Growing Little Leaves: Family History for Children - Growing Little Leaves: Genealogy for Children

Place Your Ancestor in History

11/1/2015

One of the great things about teaching kids about their ancestors is that it almost always is a great launching point to discuss the world, national and local historical events that occurred when those ancestors lived. I created a worksheet to help you and your kids organize and visualize an ancestor's life against historical events. Of course, filling in the right side of this worksheet will take a little research, but upper-elementary students will have no trouble digging up some history online and lower elementary students can engage in online research, too, with a little help from an adult.

Fortunately, there are a LOT of great kid-oriented history books, videos, websites, blog posts, etc. and one of my missions at Growing Little Leaves is to create a one-stop kid-friendly cultural and history reference database on Pinterest where all of these sources are compiled. You check out Growing Little Leaves' profile below and follow along - I scour the Internet regularly and try to update my boards often with new material!

As always, this worksheet is FREE to download. Click on the image below to download a PDF.

Place Your Ancestor in History FREE Worksheet by GrowingLittleLeaves.com

Place Your Ancestor in History FREE Worksheet

Try filling out this worksheet for several ancestors in the same time period and compare and contrast the historical events that may have influenced (or not influenced) all of the ancestors. Obviously, historical events can be anything from wars to politics to cultural events to inventions. Try to encourage kids to think about all aspects of life when searching for events to include on the worksheet. And have a world and national maps handy may help when discussing some of the events you find.

This printable and all others are always available for download on the Printables page of GrowingLittleLeaves.com

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Recording Ancestor Data: My Mexican Ancestor

9/16/2015

Today, September 16, is Mexico's Independence Day (El Grito). Here is a new set of 'My Mexican Ancestor' worksheets. As always, there are male and female versions, both with and without the option of recording your sources. Click on each image to be directed to a downloadable PDF.

My Mexican Ancestor FREE Worksheets from GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My Mexican Ancestor: Female With Notes

My Mexican Ancestor FREE Worksheets // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My Mexican Ancestor: Female Without Notes

My Mexican Ancestor FREE Worksheets from GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My Mexican Ancestor: Male With Notes

My Mexican Ancestor FREE Worksheets from GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My Mexican Ancestor: Male Without Notes

All 'Recording Ancestor Data' worksheets can be found at this link on GrowingLittleLeaves.com

©2015 Emily Kowalski Schroeder. Worksheets for personal use only. Do not reproduce or redistribute without written consent of owner.

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Recording Ancestor Data: A Nonlinear Approach

8/4/2015

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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Recording Ancestor Data: My French Ancestor

7/14/2015

Today, July 14, is Bastille Day, France's National Day. If, like my husband's family, your family traces roots back to France, then please feel free to download these worksheets to use with the children in your family. These worksheets are designed for American families to use, but, if you are, say, Canadian with French roots, let me know and I will change the wording on the worksheets just for you!

As always, there are male and female versions, both with and without the option of having the child record their sources of information. A worksheet for recording your sources, if you choose to do so, can be downloaded here.

My French Ancestor FREE Worksheets // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My French Ancestor: Female With Notes

My French Ancestor FREE Worksheets // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My French Ancestor: Female Without Notes

My French Ancestor FREE Worksheets // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My French Ancestor: Male With Notes

My French Ancestor FREE Worksheets // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My French Ancestor: Male Without Notes

These worksheets are a great way to get kids into the habit of recording important information about their ancestors. Other ancestor worksheets can be found here at GrowingLittleLeaves.com.

©2015, Emily Kowalski Schroeder. For personal use only. May not be reproduced or redistributed without written consent of owner.

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Recording Ancestor Data: My Canadian Ancestor

7/1/2015

Today, July 1, is Canada Day. If your family has any ancestors born and raised in Canada, these worksheets are for you! These worksheets are designed for American children to use, but if you have a Canadian ancestor and, say, that ancestor immigrated to Australia, let me know and I can send you a tweaked version of the worksheets.

As always, there are male and female versions, both with and without the option of having the child record their sources of information. A worksheet for recording your sources, if you choose to do so, can be downloaded here.

My Canadian Ancestor FREE Worksheets from GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My Canadian Ancestor: Female With Notes

My Canadian Ancestor FREE Worksheets from GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My Canadian Ancestor: Female Without Notes

My Canadian Ancestor FREE Worksheet from GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My Canadian Ancestor: Male With Notes

My Canadian Ancestor FREE Worksheets from GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My Canadian Ancestor: Male Without Notes

These worksheets are a great way to get kids into the habit of recording important information about their ancestors. Other ancestor worksheets can be found here at GrowingLittleLeaves.com.

©2015, Emily Kowalski Schroeder. For personal use only. May not be reproduced or redistributed without written consent of owner.

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Recording Ancestor Data: My English Ancestor

4/23/2015

Today, April 23, is St. George's Day. St. George is the patron saint of England, so I thought it would be a good day to post a 'My English Ancestor' worksheet printable. As always, these are FREE to print for your personal use and there are male and female versions, both with and without source notes. If you and your child(ren) are interested in recording sources, remember to download the source documentation sheet here. Click on each image below to be directed to a downloadable PDF.

My English Ancestor FREE Worksheets // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My English Ancestor: Female With Notes

My English Ancestor FREE Worksheets // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My English Ancestor: Female Without Notes

My English Ancestor FREE Worksheets // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My English Ancestor: Male With Notes

My English Ancestor FREE Worksheets // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My English Ancestor: Male Without Notes

All FREE ancestor worksheets can be found on the Ancestor Worksheet page at GrowingLittleLeaves.com

©2015, Emily Kowalski Schroeder. For personal use only. May not be reproduced or distributed without written consent of owner.

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Sibling Interview

4/8/2015

Friday, April 10, is National Siblings Day, a day on which to recognize our relationships with our siblings. Most kids interact with their siblings every day, but it's usually in the form of play or conflict. Since interviewing family members is such a big part of learning about family and family history, I've created an interview printable with several simple questions that children can ask their siblings. (Click on the image below to download a copy of the interview as a PDF.)

FREE Sibling Interview Printable from GrowingLittleLeaves.com

Sibling Interview by Growing Little Leaves

If you child cannot yet read or write, they can still conduct the interview with your help. Read the interviewer the questions and then let him or her address those questions to their sibling(s). Then, help the child record their answers (or the sibling can him him/her record the answers). You can make this a fun activity: Have the child pretend that he/she is a journalist or author writing a great history of the family. You may even find that the child wants to interview more family members!

©2015, Emily Kowalski Schroeder. For personal use only. May not be reproduced or redistributed without written consent of owner.

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Recording Ancestor Data: My Irish Ancestor

3/15/2015

St. Patrick's Day is March 17, and I've prepared ancestor worksheets for those of you who have ancestors who emigrated from Ireland. As always, there are male and female versions, both with and without notes. The 'Sources' page can be found at this link. Enjoy!

My Irish Ancestor FREE Worksheets // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My Irish Ancestor: Female With Notes

My Irish Ancestor FREE Worksheets // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My Irish Ancestor: Female Without Notes

My Irish Ancestor FREE Worksheet // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My Irish Ancestor: Male With Notes

My Irish Ancestor FREE Worksheets // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My Irish Ancestor: Male Without Notes

Remember to visit the Ancestor Worksheet link on GrowingLittleLeaves.com to access all worksheets anytime for free!

©2015, Emily Kowalski Schroeder. Worksheets for personal use only. May not be reproduced or redistributed without written consent of owner.

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Recording Ancestor Data: My Polish Ancestor

3/2/2015

I decided to introduce the 'My Polish Ancestor' worksheets today, March 2, because it is Casimir Pulaski Day. This holiday commemorates the life of Casimir Pulaski, a Polish soldier and cavalryman who fought with the colonists in the U.S. Revolutionary War.

If you are like me, you may have ethnically-Polish ancestors who were born in what is now Poland, but what was then a different country, like Austria-Hungary or Prussia. Despite that, I decided to leave the wording on the worksheets as 'My ancestor was born in Poland,' so as not to confuse the young children that these worksheets are geared towards.

As always there are male and female versions of each worksheet - the female one featuring Polish-American opera singer Marcella Sembrich, and the male one featuring U.S. Civil War general (and Polish immigrant) Włodzimierz Krzyżanowski. The sheet for recording sources can be found at this link.

My Polish Ancestor FREE Worksheets // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My Polish Ancestor: Female With Notes

My Polish Ancestor FREE Worksheets // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My Polish Ancestor: Female Without Notes

My Polish Ancestor FREE Worksheets // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My Polish Ancestor: Male With Notes

My Polish Ancestor FREE Worksheets // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My Polish Ancestor: Male Without Notes

All worksheets can be found on the 'Ancestor Worksheet' page of GrowingLittleLeaves.com

©2015 Emily Kowalski Schroeder. Worksheets for personal use only. May not be reproduced without written consent of owner.

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Recording Ancestor Data: My Welsh Ancestor

3/1/2015

Today, March 1, is Saint David's Day. St. David is the patron saint of Wales and March 1st is traditionally a national holiday in Wales. I've created a set of kid-friendly 'My Welsh Ancestor' worksheets for those of you who may have a Welsh ancestor in your family tree. Even though Wales, Scotland, and England are all part of the United Kingdom, each area has its own history, traditions, and language, so I intend to make separate English and Scottish worksheets, too.

For a general overview of the history of Welsh immigration to America, see this Wikipedia page. Click on each image for a free PDF of each worksheet.

My Welsh Ancestor FREE Worksheets // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My Welsh Ancestor: Female With Notes

My Welsh Ancestor FREE Worksheets // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My Welsh Ancestor: Male With Notes

My Welsh Ancestor FREE Worksheets // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My Welsh Ancestor: Female Without Notes

My Welsh Ancestor FREE Worksheets // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

My Welsh Ancestor: Male Without Notes

All ancestor worksheets are for personal use only and can be found on the 'Ancestor Worksheet' page of GrowingLittleLeaves.com . A general worksheet for recording source information can be downloaded here.

Also, with any of these ancestor sheets, if your family has an ancestor who came to a country other than America (Canada, Australia, etc.), please let me know and I can tweak the worksheets and send them to you!

©2015, Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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