How well do “Ewe” know your ancestors?

A game for getting to know your ancestors!

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I’m always looking for fun ways to help family members learn about and make a connection with their ancestors.  We’ve played “Wheel of Ancestors” and “Ancestor Jeopardy” with large groups of our family members and I think most of our family are pretty familiar with many of our family “stories”.

Recently I decided to create a game for smaller groups.  This game is a fun way to really learn interesting facts about your ancestors and to  test the knowledge of those playing the game.  I call it the “Black Sheep Game”.

Black sheep printable

Black Sheep Game Instructions

How well do “Ewe” know your ancestors?

Print, cut and laminate several copies of the “Black Sheep” cards. You can make as many copies as you want. You can also glue a colored paper to the back of the game cards before laminating to make it more difficult to tell which cards have the “black sheep” on them.

Write ancestors or family names on each sheep card using the lines one each card. It is fun to also include family members that are well known such as Grandpa and Grandma, aunts and uncles etc. If available, you may even want to put a small picture of the ancestor on the card.

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To Play:

· Turn the cards upside down in the center of the table.

· Draw a card

White Sheep Card

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· If there is a white sheep on the card read the name and tell something you know about that ancestor. If you are correct you may keep the sheep card.

Shepherd Card

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· If a “shepherd” card is drawn you can “take a white sheep” card from any of the players but you must read the name on the card and say something you know about them.

Black Sheep Cards

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If a “black sheep” card is drawn you lose all of your cards, they go back into the card pile.

· NOTE: Players may repeat information already used in the game.

· This game can go on forever, just end when your time is up. Count how many sheep cards each player has at the end of the time and give a prize to the player with the most cards.

Scrapbooking Your Reunion with Digital Photo Books

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After we’ve played all the reunion games, roasted all the marshmallows, sang all the songs and I’ve taken 700 pictures of the action, I can hardly wait to get back home and see what amazing pictures I’ve taken of my family reunion.  I load my pictures on my computer and begin to make a family reunion DIGITAL scrapbook.

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Making these reunion scrapbooks is fun for me- much less time consuming than the “olden days” when I had to measure, cut and paste everything. And did I mention the MESS- there is NO mess with digital scrapbooking. You just slide your digital photos into predesigned layouts, add digital stickers and some suitable digital paper backgrounds and and then you send it off to the printer. Setup and cleanup are literally as easy as pushing a button. Everything is contained within your computer- NO SETTING UP OR PICKING UP AFTERWARDS. 

I recently read an blog by Bradylou that lists about 10 reasons why digital scrapbooking is a good alternative to traditional scrapbooking- she has some great ideas- read her blog at bradylou.com

I always make a reunion scrapbook for myself and one for Grandma and Grandpa (taking advantage of BOGO sales.)  Everyone enjoys reliving reunion memories when they visit Grandma and look through the books.

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I use two scrapbook companies for my digital scrapbooks- Picaboo and Mixbook.

Picaboo Photo Books

I prefer Picaboo when I have a lot of photos I want to include in my book. Picaboo does not force you to spend hours uploading photos before you can create a project. Rather, with Picaboo installed, you can make a complete, ready-to-order book in a short amount of time. Picaboo has amazing customer service and I love their “chat” service. When I have an idea but don’t know how to implement it I just chat with their helpful costumer service people.  Picaboo has cool and FREE backgrounds you can use- thousands of them- I love the pizza one pictured below.

Picaboo is running a deal this week for up to 40%.

Up to 40% off Classic books and calendars. Ends 7/16. Use code: SUNNYDAYS.

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Mixbook Scrap Books

Mixbook does not require that you download their software. The feature I like most about Mixbook is that it allows you to choose one of their professional designs (or you can start from scratch) and easily and quickly create a photo book. I also like the “stickers” you can add to yourbook.  You can move, crop, rotate, pan and zoom on photos; add stickers and backgrounds; and create custom layouts.

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Right now Mixbook has a deal going-

Deal:Get $15 off $50!
Code:15OFF50
Valid: 07/12/12 4:00 am PST – 07/16/12 11:59pm PST
Restrictions: This offer is only valid with coupon code 15OFF50. This offer cannot be combined with other coupons, vouchers, Groupons, or applied after an order has been placed. Discount applies only to completed projects. No adjustments on previous purchases. Shipping and taxes will apply.
Offer expires 07/16/2012 (11:59 pm PST).

Once your scrapbook is completed you can sell additional copies for family members that preorder them or auction them off at your net reunion auction as a fundraiser.

Check Aunt Mo’s blog next week to find out how to make genealogy or family history photo books.

Planning a Genealogy Themed Family Reunion

Summer is family reunion season- a time to bring together family members that share the  roots and branches of the same family tree.  But WHO do those roots represent and how deep do they go? 

A family reunion is the perfect place to share the family history and genealogy of your own family tree.  Here’s ten tips to help you plan a genealogy themed family reunion.

1.   Make a Wall or Poster Sized Family Tree

To put your family history into perspective print a large wall chart of your genealogy. A professional source for printing your family tree is http://www.ancestryprinting.com/.  They specialize in printing genealogy charts and offer several different formats.  Hang the chart in a central location at your reunion and watch as family members explore their heritage in a way that is easily understood.

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2. Hold a Genealogy “Church”

Give a family history presentation about one of your ancestors each year.  These shouldn’t be long, boring presentations, but  stories and pictures  of your ancestors’ life and history.   Highlight an ancestor each year and before long family members will have a repertoire of family stories they can recite.

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3. Serve Food from Your Homeland

Serve food from your “homeland”.  If your roots go back to Scotland serve scones or shortbread or if you claim Ireland as your homeland serve an Irish stew.

4. Share Photos

My brother, Scott, has become the official family photo organizer.  He has worked with our parents to categorize and label photos from our families history.  He makes these photos available on online storage sites such as Flickr.  You can ask family members to bring their old, historic family photos to the reunion.  Be sure photos are labeled with the date and location the photo was taken.  A reunion is a great place  to identify the people in photos.  Ask someone to bring a scanner and laptop computer with CD burner, then set up a scanning table and create a CD of everyone’s photos or sign up to have photos printed at a later date.

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5. Play a Genealogy game

Create games using game show themes such as “Wheel of Ancestors” or “Family Feud”.  Ask questions to test your families’ knowledge of their heritage.  Make a crossword puzzle, coloring book or word search to help our family learn about their ancestors.

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6. Heritage Cookbook

Collect family favorite recipes.  Include a little history about the recipe and why it’s a family favorite.  Use a professional cookbook printing service or put together your own book at a local copy store.

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7. Family History Skits & Re-enactments

Using stories from your own family history, act out fun family stories and experiences.  Everyone in the Stewart family knows the story of Aunt Ann and the banana because we acted it out during our family history church.

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8. Tour Family Homestead or Cemetery

If your family reunion is held near where the family originated, then schedule a trip to the old family homestead, church or cemetery. You may also want to hold your reunion near the family home or in the town where one of your ancestors were born, raised, married or buried.

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9. Involve the Kids

Get children involved in building your family tree by using Family Reunion Helper’s “Super Sleuth” Challenge which guides children through the process of discovering their family history.  The challenge is part of the “Family Heritage”  reunion theme.  Create a coloring page of your family crest for children to color or help them dress in authentic costumes from the country their ancestors originated from.

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10. Life Histories

We value the life stories of our ancestors so much. I wish I could say that all of our family are keeping wonderful descriptive journals for their posterity but we aren’t, so for more that 20 years we have asked our family to take a few minutes to fill out a “journal” page at our reunion. On the journal page, they record their experiences from the past year and then Grandma stores the pages in special binders.  Some day these journal pages can be compiled into family history books.

Questions that are typically asked on the journal page are- What is the best thing that happened to you this year? What is the saddest thing that happened to you this year? What was the best movie you saw this year? For a more complete list of questions and sample journal pages, please download Journal Page Printable.

Anyone who has worked on their family history knows how exciting it can be. The more information they discover about their ancestors, the more real these people become. By learning about ones ancestors, it helps us understand ourselves, our heritage and the roots and branches of our family tree.