Ancestor Trading Cards - Engaging the Next Generation

A great activity to engage kids in family history is the use of trading cards. This is also a great activity for youngsters at family reunions. They can, on their level, share ancestor information with cousins while the adults share research details, databases, scandals and whatever else they choose to share at family reunions.

The advantage of the Ancestor Trading Cards is that they are short and sweet. They offer key information, include a picture and a bit of biographical information, and are easily manipulated by school aged kids. The cards can be sorted according to surname or matched up with parents, spouses or children. For your brickwalls, you can leave a clue to see if the kids can brainstorm what they think might have happened or where an answer to the question might be found.  

These Ancestor Trading Cards are easy to make and take. An interactive online trading card generator can be found at:

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/trading-card-creator-30056.html

You can add in that this person is an ancestor, and the generator will walk you through some questions that will allow details of their life to be filled in on the card.

Or you can create your own cards with any card creator software program. There are a number of free downloads available for this purpose.

Happy creating!