It's towards the end of the school year, and one of my Kindergartner's projects was to make a time capsule for himself that we will keep and open when he graduates from high school. I think it's a great idea, and has applications in the family history realm, which is why I am sharing the idea with you today.
The time capsule is just an ordinary shoe box. My son was allowed to put in anything that would fit in the box, with the understanding that he wouldn't see these items for twelve years (which meant no toys that he was in any way attached to). We settled on a little Darth Vader toy and stickers to represent his love of Star Wars. We got a plastic Lego Movie cup at McDonald's earlier this year, and we decided to have that represent his love of Legos. The kid loves Altoids mints, so we included an empty tin of those as well. I printed out some photos of him from throughout the year , and included those in the box. I threw in a couple of his drawings, too - one of the Solar System, which he loves reading about, and a scene from the movie Frozen.
The time capsule is just an ordinary shoe box. My son was allowed to put in anything that would fit in the box, with the understanding that he wouldn't see these items for twelve years (which meant no toys that he was in any way attached to). We settled on a little Darth Vader toy and stickers to represent his love of Star Wars. We got a plastic Lego Movie cup at McDonald's earlier this year, and we decided to have that represent his love of Legos. The kid loves Altoids mints, so we included an empty tin of those as well. I printed out some photos of him from throughout the year , and included those in the box. I threw in a couple of his drawings, too - one of the Solar System, which he loves reading about, and a scene from the movie Frozen.
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But my favorite suggestion from the Kindergarten teachers was to include letters from family members. My husband and I each wrote one. I also asked his grandparents to write one and my siblings even wrote some, too. Twelve years is a long time, and, unfortunately, all of the loved ones in my son's life may not be around in the year 2026. This exercise ensures that, no matter what happens, my son will have a message from all of these people in his life who care about him, and they will be able to wish him well as he starts his adult life, even if they aren't physically present anymore.
Another option, in addition to the letter-writing, would be for parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents to talk about what they would have put in time capsules when they were six years old. Depending on what we have or haven't saved over the years, some of us may even be able to show the child our old toys and childhood drawings and photos. If none of your childhood stuff is around anymore, you can always just write down the answers to some questions about your childhood. Put your answers to those questions in the child's time capsule. Now, they automatically have a simple chronicle of an ancestor's childhood. And it doesn't require a lot of time or writing on your part - just answering some simple questions, like the ones below:
- What toys did you like to play with?
- How did you get to school?
- What did you wear to school?
- What did you eat for breakfast?
- What books did you like to read?
- What did you like to do for fun?
- What sports did you like to play?
- Who was your favorite family member to visit or spend time with? Why?
- What were your best friends' names?
- What was your favorite holiday? Why?
Right now, in genealogy research, there is such a huge emphasis on interviewing elder family members before the information they know is lost. Young children are not really interested in sitting down with a family member and asking them to answer questions about their past, but that doesn't mean that they won't want to know this stuff about their ancestors when they get older. And when they open up that time capsule at age 18, and read a heartfelt letter from a grandparent, that just may spark an interest doing a little more research about that person's life. And we all know how much that can snowball, of course. :-)
©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder.
Another option, in addition to the letter-writing, would be for parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents to talk about what they would have put in time capsules when they were six years old. Depending on what we have or haven't saved over the years, some of us may even be able to show the child our old toys and childhood drawings and photos. If none of your childhood stuff is around anymore, you can always just write down the answers to some questions about your childhood. Put your answers to those questions in the child's time capsule. Now, they automatically have a simple chronicle of an ancestor's childhood. And it doesn't require a lot of time or writing on your part - just answering some simple questions, like the ones below:
- What toys did you like to play with?
- How did you get to school?
- What did you wear to school?
- What did you eat for breakfast?
- What books did you like to read?
- What did you like to do for fun?
- What sports did you like to play?
- Who was your favorite family member to visit or spend time with? Why?
- What were your best friends' names?
- What was your favorite holiday? Why?
Right now, in genealogy research, there is such a huge emphasis on interviewing elder family members before the information they know is lost. Young children are not really interested in sitting down with a family member and asking them to answer questions about their past, but that doesn't mean that they won't want to know this stuff about their ancestors when they get older. And when they open up that time capsule at age 18, and read a heartfelt letter from a grandparent, that just may spark an interest doing a little more research about that person's life. And we all know how much that can snowball, of course. :-)
©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder.
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