Create a Family Tree

A great activity for children to do with grandparents! It gives them a chance to bond over memories, traditions and family.

Have you ever thought about making a family tree? One of the best gifts you can give your children is a warm, loving family, and the more you extend the family, the more your child will learn to take pride in her roots. Often there are some relatives who have achieved a certain amount of fame. Explain to your child how such relative is related to him. It will just boost your child's sense of self and family pride.

If you make a chart of your family tree and show it to your child, you will be defeating the purpose, or at least, a part of it. Although your child will learn some more about her family, indulging in this activity together provides a great opportunity for some heavy-duty bonding. So chart it out along with her and make sure your child is keenly involved in the process. This is also a great activity for your children to do with their grandparents. It gives them a chance to bond over memories, traditions and family.

During this exercise encourage your child to jog his grandparents' memories. Elder people enjoy nothing more than reminiscing about their childhood days, and who better to do it with than their grandchildren! How often do we look back at exciting events and think "What a great story to tell our grandchildren!"? But by the time we become grandparents, our children and grandchildren are too busy with their own lives to sit and listen to us reminisce about days long gone. So don't deprive your parents of this joy.

You will need:
2 sheets of white chart paper
A pair of scissors
Glue
Poster paints

Keep one sheet of white chart paper aside. This will serve as the background.

Take the other sheet, and let your child draw a thick tree trunk on it. Paint this trunk brown.

Cut out the trunk and paste it on the background. The chart will look more effective if the tree is pasted on, than if it is simply drawn on the white chart paper itself - although that too could be an option. Then, let your child paint a light green tree and leaves to sit on top of the trunk. Alternatively, your child could similarly paint it on the other chart paper, cut it out and stick it on top of the trunk. Your child will now need to cut out rectangles from the white chart paper and stick it on the tree. These rectangles will hold the names of the family members.

Let the tree consist of at least four generations, so as to include your grandparents, which are your child's great-grandparents.

Don't just write names in the family tree. Try and log down memories as well. Who is doing what now? Who is settled in which corner of the world? Once this exercise is done, not just your children but you too will have learnt a lot about your family. Do not be surprised if you discover that your next-door neighbours are in fact your fourth cousins!