GOAL:
To get to know ancestors by collecting stories about their lives and re-creating their migrations

AGES:
Four to 10

MATERIALS:

• Medium-size table
• X-acto knife and scissors
• Tape and glue
• Atlas or world map
• Pencil, eraser, black permanent marker and correction fluid (such as Wite-Out)
• Fine-point markers
• Playmobil, Lego and other miniature figurines, houses, boats, cars, trains, planes, trees, etc
• Foam core and white poster board to cover the table, plus extra poster board to cut into strips for inserts
• Sanford's Mr. Sketch scented markers
• Six to eight different kinds of stickers
• Two or three packets of Plasti-Tak

Kids like the Family History Map because it presents the kinds of stories that reflect the personalities of their ancestors. My kids always love to hear the story about the time my brother threw all his toys out the second-floor window of his nursery. The objective is to bring your family history to life: The migrations you plot on the map become a vivid illustration of where your family originated. Most important, the stories you and your children gather make real people out of ancestors who otherwise would be only a name.

PREP
Before the kids get involved, dig up some information about your family tree. You'll want to know how your family came to America, where they came from, where they first settled, and where and why they moved. You'll also be looking for your family's most vivid stories and experiences--these stories are your admission ticket to your children's imagination.

STEP 1
Write out the basic history of each family member and the stories you think your kids will find entertaining. We wrote out little blurbs in the present tense and stripped the stories down to their essentials. You'll find that some members of your family led more eventful lives than others, and you'll want to trace their stories in greater detail.

STEP 2
Pick a moderately sized table you can do without for a while: it will take two to three days to make the map and you'll want to leave it up to admire and enjoy for a few days more. Measure the table and purchase foam core and white poster board to cover the surface (we used four sheets for a 4- by 4- foot table). You'll be laying down a base of foam core over which you'll lay the poster board. The idea is to able to cut slits in the poster board so the pull-out tabs that record names, dates and stories can be inserted. Lay out and tape together the sheets of foam core and trim them to size. Then lay out, tape together and trim the poster board to the same size. Apply white glue around the edge of the foam core base (not in the middle) and then lay the poster board on top.

Be on the lookout for small stickers that can represent the migrations of each branch of the family. The best (and cheapest) ones we found came in packets of hundreds from an educational-supply store. We used shamrocks for my Irish grandparents, red stars for Steve's Russian grandparents, pilgrims for his New England grandparents, scissors for my mother's family, the Barbers, and blue stars for her Scandinavian ancestors.

STEP 3
Your map will need to include the countries of your ancestors came, but will probably focus on the United States. Using a pencil, and with an atlas or world map at hand, sketch the outlines of the U.S. and whatever parts of the world you need. An older child can then trace over your pencil with a black permanent marker.

STEP 4
You'll want to have figures to represent the most important members of the family, but you can also make them and other items you need out of clay, pipe cleaners, or Styrofoam. Try to find trees and flowers, and remember realism is not the object. If the kids have jungle animals and want to use them, find a country for them or build a zoo. Spread all your figures and materials out on trays for easy access.

STEP 5
The girls shuffled though the stories we'd written and picked their favorites. Next, they began coloring the map and made a color key representing the names of families we'd be following--a sticker would stand for their various migrations.

The girls began with the story of their great-grandfather Dave. They selected a house for Dave's childhood home in the Ukraine in 1894, chose a cake-top bride and bridegroom for Dave's parents and two baby figures for Dave and his brother, Harry. We stuck the figures directly on the map using Plasti-Tak. In front of the house, I cut a slit in the poster board with an X-acto knife and inserted the first of Dave's life story cards. Whenever the girls needed to refresh their memories, they just referred back to the card.

We then laid down a trail of red stars from the Ukraine to New York to represent Dave's migration. Two figures representing Harry and Dave (holding a bunch of bananas from our dollhouse in honor of his first American breakfast) were placed on the tip of Manhattan, along with one tab that told of Dave's arrival, and a second which told about his decision to return to Russia and fight in the October Revolution.

We had names for every generation of one branch of the family from 1589 to the present, but chose to skip from story to story, identifying one ancestor's relation to the last. Although we had little information on many of these ancestors, we tried to show how many babies their families had.

Anna then moved on to our own family, cataloging all our moves, including "when we lived in Texas" (for five months) and "when we lived in Century City" (for one month). Anna and Rachel then placed our current home in California, along with Steve, myself, palm trees, flowers and the family dog they hope to someday talk us into.