5 Games for Teaching Children Genealogy Skills

I haven't joined the blog link up for a while but I really didn't want to miss this one because I LOVE the topic.  Admittedly, I could step up my game when it comes to teaching my own children genealogy skills, but as I got to thinking about the topic I realized that while I haven't ever sat down and tried to work on the family tree with them, I have taught them some valuable skills through regular play.

I'm honestly pretty averse to a lot of the family history for kids ideas out there because so many require a lot of front end work just to prepare said activity before you can start doing it with your kids.  Due to my #CrazyBusy life, usually finding an activity like that just ends up NEVER HAPPENING. :)  So . . . over the years I've found some great games for teaching and learning family history alongside my kids, which I love!!  So for this post I'll share 5 of my faves:

1. Roots & Branches: Built for ages 4 and up, Roots & Branches is an awesome way to teach your kids some basic genealogy skills.  The game has a game board that with each stop you draw a card to answer family history related questions.  There are 2 question options on each card so the player can select the one that is best suited for them to answer.  It's perfect because a lot of them are just teaching the kids to think through who their relatives are and various things about those relatives, thus teaching them to make connections about how those things affect them and make them who they are.
2. The Game of Genealogy (How to Find Your Ancestors): The game indicates that it's for ages 8 and up, which I think is pretty accurate.  My 7 year old hasn't had much interest in the game but my 9 year old likes it a lot.  It's a spinoff of the game Clue as far as layout, but it's
   
   awesome because it teaches the kids actual skills for finding relatives as you visit the different rooms on the board.  I've played it with youth (12-18 year olds) in the area and they really enjoyed it.
3. GenQuizitive Live: This is an online game, I'd say for 8 and up, but you could play with younger kids if you were playing with them.  This one is awesome because it reads your FamilySearch Tree to pull information about your ancestors then formulates a variety of questions in a variety of formats like tree scrambles, multiple choice questions, sequence questions and more.  What's also super fun is that you can create a game and share the code with family members so you're all playing against each other online, even if you're not all physically together.
4. Little Family Tree App: For the little peeps in your household this app is perfect!  I've been using this app for years and even my 9 year old still enjoys playing it.  The interface is a little house that's full of different activities for your little kiddos to play.  Inside the house they can
   click on the various objects to open fun games like scrambled family trees, paper dolls in ethnic
   
   attire, coloring pages, and other creative activities to help them learn how to identify family members by name or relationship, understand who and where they come from, and learn to recognize and navigate a family tree.
5. Geneopardy: Much like GenQuizitive Live I'd say this app is for 8 year olds and up, and it also pulls information about your ancestors from FamilySearch Family Tree, but the output is into a Jeopardy game.  It's fun for groups as you can create teams, or individually for your own fun and learning.  You can not only learn info about your ancestors, but it's also a great way to start to understand what types of facts are important for doing your family history work.  Geneopardy is brought to us by the BYU FHTL (BYU Family History Technology Lab), which is basically that wonderful group of BYU students who continuously create awesome and helpful programs and resources for the rest of us.  THANK YOU BYU!!  Check out some of their other great programs here. A few other noteworthy games and cool apps are: "Wheel of Family Fortune", "Ancestor Games", and "Pedigree Pie".

What are some of the fun games and activities you've found to make family history learning fun? Do share.

Check out other great ideas for Teaching Children Family History Skills: