How to Make a Family Tree for Children
JENNY HARRINGTON
CLASS
Understanding family roots and ancestors can help you understand where you came from. A family tree made to look like a literal tree can bring the concept and the past alive. During the process, you can talk with your parents and grandparents to find out who to include on the family tree. Ask plenty of questions; the answers might surprise you. You might even find out that you are related to someone famous.
Decide how many generations you want to record.
Draw or paint a brown tree trunk in the center of a large sheet of paper, starting at the bottom of the page.
Paint a brown branch on each side of the tree trunk for each generation you will record.
Paint an apple on either side of the trunk on the top branch. Write your mother's name on one apple and your father's on the other. Under their names, write your name and any brothers and sisters you have.
Draw an apple for each your father's brothers and sisters on his branch and an apple for your mother's siblings on her branch. Write their spouses' names in the apple with them. Underneath, write the names of their children, your cousins.
Draw an apple for your grandparents on the branch below your dad, and another one for your mom's parents. Draw apples for each of their siblings (your great-aunts and great-uncles) on the side of the tree that corresponds with that side of your family.
Continue adding apples to the subsequent branches for each generation you want to record. Make sure to keep them on the proper side of the trunk for your mother or your father's family line.
Let the paint dry, then hang your family tree on the wall.
- Be ready to address such issues as divorce and step-parents.
- Ask grandparents, parents, aunts or uncles to write down a memory from when they were your age.
- Instead of painting apples, make them from construction paper and glue them to your tree.
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