Fun Family History Activities For Family Reunions

Fun Family History Activities For Family Reunions.

Preserving family history is important—but far too often, family history gets forgotten when people in the family do not share what they know (or are never asked what they know!) with everyone else. That is why making sure that everyone knows who is in the old family photographs, and what their stories were, is so important. Family shouldn’t be forgotten, after all, even generations down the line. If you want to help preserve family history in a way that is fun and memorable, why not consider these fun family history activities for family reunions? They will help preserve history without making it boring or stuffy.

Flip through family photo albums together

This activity is also the simplest: everyone sits together and flips through family photos while talking about the people that they know and history that they know. For best results, this can be recorded or otherwise written down so that the family history can be preserved. If there are too many people to make sitting around an album possible, why not have someone scan all the family photos so you can view them on the TV or a large projector screen?

To learn how to back up your old photos click here.

To learn how to convert old family slides click here.

To learn how to label your old photo digital scans by using metadata click here.

To learn how to share family films on YouTube privately click here.

Share a story “popcorn” game

This is a game that everyone can enjoy! For this game, everyone sits together and works to share family history stories that they know. Once someone tells a story, they “popcorn” (remember that from school?) someone else—and then it’s their turn to tell a family history story! Make sure you are recording this on video so that the stories can be preserved for future generations. This is a perfect game for reunions because everyone, big or small, can take turns sharing things about the family. You’ll be amazed at what types of interesting stories can get passed around with this type of game.

Family history trivia

If the family already knows a bit about their own family history, you can always turn it into a friendly competition! A family history trivia game—complete with points rewarded and a prize at the end—is a way to help people learn more about family history while reaffirming it in their memories, all wrapped up in a fun game. The trivia can be asked via memory or you can go the extra mile and print out trivia cards that can be read aloud.

Watching videos together

One of the most fun family history activities you can do at a reunion is also the simplest: watch family videos together! These videos are a great way to share memories, reminiscence about times past, and keep family history alive right on the big screen. To make it more interactive, have everyone at the reunion bring at least one video from their side of the family; this way, everyone gets a turn to share their own side of the family history.

Preserving family history is important—but it doesn’t have to be boring! These fun activities will make sharing and preserving history fun, exciting and memorable.

To learn how to write a poem about your family history click here.

To make art out of Granny’s words of wisdom click here

To learn how to write a family recipe click here

Here are five family history gift ideas to give grandad.

Here are five family history gift ideas to give grandma.

How to Convert Old Family Slides to Digital Images

How to Convert Old Family Slides to Digital Images.

Family photos are one of the best ways to preserve family history; everything from the faces of relatives to the places they lived to their memories of vacations, graduations and summers spent at the beach can be preserved through old family photographs. But what do you do with old family slides? Preserving them is a bit more difficult than preserving standard photographs, but thankfully there are some simple ways that you can convert your old family slides into digital images that will help you share and preserve family history for everyone else in your family.

Why Convert Family Slides to Digital Format?

First, a quick note on why you should convert family slides to a digital format: slides can be delicate, and they may be damaged by everything from moisture to hot or cold temperatures to scratches and everything in between. If you want to make sure that your slides are preserved—and turned into photos that you can actually properly see—then you’ll need to convert them into a digital format.

Best Options to Convert Family Photos Slides into Digital Format

There are several different options for converting family slides into a digital format. Which option you choose will depend on what exactly you want to do with the slides and how you prefer to convert them.

Photo Scanning Services

There are a few photo scanning companies available online. These companies allows you to have your family slides (along with other family mementos such as old photos and even home movies) converted into an accessible digital format without having to lift a finger yourself. They usually work like this: you will receive a box kit in the mail, which you then fill with your digital slides or other family mementos that you want converted and preserved. You send the box to the company, and they will handle the conversion for you. Then they will send you your original items back along with the digital files.

This option is best if you’d simply rather have someone else do the work for you, or you don’t have access to the other primary way that you can convert slides into a digital format.

Digital Film Scanner

If you’d rather not send off your family slides to a company, then a digital film scanner is the best way to go. A digital film scanner is a device that allows you to insert your family slides, which are then scanned by the device and sent to your computer. There are many different brands that offer digital film scanners, including Kodak, Magnasonic, Wolverine, and Digitnow. Modern digital scanners often have features that allow you to view and approve or rescan photo slides in real time, so these are a great option when you want fuller control over how the slides are scanned and converted. Some even allow you to flip and rotate the scanned photo, so you won’t have to do that when you start working with the files on your computer later.

If you want to convert old family photos slides into a digital format, consider the above two options.

Now that your old slides are digital files, you can edit out any imperfections that may have occurred over time.

Click here for a useful guide to some free software you can use to edit your pictures back to their former glory!

Why Family History Is So Important

Why Family History I

s Important.

How much do you know about your family history? Think about the family members who have already passed on. How much of their stories did they tell? How much has been lost to time? Family history is something to be preserved and cherished; not just for yourself, but for your children, grandchildren, and all generations of the family to come.  

Family photos as well as family films are all excellent ways to preserve and share family history; but regular family movies aren’t all you can do in order to help keep family history alive for the next generations. Let’s take a closer look at why preserving family history is important and how you can uniquely preserve it for the next generation. 

Why Family History Is Important 

First, let’s take a closer look at why preserving family history is so important. If you have been unfortunate enough to lose family members who didn’t share much about their past or who didn’t take the time to record their history, then you already know the sadness that comes with finding boxes of photos or film reels filled with people whose names and stories are now lost forever. In many cases, the names, ages, birthplaces and stories of these family members is simply gone forever; especially if they didn’t leave behind letters or any other traces of their story that might give a clue as to their name or personality or life as a whole.  

That is why preserving family history is such a vital part of life. When you preserve the history of your ancestors, you are preserving and cherishing their lives; you are also enriching the lives of your current family members, all of whom can benefit from knowing about the people who came before them. When people take the time to preserve that history in a meaningful way, the stories of those family members can be shared with the next generations, and then the next generations, and so on. 

How to Preserve Family History: Going Beyond Albums and Handheld Cameras 

Naturally, family photo albums and backed-up digital files of home movies are all great ways to preserve history. You should have your family photos scanned and backed up (please see our article on how to back up old photos here) in addition to ensuring that family videos are backed up digitally as well. There is, however, another unique way that you can keep family history alive; this method goes beyond standard family films and photos.  

You can truly preserve your family’s stories in a unique and meaningful way by encouraging family members to tell their stories while being filmed—as well as the stories of any family members who have passed away and are no longer with us. For instance, your mother might sit with a photo of her great-aunt, and explain the history of the woman in the photograph. Who was she? When was she born? What was she like? What did she do?  

This way, the story of the great aunt (which otherwise would be lost to time) is passed on for the next generation. Check out our article on How to Film a Family Interview with your Smartphone here. 

To learn which is the best software for doing a family tree click here.

To learn how to film your grandparent with a smart phone click here.

To learn how to trace holocaust survivors and victims in your family history click here.

To learn whether we should record the lives of our pets click here.

To learn how to research gay family history click here.