TECHNOLOGY IDEAS
PEOPLE USE TECHNOLOGY EVERYDAY! TRY A ‘TECHNOLOGY IDEA’ TO INSPIRE CHILDREN TO LOVE FAMILY HISTORY!
TRAVEL WITH GOOGLE MAPS AND GOOGLE EARTH
Google Maps and Google Earth are AMAZING resources for doing family history. Without traveling to your ancestors’ homelands, you can virtually ‘visit’ their homes, ‘pass by’ the churches and schools they attended and ‘walk’ the streets they walked. GOOGLE MAPS offers navigation (seeing how far various points of interest are) and 2D maps. Once a location is entered, satellite imagery is available so see the places that you chose on the map. To use it, go to www.maps.google.com and type in the location you would like to ‘visit’. In the bottom right-hand corner you will see a yellow person icon. Click on the icon, drag it over the map, and drop it on a spot on the map. You will then be on the street and can move around the town by clicking on the arrows or by clicking and dragging your cursor on the screen. GOOGLE EARTH has similar functionality to Google Maps with a few additional features. Google Earth has complete 3D satellite data. Go to www.earth.google.com. From the moment you choose a location, the map is 3D and you can see a birds eye view of your ancestors’ homelands. When you drop the person icon on the map you can then move through the streets.
ANCESTOR PLAYLIST
Make a playlist of songs your ancestors loved or most likely listened to. You may be able to ask living relatives about the music that their parents and grandparents listened to. They may know specific songs or they may just remember a genre of music. If there aren’t any living relatives to ask then find out what music was popular during the time period and location of your ancestors. After you have the playlist together, listen to it in the car or at home and talk about the ancestors who liked those songs as they come on. No matter what the children think of the music, they will connect with their ancestor in a new way.
DISCOVER FAMOUS RELATIVES
Relativefinder.org is an interesting website that checks your family tree and shows which historical figures and famous people you are related to and how.
INDEXING
Indexing is the process of taking historical documents that have been scanned and recording the information into a database so information is searchable on the internet. By having information searchable, individuals who are looking for records of their ancestors can more easily find them. It is a simple process that can begin by signing on to familysearch.org, clicking on the “indexing” tab, pressing “get started” and following the instructions. The image of an original historical document will be on your screen. It may be a birth, death or marriage certificate; military service document; immigration record; census; or other official document. There are spaces to input information found on the scanned document. Indexing is a great activity for a parent to do with a young child who is just learning to read or for older children to do on their own. If a child can recognize letters on a keyboard, they can index. It may be slow, but it is exciting for them to be on a computer and doing something that adults normally do. Some older children may need guidance and some may be able to figure it out on their own. One challenge that you may find is that some documents are in old cursive handwriting. If this is the case, children may need more help to know what the document says and you can work with them.
MAP MY ANCESTORS
Use FamilySearch’s Family Tree mobile app to map your ancestors. The app uses the information from your family tree, and finds events that happened wherever you are currently located. A great way to have a more personal experience with places you visit, or the town where you live is to see how many of your family lived, worked, and died in the area you are. Use the FamilySearch Family Tree mobile app, visit the menu and select "Map My Ancestors". Select specific events to see more, zoom in and out to navigate the map, and select individuals from events to see their full profile on FamilySearch.
GENEOPARDY
Visit the BYU Family History Technology Labs website (fhtl.byu.edu) to find a fun Jeopardy game turned Geneopardy. Questions are formulated using information from your family tree. Login to your FamilySearch account to link the accounts, then select the number of teams and viola, your family has a personalized Geneopardy game. It's that easy!
WHEEL OF FAMILY FORTUNE
Visit BYU Family History Technology Labs website (fhtl.byu.edu) to access a quick Wheel of Fortune game staring your family. Select the game, login to link your FamilySearch account, select the number of players, and start spinning the wheel to see if you can identify that ancestor first. Kids of all ages love playing this game!
SOLVE A FAMILY HISTORY MYSTERY
Present children with a family history mystery so they can become detectives. Children will use their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The quest can be finding someone’s parents’ names, or finding a birth, death or marriage date or other significant fact. Mysteries can be solved by finding a certificate or census record or even by ordering their social security application. Using a website such as familysearch.org or ancestry.com may be helpful. If they are unable to solve the mystery, don’t give up. Try a different avenue from what you have already tried. If still unsuccessful, it may be that you need to take a break from that mystery and come back to it later. As time goes on, more and more documents are becoming available and searchable.
When doing research on an ancestor who lived in a foreign country, it may be difficult to read the language on the documents. There are websites that can help for various languages and records from other countries.
RELATIVES AROUND ME
The Family Tree app that is linked to familysearch.org has a feature that can allow you to see who you are related to from among the people in close proximity to your location. Anyone within the same vicinity that turns on the app will be scanned. If you are related to anyone it will show you to whom and how you are related.
PINTEREST BOARDS OF IMAGES
Idea from Jana Greenhalgh, The Genealogy Kids
Create a Pinterest board of photos related to your family. Some examples of photos that you can add to your board are:
Photos of the ships your ancestors immigrated on
Photos of the military uniforms from the time and place when your ancestor was in the military
Photos of people who had the same career as your ancestor in the same time and place
Photos of the area your ancestor lived when they lived there