Is your child mysteriously snooping around your attic or closets? Is s/he inexplicably gathering fossilized teeth or flower-power bell-bottoms? Is s/he prying odd information about your eccentric Uncle George?

You may have suspected this already… but your child has turned into a FAMILY DETECTIVE!

Your budding family detective will embark on the most fascinating detective case of all: his/her name origin, family tree and ancestry. Be ready to be bombarded with strange interviews and eureka research projects. Open up those dusty boxes of sepia pictures and unearth some antiquated family albums. Help your child find out who s/he is by learning about your family roots.

All you need to do is support your child by supplying the information and pictures.

Here are the activities your child may embark in:

1. Name is Your Game:  Ask your child to research the meaning of his/her name.  Tell  the reason why you chose that name for him/her.
2. Family Timeline: Gather the ages of all members of your family and create a timeline that will graphically show the length of each member’s life.
3. Personal Timeline:  Gather pictures of your child for each year of his/her life, ex. If your child is 9 years old, s/he will need 9 pictures starting at the age of one or newborn.
4. Family Tree:  Gather small (head shot) pictures of each member of your family that you intend to include in the Family Tree. If your child is grade 4 or younger, start with his/her grandparents from both sides.
5. Country Research:  What are the cultural roots of your family? Have your ancestors immigrated from Europe, Asia or other continents? After digging up the family archives, one usually finds out a variety of possible countries of origin. Dad’s ancestors may come from a different continent from mom’s ancestors. Choose one of the countries that your ancestors originated from and help your child research about that country’s culture and geographical characteristics.
6. Cultural Doll:  Create a gingerbread-like template or paper doll for your child to dress into a national costume that an ancestor used to wear. Your child may dress that paper doll twice; one at the back and one at the front. You may attach a fact card to attach to that paper doll.
7. Heritage Collage:  Gather pictures, magazine pages, small artifacts, ephemera to create a collage on canvas. I usually glue a portrait of the child in the middle with the collage surrounding it.
8. International Potluck:  Celebrate the various cultures of your child’s class by bringing dishes from all over the world to sample and feast.  Bon apetit!

I will provide explicit details on how each activity can be executed in the following blogs.  So stay tuned!

Step aside, Sherlock Holmes!