mine, they are probably suffering from cabin fever and longing for more physical activity. This activity combines some physical activity (jumping) with family member identification and is appropriate for children ages one and up. 

For this activity, you will need family photos, clear packing tape, and some sheets of craft foam. You can try to use construction paper, but I've found that it doesn't hold up to the jumping nearly as well as craft foam.

Since St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner, we used some foam shamrocks that I had left over from a party from last year. You can find inexpensive, colorful sheets of craft foam at any craft store or even at Wal-Mart. (The shamrocks, by the way, can be purchased at OrientalTrading.com.)

Family Member Hopping // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
I printed out some family photos - individual head shots - and then used clear packing tape to adhere each photo to its shamrock. And that's it! My daughter spread them out on the floor. I called out the name of a family member, and she looked for that person and jumped to them! Caretakers, get off of the couch!: Have the child call out a family member and YOU jump on that person. Kids love it when adults join in!
Family Member Hopping Game // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
My daughter then arranged the shamrocks in a circle. She stood in the middle and I asked her to jump to someone who is 'Daddy's sister.' Then, I told her to find 'Grandpa Schroeder's mom' and after that, 'Mommy's mom.' This variation is just another way to reinforce just HOW different people in our family are related to each other.

As I've written before, teaching young children about family history MUST begin with teaching them about current family members and relationships. Doing simple family member recognition games help kids establish that foundation which you can later build upon with stories and facts. For older children, this particular activity can also be done with ancestor photos to make it more challenging. 

©2015, Emily Kowalski Schroeder
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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 // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
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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Maternal and Paternal Line Snowmen

1/16/2015

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We are in the doldrums of winter, which means it is the perfect time for a snowman craft! And, like so many other crafts, believe it or not, it IS possbile to create a snowman with a genealogy focus. 

My kids made two snowmen; one to represent their matrilineal ancestors and one to represent their patrilineal ancestors. Hey, we used those words, too! I simply explained that the word matrilineal indicated their string of mothers in the family tree and patrilineal their line of fathers. Once the kids could visualize it on the snowman, I think they better understood what I meant.

We started out with some white poster board, but plain white computer paper would work just as well. If, like me, your free-hand circles are awful, you will need some objects to trace. I used three different sizes of Pyrex bowl lids. 
Maternal and Paternal Line Snowmen // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Maternal and Paternal Line Snowmen // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
We glued the circles together to make a snowman. Then, I printed out family head shot photos from our computer - my kids' mother (me), maternal grandmother, and their maternal grandmother's mother - to represent their matrilineal line. Likewise, I printed out photos of their father, paternal grandfather, and paternal grandfather's father to represent their patrilineal line. We cut out the photos and glued them onto the snowmen.

I wrote the names of each person under their photo and labeled how they were related to my son and daughter. The kids colored a little bow for the matrilineal snowman and a top hat for the patrilineal snowman.

We only did three generations, but you could easily go another generation or two back by making the snowman a little taller. 
Maternal and Paternal Line Snowman // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
If you don't feel like tracing and cutting, I've got printables for you! Click on each picture below and you'll be directed to a PDF which you can download and print for your personal use.
Maternal Line Snowman FREE Worksheet // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Click for PDF of Maternal Line Snowman
Paternal Line Snowman Worksheet // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Click for PDF of Paternal Line Snowman
©2015 Emily Kowalski Schroeder. For personal use only. May not be reproduced or redistributed without written consent of owner.
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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
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 // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
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).
Family Flash Cards // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Family Flash Cards // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
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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New Website + FREE Family Tree Printables

1/1/2015

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New Website + FREE Family Tree Printable // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
It's a new year and the Growing Little Leaves blog has grown tremendously since I started it on a whim last February. I've written over thirty posts, most of those involving fun, engaging activities that can help young children learn about their family history. While a blog format is great for sharing new activities, it's not so great for showcasing older posts as well as other genealogy resources I find out on the web. So, I've decided to start a separate website on which I can do just that. Direct your browser to

GrowingLittleLeaves.com 

and you will find general information about me and my vision for Growing Little Leaves, as well as links to ALL of the activities I've featured on my blog over the past 11 months.  For now, I will continue to blog from this same site, so no need to change your Feedly or Bloglovin' feed.

To kick off the new year, I've created two FREE family tree printables for you to download and use with the children in your life. The only writing necessary for filling out these trees is to write the child's name. Then, simply cut out small photos of family members and glue them onto the tree in the appropriate places. It's a great way for young children to be able to visualize family members on one sheet of paper. A PDF of each tree may be downloaded by either clicking on the images or by clicking on the links below.

Please let me know if you have trouble downloading these documents, and take a minute to check out my new website!

New Website + FREE Family Tree Printables // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Four generation traditional family tree
New Website + FREE Family Tree Printable // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Three generation step-family tree
These and all other original kid-oriented genealogy worksheets and family trees can be found on the Printables page.
©2015-2016 Emily Kowalski Schroeder. Printables for personal use only. May not be reproduced or redistributed without written consent of owner.
four_generation_traditional_family_tree.pdf
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stepchild_family_tree.pdf
File Size: 396 kb
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Sketch A Family Photo

11/3/2014

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Do you have a child who loves to draw? My six year old son LOVES to draw, so I knew that he would be up for this activity as soon as I mentioned drawing. Asking your child to sketch a photo is a very simple, no-cost way of getting kids to look closer at old family photos. All you need for this activity are family photos, paper, and any sort of drawing utensils (pencils, crayons, markers).

Let your child choose which photo he/she wants to sketch. We sat down at my laptop and looked through a bunch of photos. To my surprise, my son said that he wanted a photo with "only a person." He chose an old black-and-white portrait of his Italian great-great-great-grandmother, Cristina Licciardi. 

I asked him if he wanted to use crayons, markers, or colored pencils and he chose markers. He wanted to draw his sketch in color, and he mentioned to me how he would have to imagine what the colors would be, since the photo was all black and white. That's right, dude, and I told him that, when this photo was taken, color photography technology did not exist.
Sketch a Family Photo // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Working on his family photo sketch.
As he was drawing, I was amazed at how closely he looked at the photo's details - the hair, the clothing, the jewelry. We had looked through old family photos before, but he was never really willing to stop and look at stuff like that. He becomes quite focused when drawing, and this particular sketch became a challenge to him. He was not used to drawing women with a hairstyle like this, or with a such a high shirt collar. He told me that he felt he 'messed up' on a couple of parts - he can be quite the perfectionist - but I think he did a fine job. And it gave us a chance to talk about how this woman was related to him and where she was from, not to mentioned our discussions about photography and clothing and hairstyles of the past.
Sketch a Family Photo // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Sketch A Family Photo // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Again, let your child(ren)'s interests drive HOW you teach them about their families and their ancestry. Design activities around their interests and you can't go wrong. On this day, we may have only talked about one ancestor, but quality is always better than quantity.

As always, feel free to send in photo sketches that your kids have done. I'd love to see them!

©2014, Emily Kowalski Schroeder. ​
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    Emily Kowalski Schroeder

    Founder and Author of Growing Little Leaves

    Emily Kowalski Schroeder / Founder and Author of GrowingLittleLeaves.com

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