Looking for a fun activity to do with your children? We know it’s very hard to impress kids, but there’s something that can unite all the generations in your house – creating a family tree.
It’s a great way to organize old photos and tell your kids more about their ancestors. Besides, you might find out something new about your grandparents as well. But don’t limit yourself to a boring scheme with names and dates of birth.
Read on to learn how to make an excellent family tree that you can pass down through generations.
1. Draft a family tree outline
For starters, you need to make a draft of the family tree – write down the list of all the names you’re going to include and then make a scheme considering the connections between the relatives.
While tracking family roots, it is extremely important to verify all the information you write in the captions – dates of birth, name spelling, etc. Speaking of the information, you can go beyond the typical family trees with basic facts about each family member and add interesting and funny stories about them as well.
The genealogical research will be the most time-consuming part, and you might even want your auntie or grandma to give you a hand with this task.
But if you don’t want to put too much time and effort into this project, you can search for family tree templates and make use of the ready-made charts – fill in the names, and there you go.
2. Track down the family archive
Now that you know precisely how many people you’re going to display in the family tree, you can look for photos of those relatives. First, check out what pictures you have in your photo albums and look up images on social media.
If you don’t have any photos of certain family members, cooperate with other relatives or try to find close friends of the person – they might have a few pictures to share.
If your relative went to a college or university, you can also try to find them in a group photo on their website. Also, check out the company websites where your family member used to work.
3. Prepare your family photos
We recommend you don’t use the original prints for your family tree. Instead, you can scan them and use copies that you can even edit later. Unfortunately, old photos usually get damaged and fade with time. However, there are special restoration services that will help you with this problem.
But you can also use a photo restoration program to quickly fix tears and stains on your own with no photo editing skills required. This way, you’ll be able to colorize black-and-white pictures, remove damages, correct the colors, enhance the quality of the photo, and more without leaving your home.
4. Craft the family tree
You can move on to the crafting part with the draft and photos prepared. You can either do it in the traditional way using glue, scissors, and paper, or design the family tree digitally.
But one way or another, let your kids participate – ask them to pick colors, write down the names, or glue the pictures, etc. While children are having fun, tell them what you know about the ancestors’ achievements, or share some fun facts and memories you have.
5. Share your project
Once you’re done with this special project, why not share the unique family tree design with your loved ones? If you prefer sharing things online, you can save it as a JPG or PNG file, post the picture on social media, or send it via email.
It will also be a good idea to print multiple copies and give them to anyone who wants one. If you made a DIY family tree, you can also scan it or take a photo on your smartphone to share later.
Summing Up
Now you know how to preserve your family history while spending quality time with your children and other family members.
Whether your kids just make the family tree for a school project or you want to hang it on your wall, crafting it is a great way to recall memories from the past, have a good laugh and look through your old family photos altogether. This is an experience they will never forget!
