Family History Project Ideas

Amanda Meeks

These very special brainstorming sessions will allow anyone with a story to tell to bring their tale to this open lab to sort through the best way to tell it as a family history project. Today’s digital storytelling tools are so wide and deep that they can be intimidating. As a community, we’ll brainstorm and share ideas for tips, techniques, and tools that might make your storytelling effort easier. The idea for this program is to keep it to just an hour so that we can be efficient with time and generous with ideas. Your host, Barbara Tien, is one of the co-founders at Ponga.com and the “ring leader” here in our post-Ponga community. We use these programs …

Playing for Ancestors

Amanda Meeks

We know that it’s stories that stick. If you want children engaged in the stories of their ancestors, work the stories into their games. Children are also naturally curious, so adding story cues into playthings can make the stories all the more interesting. Ahead of this year’s holiday season, we’ve been looking at projects that might be gifts — with the hook of family history. On Nov-30, we’ll feature Simon Davies, Projectkin member and founder of WeAre…[xyz] to talk about a project he’s created for his own family. The project customizes standard playing cards with the stories and photographs of each of 52 ancestors (#52Ancestors). The secret to this project is the combination of ordinary playing cards with an …

Family History Project Ideas

Amanda Meeks

These very special brainstorming sessions will allow anyone with a story to tell to bring their tale to this open lab to sort through the best way to tell it as a family history project. Today’s digital storytelling tools are so wide and deep that they can be intimidating. As a community, we’ll brainstorm and share ideas for tips, techniques, and tools that might make your storytelling effort easier. The idea for this program is to keep it to just an hour so that we can be efficient with time and generous with ideas. Your host, Barbara Tien, is one of the co-founders at Ponga.com and the “ring leader” here in our post-Ponga community. We use these programs …

A Scavenger Hunt for Ancestors (with Anna Scheutz)

Amanda Meeks

It can be hard for children to relate to the stories of their ancestors. In a creative approach by long-time community member, Anna Scheutz, children get a chance to engage with the stories of their ancestors in a team-based scavenger hunt. Anna applied her considerable experience as a youth leader to developing something that would be equally fun for young children, teens, and grown adults. Her strategy involves a combination of challenges that bring all ages of the family together with physical activity and questions delivered on mobile web pages. In this Project Recipe event, Anna will share how she went about putting the program together and key pointers about why it works. Our program includes her …