Ways to Celebrate Family History Month This October

Published:
September 12, 2022

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Get ready to celebrate family history month with your kids with some of these great hands-on activities. Diving into your family tree makes an engaging way to connect your relative’s personal stories with history studies. Here’s how to get started on this fun adventure.

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Family History Month

Family history enthusiasts will love these ideas for celebrating family history month. It’s a rich opportunity to connect with far flung relatives and to celebrate the things that make your family unique.

October is Family History Month

The month of October is National Family History Month in the United States. No matter if your kids are young or old, learning about their family history can be a fun family project. Here’s why.

Why is family history so important?

Family history is so important because we can trace God’s providence in our families in wonderful ways. Many families had to overcome challenges and trials and we can learn from them. Plus, future generations are encouraged to continue respectable legacies of their family into the future.

In recent years we’ve seen a resurgence of interest in studying family history with the emergence of DNA testing. Some adopted children have finally met their biological parents. Other families learned of half siblings that they never knew existed. The explosion of family history information and online resources for studying it have been growing in the last few years.

Why is family history important for kids?

Family history is important for kids because it gives them a sense of identity, belonging, connection, security, and values. When your children learn family histories, you’re better able to pass on traditions and worldview to them. By knowing where you’ve come from, you’re better able to make a place for yourself in society.

Plus, family research is a great learning experience. Not only will your kids grow in genealogy skills, but history will come alive to them as they learn about their ancestors who lived through time periods which were just a blip in the history books.

How do I teach my child family history?

When you want to teach your child family history, a good place to start is a genealogical society. These not-for-profit groups allow members to benefit from shared information and research. Another way to teach your child family history is through historical records, photos, and other memorabilia you already own.

Talk about grandparents, great-grandparents, aunt and uncles. Discuss their professions, where they lived, challenges they overcame, and interesting historical events they lived through. Teaching family history to children begins with just telling stories. Begin there.

How do I maintain my family heritage?

Maintaining family heritage is an important way to feel connected and secure. Family traditions can be passed down through the generations. An easy way to maintain family heritage is through shared experiences, whether that is visiting an ancestral town or making a family recipe.

Maintaining family heritage doesn’t have to be complicated. Just decide which traditions or experiences you want to continue with your own children.

15 Ways to Celebrate Family History Month

How do you celebrate family history Month? If you’re not sure where to start, choose one or more of these ideas and make plans to do them this month with your kids.

1. Explore Your Genealogy

Start to explore your genealogy with historical records. Using family paperwork is a great way to get important information. So in your genealogical research you’ll want to access census records, birth records, and military records.

In addition, if your ancestors came from another country, see if you can find their immigration records that will detail their age, where they arrived, and which town and country they came from.

Free Online Genealogy Resources

There are many free online genealogy resources that can make your research easier. You’ll find things like census data and digital newspaper collections to help you in your research. Check out these free sites below.

2. Research Your Family Tree

Start to research your family tree for family history month. In order to document the information you discover, you’ll want to have some sort of organized system for recording data. The easiest thing to use is a printable family tree. You can easily fill it in as you research your family line. Then, you’ll be able to easily see what information is missing and take steps to find it.

Free Family Tree Resources

There are lots of free family tree resources that you can use. Here are a couple to check out.

Download this printable family tree and start filling it in with your children. It will make a great keepsake!

Family Tree Resources will walk you through everything you need to know about researching your family history. From starting your research to making family history charts and how to use marriage and death certificates in your research, this site will be a goldmine of information.

You can access free ancestry and census records for the United States and Canada at Find My Past.

family tree

3. Record Some of Your Parents’ Memories From Their Childhood

It’s fun to talk to parents and grandparents and record some of their memories from their childhood. Ask them things like:

  • where did you go to school?
  • what was your favorite toy?
  • what was school like when you were little?
  • did you spend time with relatives?
  • how did you celebrate holidays?
  • what did you play?

4. Preserve Your Family’s Oral History – 

It’s easier than ever to preserve your family’s oral history with technology. What is oral history? It’s a voice recording of an interview with a person who lived through particular historical events. Learn how to record your family’s oral history through the Tell me a Story Projects at the Midwest Genealogy Center.

5. Interview a Relative

You can interview a relative and record their answers. All you need is a simple list of questions. Consider asking them:

  • Who were the oldest members of our family that you knew?
  • What were they like?
  • Where did you grow up?
  • What was your neighborhood like?
  • Are there any physical characteristics that run in our family?

6. Organize Family Photos

Take a trip down memory lane by organizing family photos. It will be fun to see how the styles change through the decades along with noticing where each photo was taken. Talk about the family members in each photo and refer back to your printable family tree as you document additional relatives.

old family photos

7. Do A Genealogy Activity For Kids

The National Archives offers several printable genealogy activities for kids. One fun project you can download is a family migration map or a family immigration map. They also have printable family trees.

Your kids could also create a family crest. Do a bit of research into the history of family crests and what the symbols mean. Then design your own.

8. Write Down Some of Your Own Life Stories

Why not create a special journal to pass down to your children where you write down some of your own life stories? This is a great project to complete throughout the years. Describe your younger years in this journal and let your children know about their family roots through some of the stories you tell.

9. Visit the Cemetery of Family Members

Plan to visit the cemetery of family members for family history month. You may have to travel to your ancestral town to do this, but it will be an experience everyone will remember. How long did they live? What was the world like during their lifetime? Many questions are prompted by a visit to a family burial plot.

10. Reestablish Family Connections

You can reestablish family connections during family history month for a very meaningful activity! Family reunions are a great place to rekindle relationships and catch up with long lost cousins. If you haven’t had a family gathering in a while, consider planning one for October.

11. Honor an Ancestor by Creating an Online Memorial

Online memorials provide a great way for the whole family to include pictures, memories, and stories of the shared ancestor. This could be a blog post on a family website or simply a private Facebook page that is only shared with the family. Your family historians may love to put an online memorial together and share their family history research!

12. Prepare a Favorite Family Recipe

Making favorite family recipes is an easy way to celebrate your family’s heritage and culture. Does your family come from a significant ethnic background with unique foods and dishes? Or maybe your family lived in an area of the country where they picked up some local recipes and they became a tradition in your family.

Whatever it is, whether grandma’s spaghetti and meatballs or Polish Babka from from the other side of the family, teach your kids how to make it and enjoy it with the whole family.

13. Plan a Family History Storytelling Event

Maybe you can plan a family history storytelling event. Telling family stories is a favorite pastime at family reunions or birthday celebrations. Family weddings are another fun time to share stories about the generations.

14. Connect with an Older Family Member

You can have a great time learning your family history when you take time to connect with an older family member. If you’re blessed to live in the same area as an older family member, consider taking the kids over for an afternoon of stories and snacks.

Older people love to spend time with others and many love to regale you with stories from their younger years. Have a few ideas on hand as a conversation starter, but as soon as you get going, the conversation with probably continue on its own without very much prompting. Model to your kids how to ask follow-up questions. And consider recording your conversation for posterity.

15. Create New Family Memories

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with creating new family memories! While traditions that tie us to the past are awesome and meaningful, it’s equally special to create new memories and traditions with your own family.

In Conclusion

It’s important for kids to have a sense of belonging, security, and identity through a shared family history. And it’s also a fun way to explore history through your family’s unique experiences through the decades and centuries!

Which of these ideas will you try during Family History Month?

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