Season for Family

A community of women finding time for family connections.

Family Story Book: Kid Edition

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I really wanted to come up with an activity that would help my kids enjoy learning the stories of their ancestors. My kids like hearing the stories, but I felt like for this activity they really poured their little hands and hearts into it. It was personal, it was fun, and it is something they have come back to and looked through many times since.

I was actually a little shocked at how quickly I started and completed this activity. It hardly took any of my time once I got started and yet I enjoyed every minute of it. To make it just as simple and easy for you, I have broken it down into 3 easy steps! 😊

Step One: Find Your Story

There are so many options for finding a story so don’t let this first step scare you! Try one of these 4 ideas for a great story:

1. Look through Family Search

Once you have your family tree open on familysearch.org, start clicking on relatives names. I would focus on the relatives from the last few generations as you tend to find the most information on them. When you get to their person page, there is a tab called memories. If they have a number listed next to it, there will be memories in there to look at.

Click on the tab and scroll through all the memories listed. And be careful, this can be dangerous as you may find time quickly go by as you get lost in these intriguing stories😊. Keep doing this until you find a story, OR if you can’t find a good one, try another option.

2. Family History Books

Do you have any old family history books a relative compiled and gave to you? Look through there for some stories.

3. Call Up a Relative

This step is pretty self-explanatory. Call up your mom, dad, grandparents, uncle, aunt, etc. and ask them if they would send you, or tell you over the phone, a fun story from their lives. People love sharing about their younger years, especially to their grandkids/nieces or nephews. If you can use their own written or spoken words that make it even more authentic.

4. Tell One of Your Own Stories

Write down your own fun memory of your life! Your kids will LOVE it! Look through some old journals or photographs and think of a memory your kids will enjoy hearing about you.

Step Two: Type Up and Print the Story

This step is so simple. Look through your story, decide about how many pages you want/need and then break it up into simple, natural paragraphs. Copy or type out their paragraphs so that each one is printed at the bottom of the page, like my example below. Print out the pages and don’t forget a fun cover page!

Step Three: Color, Color, Color, Bind

This part was my favorite. I sat the kids down, explained who this relative was and how they were related to them (this is their 4th great-grandpa). I then told them I was going to read them a story from his life. While I was reading they needed to pay attention so they could pick which page they wanted to illustrate. When you are done reading, hand out the pages, some art supplies of your choice, and let their creativity free. I had them write their name on the page somewhere so we could always remember.

Bind the book up and read through it again with all the pages done. For binding I used a report slip cover I got from the dollar store, but a 3 -ring binder or staples would work perfect too.

This truly was such a fun activity from my 3-year-old to our teenage cousins who helped us. I am so excited to get more stories done so we can have a stack of family stories to read through on Sundays, do for Family Home Evening, and to share with other relatives who come to visit. I hope you will try it out and leave a comment on the blog or our Instagram account @seasonforfamily. Happy storytelling!

KAYLA BERRETT


IG: @kaylaberrett

Are We Related?

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This week’s #seasonforfamilyactivities idea is all about making fun connections! Family History can seem boring at times or if it’s not boring to you, it can be boring to those you are trying to get involved! This activity is guaranteed to be so much fun for kids, teens and adults alike.

I am going to share with you 2 ways to find out if and how you are related to those outside of your immediate family! Both ways do require a familysearch.org account that is connected to your deceased relatives.

1 – Finding Relations to Those Who Are in Close Proximity to You

If you would like to find relationships with people in the same room or close area as you, you and those around you need to download, open and login to the “FamilySearch Tree” App to your phone or tablet.

  • Android
  • IOS

Next, you and your friends will need to navigate to the Menu and select “Relatives Around Me” and tap “Scan for Friends”. That’s it, if you are related to anyone near you, your relationships will show!

2 – Finding Relations to Anyone with a FamilySearch Account

Do you have long distance friends that you’d love to find connections with?!? To check on these relationships, you’ll need to use Relative Finder on the computer (this is a website, not an App).

First, you’ll click on the “Login with FamilySearch” button, where you will login to your account.

Once you are logged in, you’ll come to a page like this where you can see your relations to celebrities, Political Figures, Latter-Day Saint Prophets, etc. This all on it’s own is fun!

In order to find relations to specific people (online friends, etc.), what you will need to do is Create a Group. You’ll do that by clicking on “Groups” and “Create” on the top right menu bar.

From here, you will Create a Group Name and Password.

After your group has been created, all you need to do is share your group name and password with anyone that would like to join! To join, you do need to login (like in the previous few steps) and click on “Groups” and “Join”.

Now, when you are on the homepage of Relative Finder, and after your friends start joining, you will be able to see your relationships! Make sure to that the checkbox next to the group that you want to look at is the only one selected, so that you can start seeing those connections. (Shown below)

Also, Make sure to click on the names so that you can see how you are related!

We hope that you’ll try these 2 methods out and let us know how it goes! Use this as an activity for parties, a Family Home Evening (invite another family or 2), Youth Activities, Church Lessons, etc.

ARE WE RELATED TO YOU? Want to find out?

We have started a Relative Finder group on our Facebook Page! Come check it out. Here is the link to our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/seasonforfamily/
and after you are in the group find the post with this image to get the Relative Finder group and password.

CAROLYNN REYNOLDS

branchesart.com
IG: @branches.art

How to Bring Your Ancestors to Life with Your Family

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Summertime is the perfect time to bring family history alive for your children.  Check out my first post on “Bringing Your Ancestors to Life” HERE. I want to walk you through my process to give you some ideas and to help you get started.

Step one:

Look up a particular ancestor on Family Search or in a family history book, journal, etc.  If you don’t have any stories of deceased ancestors, then ask your living parents (or grandparents) about their own lives.

Step two:

As you read about their life, just jot down little bits about them.  Did they have any particular hobbies?  What was their profession?  Did they like a particular food?  Were they from another country?  Did they have a certain skill set or talent?

Step three:

Take those pieces of information and brainstorm some ideas for how you could tangibly re-create those experiences for yourself and your children.  

I’ll give you an example from how I put this process into action a few months ago.  I read in a family history book that my great-great grandmother, Bothilda Pehrsdotter, became expert in carding wool, spinning yarn, and knitting (among other things) when she was a young girl.  

When I read this bit of information about her, I decided that it would be fun to learn those skills.  I bought some wool (straight off the sheep), some wool carders, and a drop spindle.  Over the next 6 weeks or so, we carded the wool, spun it into yarn, and then knitted (with the help of a loom) a hat for each of us.  

Before starting this process, we had no idea what we were doing… but with the help of youtube videos, we figured it out. 🙂  

Not only did we come away from this project with some new skills, but also with a deeper connection to Bothilda.

Is there something from one of your ancestor’s lives that you could use to create a tangible experience for your children?  It doesn’t have to take multiple weeks like this example I shared.  Any little thing that brings your ancestors to life for your children is a win and helps to link generations together.

SHELLY LOPEZ

IG: @goodmorningshelly