March 2, 2023 | By Bria Davenport
March is Women’s History Month, and it’s a great time to get your kids involved in writing their own family history! While we can learn about women past, present & future making strides around the world, why not start with the history in your own home! Writing your family history is an important way to keep your family’s legacy alive, and it can be a fun and rewarding activity for kids. Here’s some ideas to help you get started:
Start with a conversation: Begin with a family conversation, invite your children’s grandparents or an older relative to join you! Here’s a few tips to start with from “Talking is Teaching” (spanish version):
1) Share a story with your little ones about their grandparents. Where are their grandparents from? What did they do when they were younger?
2) Find photographs of your child’s grandparents or family relatives. Name the people in the photographs and talk about them with your child.
Research: Now, that you have some foundation from older relatives, you can do some research to begin filling in some gaps. Use resources like census records, birth and death certificates, and other records from your local library, archives, or online. Most recently, the Freedman’s Bureau Portal has become public for African Americans to be able to search the names of their ancestors, it’s available FREE here!
Write it down: Let’s get started on documenting your findings! Decide with your kids how they would like to put together their findings, maybe in a blog, a journal or scrapbook! Here are some fun & FREE printables that can help you get started: 1) Family History Notebook from Notebooking Nook
2) Family History Kit from Underdog Games
SHARE IT! Maybe put together a family zoom call where you can invite relatives to see your kiddos present their findings. You could also have a special countdown for the launch of the website and get everyone excited to check it out!
Writing your family’s history is a great way to celebrate Women’s History Month and honor the women in your family who came before you. Get your kids involved and help them to create their own legacy.
You can also check out our March Featured Five children’s books, which highlights five anthologies all about incredible women! They’re listed at the bottom of this page.