Scrapbooking Family History: Bonding the Past and Present

One of the fun bonding activities you can do with your children is creating a scrapbook of your family's history. Through this activity, you and your kids will get to know more about your ancestors and your heritage in general.

Scrapbooking family history requires two essential things: creativity and research. Your scrapbook does not have to be dull and too formal. Instead, you can spice this up by adding color and design to every page. However, your scrapbook should of course contain factual information about your ancestors.

You can start off by posting pictures of them in the scrapbook and labeling them with the date, place and reason why the picture was taken. You could also describe each family member and ancestor below each picture that you've posted.

Your kids will surely enjoy examining the old photos of people related to them. You could even point out certain physical features in the pictures that match those of your child's. For example, your child could have the same nose as his or her great-grandmother or great-uncle.

However, you must validate the factual information you put in your scrapbooks through research. Researching for your family history scrapbook is just as fun as posting the pictures. You could tell your child that the process is similar to an investigation.

You can take your child along with you when interviewing your parents or other relatives to get information on and pictures of your ancestors. During one of your interviews, perhaps you will encounter something funny or amusing about your ancestors.

These short amusing stories, known as anecdotes, make a wonderful addition to your scrapbook. You can also check out the local libraries and registries for information on birthdates, death dates and marriages.

Creating a family history scrapbook is building a treasure you can pass down to your children and to future generations. This will keep the memories of their ancestors intact and serve as a legacy that you and your child or children have started.