Often it's the little things that we remember most...

Help Your Children Develop an Interest in Genealogy: Here are some ideas that are fun and Family History oriented:

Celebrate an ancestor's birthday: Learn all that you can about your ancestor and what life was like during the period of their life and share it with your children while you celebrate. Find a map of the world: Mark each place that you know that your ancestors once lived. This would work well on a map of the United States as well.

Go to the local library: Ask the children's librarian to help you find information on toys and games that children played in America, or in a country from which your ancestor's immigrated from, 100 years ago.

Brighten Someone's Day : In today's busy world it's hard to keep in touch with loved ones. Maybe you live near aunts, uncles, cousins or friends that you don't see very much. Get your family together and make or buy a thoughtful inexpensive gift. Bake cookies, pick something from the garden or make a home-made card. It doesn't matter what the gift is. Just make sure that the whole family has a part in helping to make or think about who to see and what to give.

If your family wants to send small gifts and tokens of love to distant relatives you can make this a home project and it will be great! But, it is really touching to visit with your loved ones when you "brighten" their day. Especially for younger children.

Pick a day and time when you know that most of your loved ones will be home. You might want to call first and explain that you will be stopping by for a very quick visit. Just give it to them on the doorstep if you want. The key is to visit as many as possible. If you have someone to visit for longer than a few minutes, you put them on the end of the list. Explain to the children how they are related to you.

These are just a few ideas to get them started, books from times past really seem to get them started the best though, old pictures of grandma and grandpa and old stories at your knees, or memories from your grandmas knee, just might be the ones they want to hear the most ! Give them a sense of the past !