Activities
There are fun family history activities to try on this page. We have started with some things that you can do using photographs but there will be different activities to come, so do check back.
Who do You Look Like?
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Have you ever wondered how much you look like your ancestors? You can use this tool to compare your face with one of your ancestors. Do make sure that you ask an adult's permission first. We think our society chairman Chris looks a lot like his 3x great-grandfather, Captain James Braund.
Copy a Family Photograph
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In the picture above, Chris is deliberately trying to copy the old photograph. Could you dress up and try to copy the pose in an old photograph. Maybe you can find a group photo and get your family involved. If you don't have any old photographs of your own, choose one from our Photo Gallery.
Colour your Ancestors 1
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Use this app to make a colouring outline from a photograph. You could colour yourself or one of your ancestors. See what we have done with a picture of Jane Rodd from branch 6, to make her ready to colour.
Colour your Ancestors 2
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If you don't want to get our your paints and crayons you can colourise black and white photos using this app from My Heritage. You have to register for the site but it is free. Just make sure that you get an adult's permission before you do.
What's in a Job?
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Can you find out what your ancestors did for a living? Perhaps you could make an occupational family tree like this one.
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You can start by asking older relatives about what jobs they did, or what their parents and grandparents did, if they can remember. As you travel further back in time, you will need to look at documents. If your ancestors were Braunds we can help here.
The sorts of records that may help you are:
Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates.
Church Registers of Baptism and Marriage. Sometimes Burial Registers will help too.
Census Returns
Trade Directories
Wills
There are plenty of other records that tell give information about people with a particular occupation.
Many of these documents can be found online. You might need a subscription to a site like FindmyPast or Ancestry but most libraries have subscriptions to one or both of these, so you can use them for free. Librarians are often keen to help.
When you have found out what your ancestors jobs were, it is time for more detective work. What did these jobs involve? What tools did they use? Did they wear a uniform or special clothes? What sort of training did they need? How much did they earn? Remember though that things cost a lot less to buy in the past than they do now. Sometimes there are museums that can help us learn about what life was like if you had a particular job. It may even be possible for you to try to do some of the things that your ancestors did. Obviously, it would be difficult to try mining or being a policeman but many of our ancestors made things for a living. We could try weaving a basket, spinning wool or making lace.
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Here are some lists of old occupations that might help. You might like to try our quiz before you look at these.
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Make a Minecraft Family Tree
Do you play Minecraft? You can use it to make a family tree. There are some instructions here.
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