Family Facts Game

By Marlene Cameron Thomas

1. Find individual pictures of as many of your ancestors as you can. For those you can’t get pictures for, draw what you think each might have looked like.

2. Make two copies, small enough to put on half of a 3″ x 5″ (7.6 cm x 12.7 cm) card, of each picture or drawing; glue each at the top of a card.

3. On the other side of each card, write the name of the person and some facts about him or her (see below for ideas). Leave some room to add interesting things you may learn as you play this game with different people.

4. Fold the cards in half, as flat as possible, with the facts on the inside. Lay the cards picture-side-down on a table, mix them up, and arrange them in rows.

To play: The first player chooses two cards and turns them over. If the pictures do not match, he or she turns them back over and it is the next player’s turn.

If the pictures do match, the player must tell some fact about that person. The player just before that player checks the fact on the inside of the card. If the fact is not correct, the player leaves the cards on the table picture side up and it is the next player’s turn.

If the pictures do match and the player tells a correct fact about the person, the player puts the cards in his own pile and gets to turn over two more cards.

Any time there is a card picture-side-up on the table, the player whose turn it is may tell a fact about that person. If the player is wrong, his or her turn is over; if the player is right, he or she puts the card in his or her pile and takes another turn.

Variations

1. Assign a point for each fact. When a player makes a match, he or she earns as many points as facts told about the person.

2. Assign different points according to how difficult you think the facts are to learn. For example, a pet fact might be worth 1 point, while birth and death dates might be worth 5 points; knowing that the person was your great-great-great-grandfather might be worth 3 or 4 points.

3. Younger children might turn over three cards in order to make a match, instead of just two, or they might not have to tell a fact about the person. (An interesting fact might be read to them, instead.)

Family Facts Ideas

1. When they lived

2. Where they lived

3. How they are related to you

4. What they did for a living

5. What they liked to do with their families

6. Their favorite foods, books, sports, kind of music, etc.

7. Their pets

8. Problems they overcame

9. Special talents or interests