Family Tree Activity

by Steve Bennett

Do your kids know your family is a part of history? After dinner, choose someone (a parent or older child) to conduct a research lesson about your family tree. The "teacher" then queries everyone at the table about his or her knowledge of the family and its history.

Begin with the people at the table, listing their birth dates and places; then literally branch out from there, listing cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents -- maybe even some great-great-grandparents. With some knowledge of when and where they lived, you can perhaps come up with some ideas about what their lives were like. You might also want to draw the tree on a piece of posterboard, leaving places for photographs and a brief story about each person -- what a delightful surprise it will be for visitng relatives!

Reprinted with permission from Steve and Ruth Bennett's Table Talk!: 365 Ways to Reclaim the Family Dinner Hour (Adams Publishing).

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