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Why It’s Time to Rethink Family Tree Assignments

They may be more harmful than you realize.

Most of us remember plodding through family tree assignments at some point during our school years. Perhaps you created a handprint tree in preschool or filled out your madre and padre on a worksheet for Spanish class. It’s a common activity for a topic that’s important in schools—family. But in 2020, our students are coming from increasingly diverse families, and these types of activities can feel unsettling and exclusionary.

It’s time we moved past the family trees and looked for more inclusive options. Here are several reasons why it’s time to rethink the family tree assignment:

All families are different.

We all know that families consist of something more than diverse than a mom, dad, and 2.5 children. So why do our family trees still reflect that structure? Schools should not require students to complete an activity that fails to represent LGBTQ-headed, multigenerational, step, adoptive, and foster families.

Families are important to children. When they don’t see their own family reflected in the curriculum, they feel left out. And a student who doesn’t feel welcome at school might fail to learn. 

Not everyone has access to family information.

Family tree assignments often require students to research their family history, and that’s just not possible for everyone. Children in adoptive and foster families may not have baby pictures or be able to draw a coat of arms with a flag of where their ancestors came from. And it’s not just about the inability to complete the assignment, which is stressful enough. The greater harm is the complicated emotions that can come up for students when we remind them of what they don’t know.

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Family tree assignments are not trauma-informed.

We must consider that not all students come from loving home environments. Many of our students have experienced abuse and neglect. Family tree activities can trigger anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder in students with adverse childhood experiences. Revelation of their private lives can also make them vulnerable to bullying and isolation. Our students’ physical and mental well-being should always come first.

Let’s move to more inclusive projects.

All this is not to say that we shouldn’t be talking about families in school. We can and should. We just have to be more mindful of what kinds of activities we plan. Try “Circles of Caring Community” , a lesson from Welcoming Schools that focuses on all the caring adults in students’ lives. “Autobio” and “Where I’m From” poems are also nice ways for students to share about themselves and the important people in their lives outside the confines of a traditional family tree assignment.

What alternate ideas do you have to family trees? Come and share in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.

Plus, why we should make all school events inclusive.

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Make a Family Tree: Templates & Activities

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Family tree activities are fun for the whole family. Today I have 15 styles of Printable Family Tree Templates for you as well as some fun family tree themed activity ideas for you to use in your classroom, home or church.

Why Learn About Family Trees? 

Many elementary aged kids have a family tree project assigned to them in school.  This is a creative way to help kids share more about themselves and their families.

Why should we learn about and study our family history? I think knowing your personal history is not only a fun activity, but also a wonderful way to make personal connections to extended family.  Our genetics shape who we are, whether we want them to or not!

Our personal history matters, even if our memories and experiences are not the best. We can still learn from these experiences. Yes, family trees can get complicated, especially when divorce or adoption are involved in families.  But even the complications should be recorded!

I love learning about our family heritage, history and culture. I also love the idea of keeping a personal family history for future generations. Another term for family history is genealogy.

It’s wonderful for kids to learn how to create their own family tree.  There is something special about knowing the names of their older relatives and ancestors. Knowing about your family history and culture can bring a deeper meaning to your life. It can help you understand yourself better.

Creating a family tree can be tied into social studies lesson plans, too. Learn more about the different cultures and countries where your family members originated from.

Learn about the family history of others with this awesome book: Famous Family Trees .

Family Tree Symbolism & History

The tree symbol has been used for thousands of years to represent connection. The branches and the roots symbolize how a family grows yet still remains connected over time. With each new branch a new life of family member is represented binding our ancestry to us.

It seems to stem back to Isaiah 11: 1  “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.”

This is about Jesse, the father of King David. Christ came from this lineage.

The first family tree may have bee in the 11th century when this verse was created through art with Jesse’s family as the branches. This became known as the Jesse tree.  During medieval times, nobility began to use the tree to represent their lineage. The term family tree seems to have become common in the 18th century.

See Also my Post on Family History for Kids where I share a Family Tree Game using craft sticks. I also share our 5 generation family photo frames , and some books we enjoy about family history for kids in this post. I also shared there my story of learning about my family heritage by visiting the country of my paternal grandfather’s birth.

How To Make Your Own Family Tree:

A family tree starts with yourself on the tree trunk and moves upwards branching out to parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on on the various tree branches.  The tree branches out in the different family units. It can include the family information of just direct lines, or have siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.

You can make a family tree with a picture of a family member in each place, or with just a person’s name. Do you have a box of old family photos lying around?  Make sure you know who everyone is in those photos!   It’s great to add their date of birth and death dates (when applicable) to the family trees to keep record of people. You can use one of my printable templates, or draw your own trees.

Making a family tree is a great DIY project!  It also makes a wonderful gift for parents or grandparents on special occasions. You can make a family tree in various styles.

• Make a simple and adorable family tree with a child’s hand print. The wrist and arm is the trunk of the tree and the fingers of the hand are the branches.  Glue it onto a contrasting colored piece of paper. Cut out some little leaves with green paper to add a few more names of family members.
• You can get beautiful family tree art custom made online! They can be hand drawn or painted. There are even ones made of metal or wood.
• Hand sew a family tree and embroider the names!  My sister made one of these for my mom and it was so beautiful & meaningful.
• Kids can draw a large family tree on a poster board to display for an oral presentation or school project.

Learn more about family stories and family traditions of older generations, your ancestors and relatives with this Family Interview I created.

This printable family history interview is great for young children or older children to use when interviewing grandparents or parents, but can be used for any members of your family. I used it to interview both my parents and grandparents. I videoed them to preserve it!

This interview is awesome to learn about their memories of major historical events they may have lived through. Were they alive in World War II? Did they go to a Beatles concert?  What other cool things can you learn?

Download my Printable Set of Family Tree Templates Now!

I have a set of  15 different styles of family tree worksheet or templates styles. There are 5 diagram style trees or pedigrees without a tree background and 10 styles with a tree background. Some are 3 generation, some are 4 generation and some are 5 generation.  A few are in color, but most are in black and white. Print these out on white paper and fill it in with each of the names of your family members.

DOWNLOAD NOW!

How to Find your Ancestors

If you are new to family history, and there is no record of your family, there are many online resources to help you find your people.  I promise it will test your research skills, though!  It can especially be difficult if your family tree extends back to different countries and the records are in a foreign language.

I love using a website called Ancestry to do genealogy research.   On this site, you can find pictures, census records, immigration records, birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, pictures of head stones, and more!  You can visit historic sites, cemeteries, or family history centers around the country to learn more as well. I love doing ancestry research on this site!

I also love another site called FamilySearch .  Here you can create your own family tree, add family pictures, stories of each individual, and connect generations of people.  You can research and find people who have already been discovered and connect them to your tree. This website was created by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But, it is free to use by any who have interest in learning about their ancestors. They have printable versions, too.

Take some time to preserve your own history. Your family will be glad you have that record! Talk to the older family members in your life while you still can, before their memories are lost forever.

Former school teacher turned homeschool mom of 4 kids. Loves creating awesome hands-on creative learning ideas to make learning engaging and memorable for all kids!

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10 Ways to Rethink the Family Tree Project – And Be More Inclusive to All Students!

by Laura Hudgens

The family tree project that many of us remember doing as kids can be a fun way for students to learn research skills. It can also spark a child’s interest in their personal history or provide a creative way for students to share information and stories about their family with classmates. Unfortunately, for students who are adopted, in foster care, or who come from non-traditional homes, the family tree assignment can be uncomfortable. 

If you are looking for ways for your students to learn and share about the people they love, check out these alternatives to family tree projects.

Focus on traditions, not genetics.

By looking at family traditions, students can share what is unique or interesting about their household—no matter what their family situation is like. Students can also look outside their own experience and learn about other people’s family traditions.

1. Write about or give a presentation on one of your family traditions or pastimes.

It can be something as elaborate as a Bar Mitzvah or a confirmation or as simple as Sunday morning pancakes or Friday night movie night. Whatever it is, it will give students a chance to reflect on what their family holds dear and why.

2. Research family traditions from around the world .

Ask students to write about a tradition they would like to start in their own family and why.

Interview someone (anyone!) about family life.

By giving them the option of interviewing family members or non-relatives about family life, students can gain insight into other people’s experiences.

3. Interview someone about their family history.

This person doesn’t have to be related to the student. After all, learning things about other people’s families is fun too.

4. Interview several different types of family members from any family.

Students can talk to mothers, fathers, older siblings, younger siblings, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Encourage students to ask questions about each family member’s role, their responsibilities, or their favorite and least favorite things about that role.

Look at history.

Giving a family-themed lesson a historical spin is an excellent way to bring history to life.

5. Choose significant events in history and research connections to family members or family friends who were alive then.

My mother’s Great Aunt Zelda was alive during the Great Depression. Our next-door neighbor’s great great grandmother was a suffragette. This is a great way to give major historical events some context.

6. Research the family history of someone famous.

Knowing the background of historical figures can sometimes make them seem more real and more relatable. Additionally, finding out a famous person came from humble or troubled circumstances inspires students to rise above their own challenges.

Record family data, rather than family history.

Combine data analysis and family research in a way that is less personal and exclusive than a family tree assignment but still allows students to learn things about the people they live with.

7. Gather random facts about the members of your household and record the data.

Have students survey family or household members about things like whether or not they like pineapple on pizza, if they prefer cats or dogs, or if they eat the cake first or the frosting. They can then record these statistics– 75 percent of my family members prefer dogs over cats or 5 out of 6 people in my household do not like pineapple on pizza.

8. Create a test for skills that are not necessarily genetic and record the results.

Have students ask members of their family or household to do things like answer riddles , shoot baskets, or recite tongue twisters and keep track of which family members possess which skills. They can even document which family members can roll their tongue since that actually has nothing to do with genetics . But if students are really interested in genetics (or superpowers), have them explore these fascinating gene mutations.

Get creative!

Allow students to come up with fun and interesting ways to look at families and family life.

9. Make up a family tree.

Begin with a single fictitious person or couple and let students give them a family history full of fascinating, funny, or sinister relatives.

10. Create alien family traditions.

Allow students to imagine life in a family from a planet and galaxy of their own creation. What holidays do they celebrate and how? How do they celebrate births and commemorate deaths? What rituals do they observe as a part of family life?

Just as there is no one-size-fits-all family. There is no one-size-fits-all assignment when it comes to learning and sharing about family life. The family tree assignment can be fun and fascinating for many students, but providing alternatives respects the feelings and circumstances of all learners.

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Modern and Inclusive Family Tree Project Ideas

The family tree project is something that’s been around for years. It has become a right of passage for most students in North America. For many, this is a chance to showcase their family, research their ancestors, and share where they come from. However, the family tree project can be triggering for students who do not have a traditional family. They may have a history of trauma, adoption, loss or death. Or they may have same sex parents or divorce with remarriage and new family members. As times and family units have changed, plus our understanding of childhood trauma, so must the family tree project change and become more inclusive. Let’s explore some inclusive alternatives to the family tree project .

Modern Family Tree Project Ideas

What you will discover in this article!

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First up, I want to say I totally understand the appeal a Family Tree Project can have. In fact, I LOVE the idea of genealogy, ancestry and tracing my family tree. Researching long lost relatives, exploring my family heritage, and learning my own history. I get that appeal. But I do have to strongly disagree that it should be a school project with rigid rules and constraints. IT should not be a project that excludes those that don’t fit in the traditional family “box” or have a family stories that are complex. The negative impacts on our children’s mental health are too great. And the educational goals of the Family Tree Project as a learning activity can be achieved through other means.

Lack of Trauma Informed Thinking

While doing research for this article I was incredibly frustrated by the lack of empathy, compassion and understanding presented by many resources on this topic. Perhaps because trauma informed education is such a strong focus for me, I wrongly assume all educators have at least a passing understanding of trauma and children’s mental health.

The idea that any teacher would force a student to do a project that could be incredibly damaging, trigger anxiety and PTSD, cause stress and fights in the home, and most of all force children to relive traumatic experiences in front of their peers and classmates, is sickening to me.

It is understandable that this project does provide an educational experience, but there is something that needs to be understood. Children that are struggling with mental health issues will struggle to learn. We need to put mental health first, school second . By avoiding projects that are particularly triggering for many vulnerable children, you will be setting children up for a stronger, more effective learning experience.

Which at the end of the day is what everyone wants. We simply want our children healthy and educated.

Trauma Through Generations

One aspect I think many miss in the discussion of the family tree project in classrooms is that research has shown that severe trauma alters the genetics of a person and they pass on that trauma to future generations.

It’s the study of epigenetics and you can read more about it here .

Understanding intergenerational trauma and how trauma can be passed down from grandparents to grand children, only highlights the importance of modernizing the traditional family tree project.

Understanding The Goal of the Family Tree Project

No child should ever be forced to do a traditional Family Tree Project for the classroom. Especially those that have nontraditional backgrounds or have experienced ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) . The goals of the assignment can be easily achieved using a number of different projects. All while supporting our most vulnerable students.

When deciding on a more suitable learning project to replace the family tree, the first thing a teacher needs to consider is the goal of the project. In most cases the goal is to teach kids a bit about history and research techniques.

It may also be a project intended to teach children more about themselves and their personal family history. Perhaps also how their own history ties into greater historical events and teachings. Personal connections can help children have a greater passion for a subject. For example, knowing Great-Grandfather fought in World War II, may make it much more interesting to learn about the war.

In some instances, the family tree is part of learning about immigration or family studies. It may also be used as a launching point for lessons in genetics and heredity.

Before you move forward with a family tree project in your classroom, examine the goals of your project, then see if you can come up with a more inclusive option for students. Something that will foster a sense of pride and self confidence and self love for the students themselves and their families. No matter how those family tree branches curve and twist.

Here are a few ideas for inclusive family tree projects.

Inclusive Family Tree Project Ideas

With all of this in mind, we used some creativity and came up with these unique family tree projects. All of these will still encourage children to break out the craft materials and create a great DIY project, while still respecting that for many kids, our chosen family is our true family.

Allow your students to create their own very important people tree. Have your students write the names of the important individuals in their lives on the branches and positive characteristics about them on the attached leaves. Sometimes students who have traumatic childhood experiences may struggle to think of positive adults in their lives. Encourage them to include anyone that matters to them, including friends, teachers, coaches, and people they admire.

Celebrity Family

In some foreign language classes, the family tree assignment has been a way to learn the names of family members in the studied language. This can also be used for English as a Second Language Learners. However, when coupled with a family tree, which requires students to share the names of their own family members, this assignment can be difficult and often heartbreaking for children dealing with trauma. Vocabulary and language can still be taught by using celebrities or a television show family. I have seen some adorable family trees with Mickey and Minnie Mouse (and other Disney characters as siblings and children) as well as other celebrity families.

Celebrity families can be a fantastic alternative to the traditional family tree project. It may not have the personal connection, but many students become very passionate about popular figures.

Autobiography Poem

Instead of focusing on the extended family, have your students share their own autobiographical poems. Each line should start with “I” and they may include where they are from, their family members (if they would like), adjectives to describe themselves, things they love to do, things they fear, and things they hope for. These poems are incredible ways for your students to express themselves. Often, older children who are dealing with trauma can find an outlet in writing, particularly about themselves.

Inspired by History Fictional Story

Ask students to write a short story about someone important to them. It could be an ancestor that lived through a major historical event, or it may be a modern family member that has a particular impact on the student. It doesn’t even need to be a biological family member. The story does not need to be 100% fact. Encourage students to do their research so their stories are based in fact, but allow them the flexibility to be creative in their story telling so they can create a compelling story. Even if it glosses over any problematic or stressful situations.

Classroom Community Garden

Your class may be the closest thing to a true family that some of your students have. School may be the place they feel the safest. Celebrate that with a community garden. Allow each student to create a flower or element of the garden that represents themselves. Have them write a brief message describing what they contribute to make your classroom garden grow and flourish. Post your community garden on a classroom bulletin board or wall. Your classroom family garden can be nurtured all year long.

A family tree project may seem like a rite of passage in school, but for many students it causes anxiety and pain. For students with adverse childhood experiences or nontraditional families, a family tree is more than just listing members of your family. We need to modernize the family tree project and make it a positive, affirming rite of passage for all children.

The goal is to create a project that allows children to explore themselves and their lives, in a safe way that doesn’t isolate them, but instead allows them to celebrate their unique life circumstances and those that are special to them. The family tree project can also be a wonderful opportunity to celebrate diversity, inclusion and the family unit.

These inclusive alternatives to the family tree project are important ways to keep all students in mind, whether they come from families dealing with divorce, death, adoption, foster care, or other situations. Try some of these alternate projects in your classroom.

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Family Tree Templates

Printable family tree templates - pdf, doc.

Our selection of printable family tree templates can be downloaded for free in PDF and Microsoft Word file formats. You can use any of the blank family tree templates to make your own version for your family members.

A common way of visually showing the relationship between generations is to use a family tree. If you've ever wondered why it's called a family tree, the answer has to do with the way a normal tree is structured. While the roots are considered the ancestors, the branches are the children. One thing you have to keep in mind when making a family tree chart is to also allow the future members of your family to add their own names to the family tree.

6 Blank Family Tree Templates

A family tree can provide a simple way of visualizing a person's family history and ancestors. The following blank family tree templates can help you with easily showcasing the members of your family in pleasant and original manner.

• Blank Family Tree Template

• 5 Generation Family Tree Template

• 4 Generation Family Tree Template

• 3 Generation Family Tree Many Siblings Template

• Family Tree for Children

• 5 Generation Family Tree Siblings Template

Which Type of Family Tree Template Should I Choose?

There are multiple types of family tree charts with the most popular one being the ancestor chart or ancestor tree. It's in ascending order, which means it usually starts from the bottom with the name of the person making it(you) and it goes upwards listing the parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and so forth, depending on the number of generations are required. Other types of family trees include hourglass charts, the starting person is in the middle with the parents and grandparents above and the children and grandchildren below. Another known one is a family unit history or family group record which details a couple's information including names, dates and places of birth, dates and places of death, marriage and their children.

So if you're unsure or your school assignment doesn't specify it's best to go and pick one of the ancestor chart templates.

8 Family Tree Chart Examples

Depending on how many generations have to be listed in your family tree we have chosen the most popular ones: 4 generation family trees, 5 generation family trees, 6 generation family trees and for those that need to go back further, 7 generation family trees.

• 6 Generation Ancestor Chart Details

• 7 Generation Ancestor Chart

• 5 Generation Ancestor Chart

• 7 Generation Ancestor Info Chart

• 4 Generation Ancestor Chart

• Family Unit Chart

• 6 Generation Ancestor Chart Template

• Blended Family Tree Template

4 Generation Pedigree Chart

How to make a family tree template.

In the case of an ancestor tree your name(the name of the person making the family tree) should be at the bottom(or left) and the name of the parents, grandparents and maybe great-grandparents should expand upwards or towards the right. If you choose one our free family tree templates you don't have to worry about this because most of them are labeled.

For a basic family tree the information you have to gather includes the names of your parents and grandparents. If you need to add your siblings then the names of your brothers and/or sisters are also necessary. For a multiple generations family tree the great-grandparents and maybe even the great-great-grandparents will be needed. If you're planning to make an extended family tree then the names of your uncles, aunts and cousins are required.

9 Sample Family Tree Templates

Apple Family Tree Template

• 3 Generation Family Tree Template

• Family Tree With 4 Siblings Template

• Family Tree With Aunts, Uncles and Cousins Template

• Family History Tree Template

• Family Tree With Cousins Template

• Adoptive Family Tree Template

• 4 Generation Family Tree Many Siblings Template

• Simple Family Tree Template
• Family Tree Template for Kids
• Ancestor Sheet Template
• Adoptive Family Tree With Siblings Template
• Picture Frame Family Tree Template
• Apple Family Tree
• Family Tree Chart
• Family Tree Worksheet

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Free Family Tree Lesson Plans for Kids and Teens

Last Updated February 8, 2020

by Kate Jackson

Whether you’re a homeschooling parent, a classroom teacher or the designated genealogy educator at a library or church – finding the best way to share the basics (and fun!) of family history with kids and teens can be tough. Luckily, a family tree lesson plan, or one that focuses on ancestry research, can make your job much easier.  These super helpful teaching tools make it so you don’t have to create every element of your instruction from scratch.

If you’ve already dug into Pinterest in search of the perfect family history lesson plan, but you’re still in need of something more, we’ve rounded up some of the best sources of free, in-depth resources for students from Pre-K all the way through high school. Looking for adult genealogy education? Check out our online courses . 

Every resource on this list is completely free to use. Also, as you discover these resources, be on the lookout for bonus materials – many of these family tree focused lesson plans feature additional teaching resources like printable worksheets, educational game ideas, supportive activities, and family history coloring pages.

Where to Find Free Family Tree Lesson Plans for Kids and Teens

Here are 4 free family tree lesson plans to get you started right away:.

• Make a Family Tree from Education.com
• Digging at the Roots of Your Family Tree from PBS Learning Media
• Understanding My Family’s History from Teaching Tolerance
• Who’s Who in My Family from Family Locket

If you are looking to build out a family tree with your students, the four free lesson plans above will get you started right away. You can also find free printable family trees , perfect for kids, here . For resources focused on a wide range of family history research topics see the detailed list below.

8 Additional Sources of In-Depth Family History Lesson Plans:

1. edsitement.

This partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Trust for the Humanities is brimming with educational materials for any educator interested in teaching the humanities in their home or classroom. 

From family tree lesson plans to student resources to interactive features – EDSITEment! goes in-depth into a very wide variety of topics, including family history. Search all the lesson plans here or check out our top picks, for grades K-5, below:

• Where I Come From
• What is History? Timelines and Oral Histories
• My Piece of History
• How Did Surnames Come to Be? Lesson 1 , Lesson 2 , Lesson 3 and Lesson 4

2. The Learning Network

This educational resource from the New York Times publishes over a thousand teaching materials every year. 

In addition to many lessons regarding current events, geography, and an expansive writing curriculum, this useful site also features several lesson plans for teaching elements of family history research.

Educators can use up to 5 lesson plans per school year for free. Find these genealogy lesson plans, geared toward middle schoolers and up, below:

• Cemeteries Are Historical, Not Solely Grave
• All in the Family

3. DOCSTeach

This online tool from the U.S. National Archives is centered around teaching with documents. A resource for students and teachers, DOCSTeach features lessons and activities that can teach the budding family historian how to use primary source documents in their genealogy research and beyond, an important part of building a family tree.

In addition to a wide array of lesson plans and activities relating to this critical element of family history research, educators can also customize their own activities using this tool. Get started using DOCSTeach here or go straight to some of their genealogy-related lesson plans below:

• Evaluating a Needlework Sampler as Historical Evidence
• The Impact of the Immigration Act of 1924

4. National First Ladies’ Library

The National First Ladies Library is an organization focused on preserving and promoting the accomplishments of the First Ladies of the U.S. 

Among many other interesting resources, this site offers dozens of free history lesson plans for educators to use – including a lesson that aims to get middle school students interested in family tree research as it relates to U.S. and world history. Check it out below:

• Genealogy: Coming to America 

Michael John Neill, of the genealogy research site RootDig, has put together a great lesson plan for introducing the elementary student to census research, family group sheets, and more. You can find it below:

• The Third Grader’s 1850 Census

6. Growing Little Leaves

Focused on the youngest family historians – from toddler to elementary – Growing Little Leaves shows us that even the smallest ones can participate in family history.

In addition to a bounty of ancestry-focused lesson plans and activities, this site features fun add-ons like coloring pages, printables, games, crafts and tons more. Check out all they have to offer below:

• Kid-Friendly Genealogy Activities, Projects, and Crafts
• Free Family History Lesson Plans and Resources

7. Library of Congress

It comes as no surprise that the Library of Congress, with all it has to offer the family history researcher, would have a few gems in store for those looking to educate younger generations about genealogy research.

You can browse all Library of Congress lesson plans, each of which use primary sources from the LOC, here . We’ve included our favorites below:

• Family Customs Past and Present: Exploring Cultural Rituals
• Primary Sources and Personal Artifacts

8. Family Locket

The Family Locket’s focus is on helping family historians become better researchers as well as including kids in the adventure of family history research. 

Much of their educational content for kids is focused on the youngest of family historians but their expansive resource library features materials for teaching family history to kids and teens alike. 

From printables to crafts to free family tree lesson plans and more – the resource library is not to be missed. Find it, as well as preschool plans, below:

• Preschool Family History Storytime
• Family History Ideas for Children and Teens

Need a little something more? Learn where to find hundreds of free genealogy printables, including ones for kids, right here.

Hoping to continue your own education in family history research to help your students? Consider taking a genealogy research course from Family History Daily. 

Best of luck and happy teaching!

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4 Unique Family Tree Templates for Genealogy, Craft or School Projects

6 Unique Family Tree Craft Projects To Keep You Busy This Winter

Image: Children in classroom, between 1919 and 1929, American Red Cross. Library of Congress.

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Family Tree Worksheets

Customize family tree templates.

If you're assigning this to your students, copy the worksheet to your account and save. When creating an assignment, just select it as a template!

Why Family Tree Worksheets are a Useful Tool for the Classroom

Family trees can be a powerful tool for learning about familial history, relationships, and heritage, and our family tree creator can help bring them to life. Whether you're a teacher looking for a creative way to engage your students or a parent wanting to teach your children about their background, family tree example worksheets and templates can be an excellent resource. These activities offer a great opportunity to learn about histories and connections while also developing important skills such as research, organization, and critical thinking. With a variety of creative templates, worksheets, and online resources available, teachers and parents can easily incorporate this activity into their lesson plans to enrich the learning experience for children of all ages. With Storyboard That, it is easy to make a family tree template for any age group!

How to Structure Family Tree Classroom Activities

There are various ways to design custom templates. The design of the template may depend on factors such as the purpose of the activity, the age and skill level of the students, and the specific software or tools being used to create the template. Some templates may include a simple tree with spaces for names and dates, while others may have more elaborate designs with space for photos or illustrations of family members.

There are several creative ways to present family tree activities on templates and worksheets, such as:

• Use Different Shapes: Instead of the traditional tree shape, try using different shapes such as a house or a heart to represent the family tree.
• Use Colors: Try using different colors to represent different generations or branches. This can make the family tree charts visually appealing and a lot easier to understand.
• Add Pictures: Add pictures to the names and relations of family members to make it more engaging and personalized.
• Include Symbols: Use symbols such as hearts, stars, or arrows to represent relationships and connections between members.
• Use Timelines: Create a timeline-style family tree to show the progression of generations and key events in the family's history.
• Create a Collage: Have kids create a collage-style family tree by cutting out pictures and words from magazines and newspapers.
• Make it Interactive: Use online tools or software to create an interactive family tree that allows students to click on family members and learn more about them.

Overall, the key is to make the activity creative and engaging for students, while still conveying important information about history and relationships.

Family Tree Activity Ideas by Subject

• History and Genealogy: Family tree worksheets can be used to teach children about their history and genealogy, helping them understand their roots and their own background.
• Language Arts: These worksheets can also be used to teach vocabulary related to family members, relationships, and family history. Students can also write narratives about their relatives or use the family tree as a basis for creating characters in their writing.
• Social Studies: Family tree worksheets can be used to teach different structures and cultural traditions related to family.
• Science: The worksheets are used to teach students about genetics and inheritance, helping them understand how traits are passed down through generations.
• Visual Arts: Worksheets can be used as a basis for creating art projects, such as creating a collage of photos or drawing a portrait of a relative.

Family Tree Activity Ideas by Grade Level

Elementary school.

Create a Family Tree Collage: Provide your class with a blank family tree template and have them cut out and paste pictures of relatives onto the tree.

Family Interviews: Assign students to interview family members about their history and create a family tree worksheet based on the information they gather. This activity will not only teach them about relationships but also improve their interviewing skills.

Family Tree Game: Create a game where kids have to match relatives with their correct positions on a family tree. This activity will help them understand the different relationships within a group.

Middle School

Comparative Family Trees: Provide the class with a template and have them complete "make your own family trees" activities as well as the family tree of a historical figure or character from literature. They can compare and contrast the different structures and relationships.

Ancestry Research: Assign students to research their ancestry and create a family tree worksheet based on their findings. This activity will not only teach them about their own history but also improve their research skills.

Family Tree Art: Have children create an artistic representation of their family tree using symbols and imagery to represent relatives and relationships.

High School

Genogram Analysis: Introduce students to the concept of genograms and have them create a family tree worksheet using this method. They can analyze the different relationships and patterns of behavior.

Family History Project: Assign your class to research and create a detailed history project, including a family tree worksheet, historical context, and personal narratives. This activity will teach them about research skills, writing skills, and their personal history.

Cultural Family Trees: Have students research different cultures and create family tree worksheets based on the different family structures and relationships within those cultures. This activity will teach them about cultural diversity and the importance of family in different cultures.

Additional Family Tree Design Templates By Subject

Social Studies/History: Have students research their history and create a family tree. Encourage them to interview relatives and gather information about their ancestors. Discuss how family history can help us understand our own place in history. Use family tree activities as a way to teach about cultural traditions and how families pass them down through generations.

Science: Use family tree worksheets to teach about genetics and inheritance. Have kids fill in information about relative's traits and track how they are passed down through the generations.

Language Arts: Use family tree templates to teach about character development in literature. Have students create family trees for fictional characters and analyze how their relationships affect the plot.

Math: Use family tree worksheets to teach about data analysis and graphing. Have students collect data on the number of siblings, grandparents, or other relatives of their classmates and create a graph to display the data. Use family tree activities as a way to teach about probability and statistics, as students calculate the likelihood of certain genetic traits being passed down through generations.

Art: Use family tree templates to teach about visual storytelling. Have kids create a family tree that includes images of each family member and tells a story about their history.

Technology: Use a free family tree maker online or family tree generator tools to teach about digital tools and organization. Have students create digital family trees and use technology to organize and display the information.

Using Family Tree Templates in Foreign Language Lessons

By incorporating family tree worksheets into foreign language lessons, students can practice language skills while also learning about family structures and traditions in different cultures. Here are some suggestions on how to structure foreign language lessons using family tree worksheets:

• Conversation Practice: Have students use the family tree worksheet as a guide for practicing conversations in the foreign language. For example, have them ask and answer questions about their relatives using the appropriate vocabulary.
• Cultural Comparisons: Use the family tree worksheet as a way to compare and contrast family structures and traditions in different cultures. Have students research and fill in the worksheet with information about a family from another country, and then compare it to their own family tree.
• Writing Practice: Use the worksheet as a way to practice writing in the foreign language. Have students write a paragraph or essay about their family members, using the family tree as a guide.
• Creative Projects: Have students create a visual representation of their family tree, using pictures or symbols to represent each family member. This can be done using art supplies or computer software.

Creative Designs for Family Tree Activity Templates

• Create a family tree timeline. Instead of a traditional tree, create a timeline that shows the different generations of a family and their major life events, such as births, marriages, and deaths.
• Have kids create a "mini-biography" of a relative. In addition to the family tree, have students create a mini-biography of a family member, including their name, birthdate, occupation, and any interesting facts about them.
• Create a cookbook. Ask students to gather family recipes from their relatives and create a cookbook. Include photos and stories about the members who contributed each recipe.

How to Make a Family Tree Worksheet

Choose one of the premade family tree templates.

We have color, black and white, portrait, or landscape templates. Take a look at our example for inspiration!

Click on "Copy Template"

Once you do this, you will be directed to the storyboard creator.

Give Your Worksheet a Name!

Be sure to call it something related to the topic so that you can easily find it in the future.

Edit Your Worksheet

This is where you will include directions, specific questions and images, and make any aesthetic changes that you would like. The options are endless!

Click "Save and Exit"

When you are finished with your worksheet, click this button in the lower right hand corner to exit your storyboard.

From here you can print, download as a PDF, attach it to an assignment and use it digitally, and more!

Even More Storyboard That Resources and Free Printables

• Biography Poster Templates
• Timeline Poster Templates
• Biographies: Family Life
• History Project Ideas

Happy Creating!

Frequently Asked Questions about Family Tree Worksheets

What are some features to consider when creating a family tree worksheet template.

When you create family tree free worksheet templates, it's important to consider the size of the family, the number of generations, the types of relationships, and the design of the template. The template should be easy to read and follow, and it should have space for students to fill in their family information.

What should teachers avoid when assigning family tree activities in the classroom?

When assigning family tree activities in the classroom, teachers should avoid making assumptions about students' family structures or making the activity mandatory for all students. Teachers should be sensitive to the fact that some students may not have traditional family structures or may not feel comfortable discussing their family history. Additionally, teachers should avoid asking students to share personal or sensitive information about their families unless they have obtained parental consent.

What are some different ways to design family tree templates?

There are various ways to design family tree templates. The design of the template may depend on factors such as the purpose of the activity, the age and skill level of the students, and the specific software or tools being used to create the template. Some templates may include a simple tree with spaces for names and dates, while others may have more elaborate designs with space for photos or illustrations of family members. It is important for teachers to consider the needs of their students and the learning objectives of the activity when designing family tree templates.

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Family Tree for Kids: Project & Printables for Learning About Genealogy

This mini genealogy unit will help you and your children explore your family’s social and genetic history with the family tree for kids: project and printables..

Get ten different projects for learning about family history and the studies of genealogy and genetics as well as printables and an extensive recommended book list about family trees, including selections for children who have large, blended family “forests”

This Family Tree for Kids: Project & Printable will bring you and your kids closer together as you record the members of your family from your child to their great-grandparents.

There are many unique and fun projects listed to help your children explore the topic of genealogy and their family history, plus a STEM activity about genetics.

Some links in this post may be affiliate links. This means that if you click on them, I may make a tiny commission, at no extra cost to you. For more info, check our privacy policy.

Resources for Your Family Tree for Kids Project

Me and My Family Tree by Joan Sweeney for PreK to 2nd grades

This is My Family by Mercer Mayer for PreK to 2nd grades

Cousins by Marnie Reynolds-Bourque for PreK to 5th grades

Do Families Grow on Trees? by Lauren Matcha for elementary students

Florence and Her Fantastic Family Tree by Judy Gilliam for elementary kids with big, blended family forests

The Adoption Tree by Kimberly James for adopted kiddos

The Kids’ Family Tree Book by Caroline Leavitt for elementary

National Geographic Kids Guide to Genealogy by T.J. Resler for upper elementary & middle school

Roots for Kids: Finding Your Family Stories by Susan Provost Beller for middle school & up

For an in-depth STEM look at your family history check out My First Book About Genetics (Dover Children’s Science Books) for elementary kiddos

Activities for Your Family Tree Project for Kids

• Make a personalized Family Edition of the classic game “Guess Who? ” using these instructions from Paper Trail Design
• Or create your own Guess Who? game with Legos by following the simple directions from One Mama’s Daily Drama .
• Gather some old photos of relatives, make 2 copies of them (saving the originals) and use them for a fun memory game to help everyone learn to recognize their great-grandma or “Old Uncle Fred” when they were younger.
• Have your kids “interview” their older relatives and record their answers. Trust me, it will make a treasured keepsake! Use these “40 questions to ask your grandparents” from Of the Hearth if your kids need help coming up with questions.
• Visit a cemetery where one of your relatives is buried. Take some wildflowers to place on their grave. Take a picture and upload it to Find A Grave , which is a fantastic place for genealogy research.
• Select one of your ancestors and learn all that you can about them. Did they immigrate to America? From where and when? Create a timeline of their life, recording when they were born, married, had children, moved, etc.
• Complete the “My Family Tree” printable, which comes in both color and ink-saving gray to record 3 generations of your family.
• If you’d like to go back further into your ancestry, use this 5 generation family tree from Family Tree Magazine .
• Create a play-dough family tree with playdough and toothpicks with these directions from Growing Little Leaves
• For a STEM activity about inherited family traits that uses the book, The One and Only Me: A Book About Genes , by 23andme.com, check out this fun dominant and recessive traits activity and printable from Family Locket for elementary students.
• Your preschoolers may want to read these All About Me children’s books as a part of their family tree study.

Printables for Your Family Tree Project for Kids

Download your copy of the My Family Tree Worksheet from the Free Resource Library . Look under Worksheets >Individual worksheets >History

Not a member of the HHO Squad yet? Scroll down to the light blue box at the bottom to sign up and get immediate access to the Free Resource Library.

More resources for your family tree project for kids.

Memorial Day Remembrance Book Printables

Memorial Day Resources for Homeschooling Families

Don’t forget to pin this to your favorite Pinterest board so you can find it again later.

And be sure to follow homeschool helper online on pinterest for more affordable homeschooling resources.

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Why It’s Time to Rethink Family Tree Assignments

• Social Studies Education

Every student has memories of creating a family tree project in their school years. While the intention is to encourage students to explore their ancestry and learn about their heritage, these assignments may inadvertently create challenges and discomfort for some students. It’s time to rethink the traditional family tree assignment – a shift that focuses on inclusivity and adaptability for all family backgrounds.

1. Non-traditional Families Are Increasing:

In today’s world, families come in all shapes and sizes, including single-parent households, adoptive families, blended families, and those who are raised by relatives other than their biological parents. The classic nuclear family is no longer the norm. Family tree assignments designed around the assumption of a singular “standard” family can make students from non-traditional households feel excluded or stigmatized.

2. Recognizing Privacy Concerns:

Family matters might involve sensitive information that children or teenagers might not be comfortable sharing in a public setting. Whether it’s dealing with divorce, adoption, or estrangement, forcing students to provide specifics about family relationships may lead to increased stress levels and anxiety.

3. Embracing Cultural Differences:

Assignments centered around biological lineage might not work for all cultural backgrounds or traditions. Some cultures prioritize extended family connections or community-based familial structures over biological ancestry. By rethinking the family tree assignment as more inclusive, we foster a greater appreciation of cultural diversity among students.

4. Acknowledging Adoptees and Foster Children:

For those who have been adopted or are part of the foster care system, the traditional family tree project could highlight gaps in their knowledge about their birth parents or biological family history. This has the potential to amplify feelings of sadness, confusion, or anger – especially if they don’t have access to details about their background.

5. Encouraging Creativity and Variety:

Rather than sticking to an outdated template based on assumptions, educators should embrace more flexible, customizable approaches. This might involve asking students to create a creative project that represents their own personal understanding and experience of “family.” In this way, students will be encouraged to think about the people who have played significant roles in their lives, regardless of whether they share a biological connection.

In conclusion, rethinking the traditional family tree assignment is a necessary step to ensure that all students feel included and respected. By acknowledging the diversity of family structures and offering more inclusive alternatives,educators can create a positive learning environment where everyone’s story is valued and heard.

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In the Classroom: Family Tree Assignments

Genealogists have long defined familial relations along bloodlines or marriage. But as the composition of families changes, so too has the notion of who gets a branch on the family tree. Some families now organize their family tree into two separate histories: genetic and emotional. Some schools, where charting family history has traditionally been a classroom project, are now skipping the exercise altogether.

Yes!  The above is from “ Who’s on the Family Tree?  Now It’s Complicated ” in today’s New York Times.  And may I say that the ditching of family history assignments in schools is long overdue.  I’ve always railed against them because they assume an awful lot and marginalize students who may not have traditional family backgrounds, may not know their family history, etc etc etc.  I believe that the family tree assignment came about for a good reason — to bring personal history into the classroom rather than it always being about great men and such. However, it also came about with assumptions about the children in the classroom.  I remember arguing with colleagues who would tell me how children and families were so honored and happy after such an assignment.  All very well, I’d reply, but what about those children who were unable to do it for one reason or another?  They’d be given something else, I was told.  Making them, I’d say, all the more marginalized.

I’ve long been wondering if the changing notions of family are also causing more care with this assignment and was gratified to get the sense from this article that it is being reconsidered.  Good, good, good.

Bottom line: we teachers need to always be very, very, very sensitive to how we invite our students to bring their personal lives into the classroom.  Our reality may be very far from theirs.

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10 responses to “ In the Classroom: Family Tree Assignments ”

100% agree on sensitivity when inviting students’ lives into the classroom. I think a lot of times we can find ways to serve this purpose by inviting more options in rather than by leaving projects out. Just as a small example — the “family tree” assignment can be widened into a choice of visual representations of family history — or a family timeline with a lesson on selecting scale to show five years, or fifty years, or five hundred, as desired.

We can honor children’s different experiences by letting them choose what and how to share, without any sense of stigma or shame or exclusion — we don’t necessarily have to eliminate sharing altogether.

Great to see you here and thanks for weighing in on this. But I’ve got to wonder — I think any sort of family history activity can be difficult for some families. Not all are comfortable bringing their past to school be it five years or fifty. Mine wouldn’t have been, I know that (which is why I’m so sensitive to this issue, no doubt).

I prefer something broader where family history is simply one of many options. Our immigrant oral history project is for the kids to interview any one, sometimes it is a family member and sometimes not.

3 loud cheers for your “bottom line,” Monica.

TOTALLY agree. Families with adopted kids who are still figuring out relationships with birth parents, kids with same-sex parents (every kid-version of a family tree chart I’ve ever seen has had a space for “mother’s side” and “father’s side”), kids being raised by grandparents…for all of them, family history can be FRAUGHT. And if even one kid feels marginalized, why do the assignment when there are so many other options? (I like the interview idea!)

Oh yes, yes, yes. I grew up with a single mother, and while I could fill in a lot of family tree stuff, I remember that once I was given an assignment to interview everyone in my family about their dental habits. I came back with two interviews–myself and my mother–and proceeded to get yelled at by all the kids on my team because I hadn’t provided enough data points for our assignment. “Why didn’t you just ask your dad ?” I can still hear one girl saying, 25 years later.

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I agree! As an ESL teacher, I learned the hard way that my immigrant students rarely even knew their grandparents’ names! These kids had been apart from their extended family for most of their lives and had little connection to them or to their family history. It’s really sad to witness, but unfortunately, that’s how life is for them. I had better luck looking at familial relationships in stories we read! Thanks for this post.

Family tree assignments (esp those that go any deeper than grandparents) priviliges those families that have that information — so you’re good if you have a family member into this, or if you come from a family where there was both literacy (written records) and preservation of records (which implies ability to keep and preserve same, as well as being the member of that generation who got to keep those records.)

And yes, I’ve seen the “I can trace my family back x generations and you can’t,” played out, so it’s not just hypothetical that it impacts what is happening in the classroom/group.

So, yeah — not a fan.

I am torn , my daughter has been givenn a family tree assignment. For us to complete it it leaves us deeply emotional in regard to our loss on both sides of the family. We are more than prepared to talk about the lived ones we have lost, but it also so raw and something I don’t feel should be shared in the classroom at the age of 10 x

Michelle, I’m so sorry. Any chance you could send this link to her teacher?

These trees haunt me years on. At the time, I knew I had grandparents. Other students “proudly” traced lineages to the 1500s and 1200s, and teachers insinuated I hadn’t “tried.” It was awful & if they’ve finally done away with it it’s none too soon.

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Teaching Students About the Map of Nineveh

This “whoa” board is the classroom management hack we didn’t know we needed, ebook launch: the ultimate tech stack for strategic l&d that works, ascend awards scholarships to local first-generation college students, michigan state pays nearly $3 million fine for 16 new academic programs, these news literacy infographics will help students know what to trust online, lincoln university of missouri selects three black men for new administrative roles, eureka college ditches its laser print fleet for epson inkjet business print solutions, the cooper union’s tuition will be free for college seniors, help university launches apel centre to revolutionise education, time to rethink family tree assignments.

Most of us recall dreading family tree homework sometime in our academic careers. Maybe you made a handprint tree when you were a preschooler or wrote down your parents on an assignment for Spanish class. It’s a typical task for a crucial school subject, family. However, in 2020, our kids will come from a broader range of households, making these kinds of activities uncomfortable and exclusive.

It’s time to look beyond family trees and consider more varied choices. There are several reasons why the family tree assignment has to be reconsidered:

Every Family is Unique.

Everybody knows families are more than just a mother, a father, and 2.5 kids. Why then do our family trees still show that pattern? Schools shouldn’t make kids complete a project that excludes step, adoptive, and foster families, LGBTQ families, and multigenerational families.

Children value their families. They feel excluded if they don’t find the representation of their own family in the curriculum. Additionally, a pupil who doesn’t feel at home at school may struggle academically.

Access to Family Information is Not Universal.

Family history research is frequently required of students for family tree projects, but not everyone can do it. Kids in adoptive and foster families may not have infant photographs or know how to sketch a coat of arms with a flag representing their ancestral country. And it goes beyond the assignment’s failure, which is already stressful enough. The more nuanced emotions kids may have due to being reminded of what they don’t know, the greater the harm.

Family Tree Assignments Do Not Include Trauma.

We must remember that not every student comes from a happy household. Numerous of our pupils have endured abuse and neglect. Activities centered around family trees can make children with horrific childhood experiences anxious and develop post-traumatic stress disorder. Exposure to their personal life might also leave children open to bullying and exclusion. The health and welfare of our pupils should always come first.

Move On to More Inclusive Initiatives.

This does not imply that we shouldn’t discuss families in the classroom. We should and can. Simply said, we need to be more careful about the things we plan. Try the Welcoming Schools lesson “Circles of Caring Community,” which highlights all the benevolent people in kids’ life. Other wonderful alternatives for students to talk about themselves and the significant individuals in their lives outside of a conventional family tree assignment include “autobio” and “Where I’m From” poems.

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16+ Family Tree Templates

A family tree is a visual representation that captures the lineage of multiple generations within a single family . This graphical chart effectively displays the relationships between family members, tracing back from the most recent descendants to their earliest known ancestors. By exploring a family tree, one can gain valuable insights into their family’s history, origins, and even the unique stories that shaped their ancestors’ lives.

Creating a family tree can be an enlightening and rewarding journey, allowing you to not only discover your roots but also to forge a deeper connection with your family’s past. To help you get started, we have compiled a collection of free family tree templates in Word, Excel, Google Docs and PDF formats. These templates are designed to be easily customizable, enabling you to document and share your family’s story in a visually appealing manner.

Family Tree Templates

Blank Family Tree Template

A Blank Family Tree Template is a structured outline designed to help individuals document and map out their family history and lineage. By providing designated spaces for names, birth dates, relationships, and other relevant personal details, it assists users in organizing and visualizing familial connections. Such templates are commonly used in genealogy research, school projects, or personal endeavors to understand one's ancestry.

Family Tree Template (Excel)

A family tree template in Excel is a pre-designed organizational chart that allows users to visually map out their ancestral lineage. Capitalizing on Excel's grid system, the template facilitates the categorization of family members across generations, detailing relationships and key dates. Typically, it starts with the eldest ancestors at the top, branching down to current family members. Excel's flexibility ensures these templates can range from basic text layouts to intricate designs with photos and historical notes, making it easier for families to chronicle and understand their heritage.

Printable Family Tree Template

A printable family tree template is a pre-designed layout that allows individuals to fill in their family history information. It typically includes spaces for names, dates, and relationships, making it easier to visualize lineage and connections among family members. The template we discussed earlier can aid the user by providing a structured format to organize and display their family history. This can be especially helpful for those tracing their genealogy, creating a family history book, or wanting a visual representation of their ancestry.

A blank family tree template is a simple visual framework, designed to map out an individual's ancestry or genealogy. It typically features empty spaces or fields where names and relevant details of family members can be filled in, tracing lineage and relationships. This chart, created in our previous response, aids in organizing and displaying family history, making it easier to understand familial connections and heritage. It serves as a personalized guide for anyone interested in exploring and documenting their family lineage.

What is a Family Tree Template?

A family tree template, also known as a pedigree chart or genealogy chart, is a comprehensive visual tool designed to map family relationships in a tree-like structure. These templates encompass not only names but also important details like birth and death dates, marriage information, and sometimes personal anecdotes or photographs. Available in various formats, from simple paper charts to interactive digital versions, these templates facilitate the exploration of familial connections and heritage. They serve as educational resources, particularly for younger generations, to learn about their ancestry and foster a sense of identity. Despite potential challenges like missing information or record discrepancies, creating a family tree is an enriching process that offers insights into one’s family history and helps build stronger bonds with both immediate and extended relatives.

Family Tree Templates & Examples

Below is a selection of diverse family tree examples and templates to help you begin your genealogical journey. These templates are available in both Word and PDF formats, ensuring a seamless and efficient experience as you document and explore your family history.

Simple Family Tree

Family Tree Template (PDF)

Family Tree Outline

Family History Chart

Family Tree or Pedigree Chart

Blank 3 Generation Family Tree

4 Generation Family Tree Template (PDF)

4 Generation Family Tree Template (Word)

7 Generation Family Tree Template

Customizable Family Tree Template (Word)

Diagram of a Family Tree Template

Fillable Family Tree Template

Family Tree Simple Template

Ancestral Chart

Wuthering Heights Family Tree

More Family Tree Examples and Templates

Creating a family tree can be a fun and rewarding activity, but it can also be a daunting task without the right tools. Here are some more free family tree templates available in Word, Excel, and PDF formats that can make the process easier. These templates are not only printable but also simple and easy to customise. Whether you are just starting your family tree or want to update an existing one, these templates can help you organise your family history in a clear and visually appealing way.

Importance of a Family Tree

Understanding one’s family history and lineage through a family tree is not just an exercise in genealogy; it’s a journey into personal identity and collective history. A family tree offers a comprehensive overview of ancestry, going beyond names and dates to forge deeper connections with one’s heritage. This exploration into the past has numerous benefits that extend well beyond simple knowledge of lineage, playing a crucial role in bringing family members together, enhancing self-identity, and preserving cultural and familial legacies.

• Cultural and Historical Context : Integrate information about how family trees can connect individuals to their cultural and historical roots. This can provide a broader perspective on one’s identity and heritage.
• Educational Value for Younger Generations : Mention how family trees can serve as educational tools, especially for children, helping them understand their family’s place in history and the evolution of family dynamics over generations.
• Health and Genetic Information : Discuss how family trees can be instrumental in tracing genetic traits and medical histories, which can be crucial for understanding inherited health conditions.
• Preservation of Family Stories and Legacies : Highlight the role of family trees in preserving family stories, legacies, and traditions, ensuring that these valuable aspects of family heritage are not lost over time.
• Encouragement for Family Reunions and Gatherings : Explain how the process of creating a family tree can inspire family reunions and gatherings, creating opportunities for family members to share stories, reconnect, and strengthen bonds.
• Tool for Resolution of Familial Disputes : Briefly touch on the potential of family trees to resolve or provide clarity in familial disputes or inheritance issues, offering a clear lineage and connection between members.

Types of Family Tree Templates

Family tree templates come in various forms, each serving different purposes and offering unique insights into family histories:

• Ancestor Charts : These top-down charts showcase a person’s direct ancestors, ideal for tracing lineage and identifying familial patterns or trends.
• Descendant Charts : In contrast, descendant charts display an individual’s descendants in a bottom-up format, highlighting the breadth and branches of a family tree.
• Sandglass Diagrams : Merging ancestor and descendant charts, these templates resemble an hourglass, presenting both ancestors and descendants of a person, offering a comprehensive family view.
• Generation-Specific Trees (Three, Four, Five, and Six-Generation) : These templates focus on a specific number of generations, like grandparents to grandchildren, perfect for detailing a particular family segment or for more compact family trees.
• Stepfamily Trees : Catering to blended families, these templates include step-relationships, acknowledging the importance of non-biological family bonds.
• Biographical Family Trees : Going beyond names and relationships, these templates incorporate biographical details like occupations or significant life events, adding depth to each family member’s story.
• Family Group Sheets : These sheets focus on a single family unit, providing detailed information about parents and children, including vital statistics like birth, marriage, and death dates.
• Relationship Charts : Useful for mapping out complex family connections, these charts visually demonstrate how different family members are related.
• Adoptive Family Tree Charts : These templates are designed for adopted individuals, incorporating both biological and adoptive family details, fostering a complete understanding of one’s familial roots.

Each type of template serves a unique purpose, whether it’s for understanding familial connections, preserving detailed biographical information, or acknowledging all members of a blended or adoptive family. Choosing the right template depends on the specific aspects of one’s family history one wishes to explore and document.

Benefits of Understanding the Family Tree

Understanding your family tree offers numerous benefits, both personally and practically. There are several advantages to exploring and understanding your family tree:

• Deepening connections to your heritage: Learning about your ancestors and their origins helps you better appreciate your cultural and familial roots. This can foster a strong sense of identity and pride in your heritage.
• Uncovering genetic and health-related information: Tracing your family lineage may reveal patterns of genetic traits or health issues. This information can help you and your healthcare provider make informed decisions about your health, lifestyle choices, and preventive measures.
• Fostering a sense of belonging: Knowing your roots and the stories of your ancestors can create a sense of connection to both your family and the larger historical context in which they lived. This can lead to a greater understanding of your place in the world and help you feel more grounded.
• Building valuable connections: Understanding your family tree can lead to the discovery of previously unknown relatives or connections. These new relationships may offer support, guidance, or opportunities in various aspects of life, including career, education, and personal growth.
• Preventing socially unacceptable relationships: Being aware of your family tree can help you avoid entering into inappropriate relationships, such as incestuous ones, by identifying potential family members and their respective connections to you.
• Preserving family history: Documenting your family tree is a way to preserve your family’s history and stories for future generations. It can serve as a valuable resource for your descendants and help them understand their own heritage and identity.
• Enhancing problem-solving and research skills: The process of researching and piecing together your family tree can sharpen your critical thinking and investigative abilities, as you navigate historical records, oral histories, and other sources of information.

How to Make a Family Tree Template

Creating a family tree template is a rewarding process that brings your family’s history to life. Follow these steps to craft your family tree:

• Define the Tree’s Scope : Decide on the complexity of your family tree. A simple tree might include immediate family and grandparents, while a more complex one could extend to distant relatives and ancestors.
• Gather Family Information : Begin by collecting details about your family members. Talk to parents, elder relatives, or refer to family records for accurate information.
• Organize the Data : Systematically arrange the information you’ve gathered, perhaps by generations or family branches. This organization will simplify the process of populating your family tree.
• Select a Template : Choose a family tree template that suits your needs. Options range from online templates to custom designs you can create with design software or even by hand.
• Populate the Template : Start filling in the template with your data. Begin with yourself, then add immediate family members, and gradually include more distant relatives in an orderly fashion.
• Verify the Details : Carefully review the information for accuracy. Consult family members to confirm details or fill in any missing pieces.
• Customize and Personalize : Enhance your family tree with personal touches like photographs, important dates, or anecdotes. Experiment with fonts, colors, and styles to make it visually appealing and reflective of your family’s story.
• Save and Share : Once your family tree is complete, save it in a suitable format, such as a digital file or a printout. Share it with family members, and preserve it as a historical document for future generations.

Creating a family tree is more than an exercise in genealogy; it’s an engaging way to connect with your heritage and share it with others.

Is there a family tree template on Word?

Yes, Microsoft Word offers a family tree template that you can use to create your own family tree. To create a family tree using Microsoft Word, follow these simple steps:

• Open Microsoft Word: Launch the Microsoft Word application on your computer.
• Access the SmartArt graphics: Click on the “Insert” tab in the top menu, and then select “SmartArt” from the options available. This will open the SmartArt graphics library.
• Choose a suitable hierarchy template: In the SmartArt graphics library, browse through the categories and select “Hierarchy.” This category contains various organizational chart templates that can be used as a family tree template. Choose a template that best suits your needs and click “OK” to insert it into your document.
• Customize the template: Once the template is inserted, you can customize its appearance by changing the layout, colors, and style. To do this, click on the SmartArt graphic, and the “SmartArt Design” tab will appear in the top menu. Use the options available in this tab to make any desired changes to the template.
• Add family members’ names: Click on a text box within the template to add the name of a family member. To insert additional text boxes, click on an existing text box, and then click the “Add Shape” option in the “SmartArt Design” tab. This will allow you to add more generations or branches to your family tree.
• Organize the family tree: Before entering names, decide on the number of generations you want to include and organize them accordingly. Ensure that family members from the same generation are at the same level in the template for a clear and consistent presentation.
• Save and share your family tree: Once you have completed your family tree, save the document in your desired format, such as a Word file or a PDF. You can then print, share, or store the file for future reference or to share with your family members.

How to Fill in Family Tree Template

Filling in a family tree template accurately and consistently can significantly enhance its clarity and usefulness. Here are some guidelines to help you effectively complete your family tree:

• Capitalize Surnames : Always write surnames in capital letters. This helps to easily distinguish them from given names and emphasizes their significance in the family lineage.
• Include Middle Names : Whenever possible, include middle names. This addition provides a fuller representation of each family member’s identity.
• Denote Nicknames Appropriately : When a family member is known by a nickname, place it in quotation marks following their given name, like James “Jim” Smith. This approach preserves formal names while acknowledging commonly used names.
• Use Maiden Names for Women : For female family members, use their maiden names instead of married names. This practice maintains lineage clarity and helps trace the family history more accurately.
• Consistent Date Formatting : Adopt a uniform date format across the template. The Day/Month/Year format (e.g., 12/04/1965) is often recommended for clarity.
• Uniform Location Formatting : Ensure locations are listed in a consistent manner. A format like City, County, State, Country (e.g., Austin, Travis, Texas, USA) is typically clear and informative.
• Add Life Events : Where relevant, include significant life events such as marriages, immigrations, or notable achievements. This information adds depth and context to the family history.
• Reference Historical Context : If applicable, add historical context that may have influenced your ancestors’ lives, like wars, migrations, or major societal changes.
• Use Symbols for Clarity : Employ common genealogical symbols, like ‘*’ for birth dates and ‘†’ for death dates. This standardization helps avoid confusion.
• Leave Space for Unknowns : It’s okay to leave blanks for unknown information. Over time, these gaps can be filled as more information becomes available.

Tips to Make a Family Tree

Creating a family tree is not only a journey into your past but also a rewarding experience that brings your family’s history to life. Here are some essential tips to guide you in building a successful family tree:

• Start with Known Information : Begin your family tree with yourself and your immediate family. This information is easily accessible and forms a solid foundation for expanding your family history.
• Engage with Extended Family : Reach out to extended family members like aunts, uncles, and cousins. They can be invaluable sources of information and may possess old documents, photographs, or family stories that can enrich your tree.
• Utilize Online Genealogy Resources : Dive into the wealth of information available on genealogy websites, forums, and databases. These platforms offer access to historical records, other family trees, and a variety of research tools, helping you piece together your family history.
• Cross-Check with Primary Sources : For accuracy, corroborate your findings with primary documents such as census records, birth, marriage, and death certificates. Many of these can be found online, sometimes for free or at minimal cost.
• Exercise Patience and Perseverance : Genealogical research can be a time-consuming process, often involving navigating incomplete records and unraveling hidden connections. Approach your research with patience and persistence, and remember that each discovery, no matter how small, is a significant addition to your family story.
• Organize Your Findings : Keep your research organized. Maintain a record of sources and information you uncover. This will help in cross-referencing data and keeping track of your progress.
• Include Personal Stories and Anecdotes : In addition to names and dates, enrich your family tree with personal stories and anecdotes. These elements bring life to your family tree, transforming it from a mere chart into a vivid narrative of your family’s history.
• Stay Open to Surprises : Be prepared for unexpected findings. Family research can sometimes reveal surprising connections or stories, adding depth to your understanding of your ancestry.
• Embrace Technology : Consider using genealogy software or online tree-building tools. These can streamline the organization of data and facilitate sharing and updating your tree.
• Share and Collaborate : Share your family tree with other family members. Collaboration can lead to new discoveries and ensures the preservation of your family history for future generations.

Things to Avoid

When creating a family tree, it’s essential to avoid certain pitfalls that may compromise the accuracy and usefulness of your final product. Here are some things to avoid when making a family tree:

• Relying on unreliable sources: Be cautious when consulting individuals who may provide inaccurate or incomplete information. Verify the details they provide with primary sources, such as official records, to ensure your family tree’s accuracy.
• Making typos or errors: Double-check names, dates, and other details to avoid introducing errors into your family tree. Mistakes can lead to confusion and misinterpretation of your family history.
• Fabricating or estimating ages: Avoid guessing or fabricating ages for family members. Instead, make an effort to find accurate age information through primary sources, such as birth or marriage records.
• Excluding family members due to personal biases: Do not omit family members from your tree based on personal preferences or disagreements. A comprehensive family tree should include all relatives, regardless of your personal feelings towards them.
• Including sensitive or private information: Be mindful of the privacy and security of your family members. Refrain from including sensitive details, such as physical addresses, financial information, or medical histories, in your family tree. This will help protect your family’s privacy and ensure that the family tree remains a valuable resource for future generations.

Involving children in creating a family tree can be a fun and educational experience. You can start with simple activities like drawing a tree and placing family photos on it. Encourage them to ask questions about relatives and share stories, turning it into an interactive storytelling session.

Hitting a dead end is common in family research. When this happens, try reaching out to distant relatives, exploring local history resources, or taking a break and revisiting your research later. Sometimes, fresh eyes or new information can help break through the barrier.

Yes, privacy is important, especially when sharing information online. Avoid posting sensitive personal details of living relatives without their consent. Consider using privacy settings on genealogy websites to control who can see your family tree.

Yes, family tree research can be helpful in legal matters such as inheritance disputes or citizenship applications, especially when it’s necessary to prove relationships. However, legal cases often require official documents, so genealogical research should be supported with formal records.

Tracing immigrant ancestors can be challenging due to name changes, language barriers, and limited records. Researching the historical context of their immigration, exploring passenger lists, and connecting with genealogy groups from their country of origin can be helpful strategies.

Final thoughts

Crafting a family tree is more than just charting a lineage; it’s an invaluable endeavor for uncovering and preserving your family’s history, and it plays a pivotal role in fostering a deep sense of connection among family members. Delving into the lives of both immediate and distant relatives, you gain a rich and comprehensive understanding of your family’s unique connections and heritage. For parents, a family tree becomes an engaging educational tool, offering a tangible way to teach children about their ancestral origins and familial bonds. Ultimately, a well-crafted family tree serves as a testament to your family’s past, a beacon for its present, and a legacy for its future, weaving together the diverse threads of your family’s story into a cohesive and enduring narrative.

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Adoptive Families

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Rethinking the family tree and other tough assignments, school projects that focus on family or personal history can be challenging or painful for our children. learn why, and what you can do to create a more inclusive environment for your child and all of his classmates..

The first day of school arrives, and you’re already apprehensive about your son’s transition to kindergarten less than a year after he joined your family—when the teacher emails instructions to bring in a baby picture as a getting-to-know-you activity. Or, you’ve made it through the first weeks and are settling back into the school-year routine when your third-grader opens her homework folder one night to find a “My Family Tree” template.

In school, children are taught to work hard and gain recognition for their abilities and achievements, yet these kinds of assignments put the spotlight on them for personal, perhaps sensitive, reasons. What’s more, it is probably not a spotlight they sought.

Every child, of course, has a different story, with different concerns and triggers. Some students decide how they want to complete a sticky project , and do so, with few concerns. Others may attempt the project, but feel confused, embarrassed, divided in their loyalties to their birth or adoptive families, or worry that it’s inaccurate or incomplete. Still others may find such assignments painful, or nearly impossible. As an adoption therapist, I’ve worked with several adult adoptees who describe being forced to complete assignments that weren’t adoption-sensitive as traumatic.

The teacher may have assigned projects like these for years, thinking nothing of them. What do you do? First, talk with your child. Ask how the assignment makes him feel, what he would like the teacher and his classmates to know or not know, and, together, what you will do. Then, be an advocate for your child and talk with the teacher. In most cases, when the teacher learns of the distress the assignment is causing your child, he or she will share your concern. Ask the teacher if she would be open to removing the assignment from the curriculum altogether, or revising it for the entire class so that it’s inclusive and respectful for all family types . Don’t let the teacher make your child the exception, saying that he can complete the assignment in a different way from the rest of the class, as this will only make your child feel singled out.

Here are the most common school assignments that can be problematic for children who were adopted , why this is the case, and alternatives you can suggest.

The Family Tree

This assignment may compel a child to focus on his adoptive family, and then feel like the information is not quite true, or choose his birth family, and worry about missing information or hurting his parents. A child who was adopted from foster care may know some birth family members’ names, but may not be able to ask them questions to fill in most of the assignment. These can be just as complicated for many other types of families these days, including families with divorced parents, blended, and single-parent families. If you get stuck with the family tree , there are many ways you can modify the assignment.

• For a Family Forest , the child creates multiple trees, rather than just one with numerous branches. This works well for children in many non-traditional family structures. For my child, it would be one tree for me, one for his Samoan mom, and one for his Samoan dad.
• Another alternative that’s well-suited to adoptive families is a single family tree with Roots and Branches . The child is the trunk of the tree, and both families are represented. However this might be more difficult if there is divorce or separation in either family.
• A more simplified, less artistic option I have seen is a Family Wheel . The child places himself in the middle, then can divide the wheel into as many “pie slices” as he needs, and can include foster families as well as adoptive and birth families.
• One of the adult adoptees I spoke with suggested that, if there is a need for a genealogy assignment, an actual Genogram might be in order. The benefit of the genogram is that it is designed with specific symbols for adoption, foster care, emotional relationships, and more, allowing the child to clearly connect his or her two families. While a genogram can get quite in depth, highlighting relational and psychological patterns in a family, it does not have to include that level of detail.

Family and Baby Photos

Sharing photos is an assignment that is usually meant to be fun, but can be distressing for children who were adopted. Many of these children do not have access to baby photos; their youngest photo of themselves may be of them as a toddler…a preschooler…a 14-year-old. Some children’s only baby photo is a referral photo, which looks quite different from the hospital blanket-wrapped photos of their classmates.

Family photos can be just as distressing as they can highlight that the child does not look like other members of her family. Or, children who have a relationship with birth family may want to bring in photos of both families, which may invite curious questions.

Instead of asking children to bring in baby photos, all of the students can draw themselves as babies. Keep in mind that this can be a trigger for some children, as well, though an infant self-portrait can also provide insight for a therapist or attuned parent.

Personal Timeline or Autobiography

Asking a child to create a personal timeline could stir up many distressing memories and feelings. Some children may not know their own history for periods of several years—where they were, who they were with, or what they were doing. Other children may have all of the information, but the truth is painful and not something they wish to share with peers. A timeline can make a child’s adoptive status or multiple foster placements very public, forcing the child to be faced with difficult questions. Even if the child is comfortable with adoption, he may not want peers to know that he has only been with his family for a short period, or that he has been with his family for years but the adoption was only recently finalized.

Instead of a personal timeline, have the students chart one current event from each year of their lives , create a timeline for a historical or fictional character , or have each of the students contribute one event to a class timeline .

Culture Presentation

Most children who are new to their families and the United States are desperately working to integrate and fit in. They may not appreciate being identified as different. For other children, who left their birth countries as infants, or even as older children, it is inappropriate to call on them as “experts” on that country’s culture. My child left his birth country when he was six, and no six-year-old is going to be an expert on a culture. Such assignments can highlight what they do not know about their country of origin, causing feelings of disconnection and questions about identity or “authenticity.”

In general, I suggest teachers allow children to volunteer or choose any country they would like to present on.

Immigration

History lessons on immigration may cause distress surrounding missing information, feelings of isolation, a crisis surrounding identity, and more. Immigration is also a hot-button topic in the news these days, and personal feelings, or the way other students hear their parents talk about it at home, can come out in social studies class. While children who were born in other countries and joined their families through international adoption are immigrants, they may not understand that or think of themselves in that way, and may not want that highlighted.

Children who were adopted domestically or through foster care may not know from what country their birth ancestors emigrated, leaving them feeling helpless, different from their peers, and reminded of personal information and cultural connections they do not have. It is also helpful for teachers to remember that children that were adopted have more than one family.

Rather than report on their own family’s immigration story, students could write about a historical or current-day public figure .

Genetics lessons, such as charting eye color, hair color, or other features through their families, can be confusing, frustrating, or even sad for children who were adopted and do not look like their parents.

Instead, teachers can use animals as examples (rather than the students’ families or any people) when teaching these science lessons.

Presenting the Project

Such autobiographical projects often involve multiple stages—completing the project at home, and then sharing it with the class . Even when a child works on the project with little or no confusion or distress, the class presentation can open the child up to difficult questions from peers.

Speak with your child before his presentation day and make sure that he knows that it’s OK to not answer a question that he feels is too personal. Even the idea of being asked questions by peers may create major anxiety for some children. Teachers need to intervene and redirect or stop the questions if the student in the spotlight is uncomfortable (or, ideally, before that happens). They should also be prepared for a child who willingly shares stories of a difficult past that may be uncomfortable for other students.

As parents, we can’t wish away painful experiences in our child’s past. But, with your input and assistance, your child’s teacher can become adoption sensitive for your child, and all the adoptees he or she will teach in years to come. And as your child sees you advocating on her behalf, she will learn that her adoption story is hers to share or keep private, that adoptive families are just another type of family structure, and to speak out when she needs to .

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Helping Your Child Handle Family Tree Assignments

Every year, our online community shares some new version of anxiety and angst around the infamous family tree assignments. Indeed, these projects can be triggering for our adopted, foster, or kinship/relative children. As parents and caregivers, we worry that our kids will be overwhelmed by the pressure of not knowing enough information to complete their projects as assigned. We also fear how our kids will handle the perceived pressure to share more than they are comfortable sharing. Many of us in adoption, foster, or kinship circles wonder what value these projects serve and why there are rarely alternatives offered. After all, it’s not just adopted, foster, and kinship kids who have challenging stories that should not be public consumption to a room full of our students’ peers!

The Trend is Changing Slowly

Granted, many schools are catching on to the perils of assigning a project that narrowly defines “family” or digs into a child’s history. However, too many families still face the stress of a child asking for baby pictures for the yearbook or family names and roles or relationships on a hand-drawn chart or tree. Any non-traditional family is subject to these triggers. Our kids who have come to us through adoption or foster care can struggle with these assignments and their many versions.

Variations of The Family Tree Assignment.

You’ve undoubtedly seen some variation of these assignments that focus on how your child defines their family. As a mom with kids in public schools continuously since 1999, I have seen my share! Most started out quite child-focused and sweet, like an “All About Me” poster or “Me in a Bag,” in which kids put five things in a bag to spur conversation for class introductions.

However, as students progress up the grade-level ladder, many families find challenges in the more intensely personal variations, like “My Ten Point Timeline” or “Past Me, Present Me, Future Me.” These assignments intend to teach things like time, verb tenses, and so on. Some schools also use these projects to practice public speaking skills by adding an element of presentation to the class.

A child’s triggers to these more intrusive versions of the family tree assignment can be magnified tenfold when they dislike being in the spotlight or feel unready to share their stories. These triggers are complex for our kids to cope with, so the experience is also challenging for parents and caregivers! Grief and loss are complicated topics for anyone. To think about our child addressing those feelings in front of a whole classroom of peers is untenable for many of us.

The Assignments Don’t Stay “Easy” for Long.

Indeed, Mom and Dad can help manage the early elementary versions of most family tree projects to maintain the neutral sharing of private information. At these younger ages, we are generally very attuned to our children’s developing understanding of their stories. We can significantly influence our kids to guard the level of privacy we are most comfortable with.

We all know these assignments will take increasing attention and effort to guard that privacy as our kids grow. The dread over this project and its many variations across our children’s school experience is understandable and warranted.

Too Much or Too Little? What to Share at School

The Influence of Social Media Is Helping!

You certainly don’t have to scroll too long in any adoption, foster, or kinship care online circles before you find multiple posts exclaiming over the very fact that such projects still exist. Some devolve quickly into rants about the inflexibility or insensitivity of teachers who won’t modify an assignment when asked. Worse, we still can only too easily find posts from parents feeling broken-hearted and helpless over their child’s anguish over how to handle their project. Whether it’s anxiety about sharing in front of the classroom or the pain of challenging information – or no information at all – we struggle with what to do and how to support our kids.

In recent years, and thanks to social media’s influence, educators have been pushing to revise overly personal versions of family history-focused assignments. As more school districts embrace trauma-informed classroom practices, teachers are pre-emptively researching options that meet curriculum requirements while allowing for a more personalized approach to the project. We are grateful that many educators recognize that the definition of “family” is changing rapidly in our culture. We hear more frequently from our community that teachers recognize those students impacted by adoption, foster care, or relative caregiving benefit from choosing alternatives that still meet learning objectives.

Practical Tips to Handle Family Tree Assignments

Whether you are part of a school already offering flexibility in family tree assignments or pioneering with advocacy for your kid to change the face of these projects, we want you to know that you are not alone! The following suggestions come from experienced parents in our online community. They can help you consider creatively modifying assignments, talk with your kids to help them feel most supported, and even access resources to help you educate the educators.

1. Act Proactively.

Many adoptive and resource parents and kinship or relative caregivers send a letter to the teacher at the beginning of each school year. They include a brief social history of their child’s strengths and struggles. Consider offering a pre-emptive comment about how triggering these types of projects can be. Ask for a note or email before the projects are assigned to your student.

2. Find Creative Modifications to Family Tree Projects.

We did a bit of digging and found this website with templates for “non-traditional families.” They also include many step-family dynamics, adoptive family trees, and trees for families with two mommies or two daddies. There are even templates for families built by egg donors and surrogacy. Given the many different shapes families can take, you are sure to find something you and your child can work with and that a teacher can agree upon.

Another modification parents and caregivers can consider is how to get to the root of the issue as it impacts all students. Some members recommended communicating to the teacher (and administration who chooses curriculum) that individual modifications still result in othering for kids with challenging stories or “non-traditional families.”* As one member said about approaching her son’s middle school teacher,

The answer is to design assignments like this in flexible ways FROM THE BEGINNING, so every child feels included and capable of completing the work withou t feeling embarrassed or afraid of being different.

*A note on the language: We acknowledge that using language like “non-traditional” can be problematic, and that’s a conversation worth having. Far more families today fall outside the parameters of this narrow descriptor, and thankfully, many educators are paying attention to that fact!

3. Empower Your Students by Letting Them Lead.

When any version of these assignments comes home, sit with your child and get a read on how they feel about it. Brainstorm a few solutions and let them take the lead in modifying (or not!) in ways that make them feel most confident. Work out a few modifications if that helps them visualize the finished product better.

You know your child best, and your observations through this process can inform you about how they are processing both the options and their story as it applies to the project. Supporting them in leading the project gives them confidence and a sense of ownership that will help them find the level of sharing right for them at this age and stage. You can build on this platform as they grow and face other assignments later in their school experience.

Here’s one mom’s approach.

I think the best thing to do is not make a big deal about it. I ask my son how he would like to modify the project (if needed) and I email the teacher and let him/her know. I have never had any issue. This approach seems to give my son more confidence that his unique background is something to celebrate and not dread these assignments but take them as an opportunity to be creative.

4. Look for the Life Lessons.

Another creative approach is to use these conversations to teach a more significant life lesson. You must know your child’s ability to generalize from this assignment to more abstract thoughts about approaching life’s challenges. But if you think your student is ready for this skill, you can decide together what the project must look like. Tell the teacher about your child’s intent and what you hope they learn from this assignment. Then, support them as they complete the assignment and use that time together to discuss what life lessons you can pull from the process.

By listening carefully to their ideas of what this assignment can become, you put your child in charge, as with the empowerment suggestion. When you also prioritize their control over their story and talk about how to do that, you might be surprised by the lessons they take from the project and your time together.

For example,

What my kids learned was that everybody has a story. My daughter says that’s the most important lesson I’ve taught her. They never need to feel ashamed of their story or compelled to share it. Because they’ve learned that everyone has a story, they are great compassionate listeners.

Strengthening & Supporting Your Transracial Adoptee

5. Don’t Ask Permission in Family Tree Assignments.

Some parents don’t contact the teacher for permission or even inform the teacher of changes the student makes. They focus on meeting the assignment’s parameters without drawing unwanted attention to the issues. Others find it appropriate to let the teacher know the modifications their student is considering and why. If that is your chosen path, feel free to state the intended plan rather than ask permission.

Other families choose not to participate in the project at all, because their family culture prioritizes the child’s right to privacy.

We don’t participate (it’s our daughter’s choice). This is her journey and story to share with who she feels comfortable. Adoptee voice is first for us – her voice says no, so I honor it.

Find Your Path, But Be Flexible

How we manage these assignments will undoubtedly change as our kids grow in their understanding of their stories. While they are developing their skills to manage this story and their identity develops, we must remain agile and responsive to if they want to share, how they want to share it, and with whom.

Every child is unique, and their temperament partially informs their self-understanding. Our extroverts may need to learn how to choose what to hold sacred and what to share judiciously. Introverts will face challenges around who is safe to let into their stories. Similarly, students who prize academic achievement may need support to treat the “rules” of the project as guidelines. They may also need permission to not chase a grade as the primary objective of this assignment.

Increasing Complexity Can Mean Increasing Triggers

Of course, as your student’s lesson objectives grow more complicated, so will the triggers. For example, biology classes that introduce the study of genetic traits, Punnett Squares, blood-typing, or hereditary diseases can be a source of anxiety for your child. You might even observe feelings of anger, sadness, or fear rising in your child.

At this level of education, it’s crucial to keep equipping your child to identify and process their emotions. If your students are receptive, you can coach them on talking with the teachers about their struggle with the assignments. One significant benefit of technology is that our kids can now have these conversations with teachers via email. They can arrange modifications privately to avoid the sense of othering. For example, one parent helped their student advocate for studying the genetic lineage of a person of the student’s choosing.

You Don’t Have to Dread the Family Tree Assignments

There are so many options for parents and students to manage the hard conversations around these family-history-focused assignments. With preventative action, preparation, and creative problem-solving skills, you can help your student child find their voice to tackle these projects comfortably.

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I am glad that there is some awareness of the awkwardness now. I am a single mother by choice, adopting my daughter in infancy. When my daughter was in elementary school, she had the dreaded assignment. Zero awareness then, in early 2000s. She talked to her grandparents at length and created this beautiful tree that was completely blank on one side. She was very proud and wanted to hang it up. I am sad now that I discouraged that. Though she wasn’t self-conscious about it, I was. I am going to ask her about it now! She’s 28 and thriving out on her own.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I think it was a hard era for adoptees to speak out – the lack of awareness from their perspective in culture was still so pervasive. The advent of social media and adoptees using their voices there on the various platforms has been helpful for learning and effecting change. In the words of the late Maya Angelou, “when we know better, we do better.” That can help us all empower and equip this new generation of adoptees to own their stories and improve conditions for all those coming behind them.

Thanks for reading and reaching out.

Expert-Based Training for Parents and Professionals

30 Editable Family Tree Templates [100% Free]

Simply put, a family tree is a record of the lineage of a family. For most people, when they see a family tree chart, all they see are interesting pieces of history to help them learn about where someone came from. This template also provides some clues as to where the person may be potentially headed in the future.

• 1 Family Tree Templates
• 2 What is a family tree?
• 3 The importance of a family tree in science
• 4 Family Tree Charts
• 5 How does a family tree template work?
• 6 How to make a family tree template?
• 7 Researching your family’s history
• 8 Blank Family Tree
• 9 Creating your diagram
• 10 Customize your family tree

Family Tree Templates

What is a family tree.

A family tree template is an easy and simple way to visually document your ancestry. Most downloadable free family tree templates include boxes from each member of the family. Each of these boxes has connections to others indicating their relationships.

Apart from the name of each individual, each of the boxes may include the date of birth, the birthplace, and other types of information depending on how complex you want your family tree diagram to be. Usually, you would organize one generation into one level, making it easier to see the precedence of generations at a glance.

Horizontal lines which link two boxes are an indication of marriage. Brackets from couples to a set of boxes underneath them indicate children born from their marriage. Most printable family trees grow in a vertical direction but you may also draw them horizontally as well.

The importance of a family tree in science

A blank family tree makes it easier for you to create your own diagram. Instead of creating the diagram from scratch, all you have to do is to include the photos and the information about each member of the family. As you create your printable family tree, it becomes more and more important.

When you establish your family’s lineage, this can have an effect on things like inheritance which can get affected by disease, war or disaster. After completing your free family tree template, you can use it to establish inheritance and property rights . You can also use it to either disprove or prove things in court.

Think about it – how many families got separated during World War II? People had to flee to ensure their safety but this means that they had to risk this separation. In Europe, land disputes were only settled with the use of family trees.

Such templates can also be of help to medical professionals. The field of genetics grows more and more sophisticated as researchers, scientists, and epidemiologists study all of its aspects. Still, they can use something as simple as a family tree chart to provide valuable clues in the treatment of diseases.

Using a blank family tree to establish your lineage can help you when you suffer from a genetic disease or if you want to see the likelihood of passing on your disease to your offspring. Knowing the medical issues that you and your partner have can help you make crucial decisions.

Family Tree Charts

How does a family tree template work.

There are several ways to create a family tree template. You can start with tracing a surname or a male line from the present to as far back as you possibly can. You can also come up with a family history which grows into a tree shape starting with your parents and including your other relatives as far back as you possibly can.

Nowadays, there are a lot of software programs you can use to create this chart electronically. Still, there’s nothing like creating a customized or free family tree template then using that to build a visual representation of your family’s lineage. The great thing about this chart is that it’s so simple yet so useful.

It would take some time and effort for you to create an accurate family tree chart as far back as you can possibly go. Knowing your great-grandparents is one thing but learning who their great-grandparents were would require a good amount of detective work.

The process also involves a lot of fact-checking. Sometimes answers come easily, but you have to make sure that these answers are the correct ones – which means that you need to gather evidence to support the information you’ve acquired.

You may start searching for a long-lost cousin, you may want to prove that you’re the rightful heir to a small fortune or you may want to use the information on the chart for other reasons. Whatever your purpose is for looking into your history, a printable family tree can help you disprove or discover it.

How to make a family tree template?

Creating a family tree template is an excellent way to visually illustrate the history of your family. You can begin by doing research into your ancestry to determine who you should include. Then you can download a blank family tree or create your own template by adding all the required images and details.

If you’re not using the family tree for an official purpose, you can embellish it and make it something of an artwork. Here are some steps to guide you when creating your own family tree template.

Researching your family’s history

• Write down the names of the people to include in your family tree chart Start your family tree with yourself and branch out from there. Write down the names of your immediate family then move on to the generation of your parents. Make sure you include everyone, especially in these generations closes to you. Remember that this diagram serves as an important part of your family’s history so make sure it’s accurate.
• Do research to fill in any gaps The further you progress (meaning the more you go into the past), the more challenging it becomes to think of all the names to include. This is where you must do some research. After making your list, find those “missing” members of your family by doing research. You can talk to the older members of your family and get the names from them. You also have the option to research online with the use of online genealogy tools.
• Think about the other details you want to include Apart from including the full names of your family, you may also want to include other details like their birth dates, dates of death (for deceased family members), dates of marriage, and more. Such information makes your family tree more informative and more accurate as a historical place. You may also include details like hometowns and birthplaces.
• Think about whether you want to include photos or not Although adding photos makes your diagram more interesting and comprehensive, you would have to put in more time and effort into its completion. Depending on how far back you want to go, you would have to search for photographs of your ancestors either online or from family members.

Blank Family Tree

Creating your diagram.

• Begin with your own generation The very base of your tree includes yourself, your siblings, and your parents. The shape of your family tree depends on your own preference. You can look at different printable family tree for ideas. No matter what shape you choose, you can start by coming up with a rough sketch first.
• Move on to the generation of your parents After you’ve completed your own generation, it’s time to create your parent’s generation. For each married couple, draw a horizontal line between them to indicate their relationship. Then draw lines from the couples and their children.
• Move on to the generation of your grandparents The bigger your family is, the more challenging creating this template can be. Still, if you want to include your grandparents’ generation, this is the next step to do. Don’t forget to use horizontal lines to connect married couples and connect these couples to their children. Two of those couples would be the parents of your parents.
• Think about how far back you’d like to go At some point, you would have to stop tracing your lineage. It’s best to make the decision of how far back you want to go before starting the process. By making this decision, you would have a goal in mind and a finish line in sight.

Customize your family tree

• Add embellishments to your diagram After the completion of your diagram, you can add embellishments to it as part of the customization. Adding these embellishments makes your family tree a work of art instead of just something you’ve created to input information. Think about how you want to present your diagram to your class or to your family.
• Use a printed template or the software of your choice After gathering all the information and photos, you need and after sketching your family tree, it’s time to start plotting it. You can do this on your computer using the software of your choice or on a printable template.
• Consider asking an artist to create an original rendition of your family tree If you don’t think you can do justice to your family tree, you can search for an artist who can recreate your family tree into a beautiful original artwork. Then you can keep this artwork to show your own children or the next generations.

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Blog Graphs and Charts How to Make a Family Tree Diagram (+ Examples)

How to Make a Family Tree Diagram (+ Examples)

Written by: Daleska Pedriquez May 26, 2023

Family trees are created to show the ancestry and family history of an individual.

Making a family tree diagram can help you discover things about your past and feel more connected to your heritage.

Learn how to make a family tree diagram in this post and get examples from Venngage as well as a step-by-step guide on how to use our  Family Tree Maker .

Want to create a family tree diagram but not sure where to start? Check out our customizable family tree diagram templates to start off on the right path.

Click to jump ahead:

What is a family tree?

4 steps to make a family tree diagram.

• 5 family tree examples

FAQs about family tree diagrams

A family tree is a diagram that traces a person’s lineage by showing their ancestors and the generations of families that were built throughout the years.

Here is an example:

Based on its name, a family tree is structured like a tree, with the individual as the ‘root’ and their parents, grandparents, and ancestors making up the ‘leaves’ one level at a time.

In a family tree chart, lines are used to connect family members and portray their relationships. Each family member is represented by a shape like a box or a circle with usually their photo inside.

To start creating your family tree diagram, simply follow these steps:

Step 1: Research and prepare information

The first thing you need to do before you start drawing your family tree is to gather information about your family. You can check official birth records and DNA test results or simply talk to a relative or any member of your family who has knowledge about your ancestry.

The first thing you need to do before you start drawing your family tree is to gather information about your family. In addition to checking official birth records and conversing with relatives knowledgeable about your ancestry, considering DNA testing can provide profound insights. For those of Asian descent, you can discover your Asian heritage with these DNA tests , offering a detailed exploration of your ancestral roots.

Depending on how much information you will be able to acquire, it should help you determine how big and how detailed you want your family tree to be. Decide on how many generations you want to include and what information you will display for each family member, such as maiden name, year of birth, and role in the family.

Step 2: Draft your family tree drawing

To draw your family tree, start with a box representing yourself or the ancestor you want to begin with. Family trees can be diagrammed either from the top, bottom or horizontally as long as the root will always be yourself.

Here is an example of a family tree that’s drawn horizontally:

Add more boxes until all your family members have been included. Instead of drawing by hand, save time by using an intuitive design tool like Venngage’s  Family Tree Maker  to create your family tree. It is specifically made for both designers and non-designers alike so it is extremely easy to use.

Venngage’s  Family Tree Maker  can help you better visualize your family tree through its user-friendly editor with drag-and-drop features. It allows you to change and connect shapes, add labels, and edit colors and other design elements in a matter of seconds.

Venngage also has dozens of free diagrams and templates that you can customize to make the process even faster and easier.

Step 3: Label the leaves of the tree

Most family trees usually outline up to four generations only to make them easier to understand. That said, make sure that family members and their relationships with each other are clearly illustrated by labeling each box or ‘leaf’ correctly.

Indicate names and roles and any additional information you think may be relevant. Use lines to display relationships between spouses and connect parents with direct descendants like children and grandchildren.

Step 4: Design your family tree diagram

Now, this is the part where you enhance and finalize your family tree. Use family photos to add faces to the people you are trying to introduce with your tree. Color-coordinate shapes, lines, or labels to group generations, differentiate deceased from living relatives, and create a distinction between different relationships.

To make your family tree more attractive and engaging, you can design it with icons, graphics, illustrations, or backgrounds – all of which are provided for free in Venngage’s library. You can also make use of a family tree softwar e to streamline research and access to valuable resources.

Venngage also has a business feature called  My Brand Kit  that enables you to add your company’s logo, color palette, and fonts to all your designs with a single click.

For example, you can make a family tree diagram template reflect your brand design by uploading your brand logo, fonts, and color palette using Venngage’s branding feature.

Not only are Venngage templates free to use and professionally designed, but they are also tailored for various use cases and industries to fit your exact needs and requirements.

A business account also includes the  real-time collaboration feature , so you can invite members of your team to work simultaneously on a project.

Venngage allows you to share your family tree online as well as download it as a PNG or PDF file. That way, your design will always be presentation-ready.

5 Family Tree examples

Here are some family tree examples for inspiration that you can use to create a family tree:

1. Simple family tree

This simple family tree template has a distinguishable tree-like shape and features such as branches and colors. It is editable in Microsoft Excel and Word.

2. Ancestry family tree

If you want a unique and more effectively illustrated family tree, this is the template you’re looking for. It has a horizontal layout with the starting point placed in the middle and extending to the left and right to better display ancestors from both sides of the family:

3. Blank family tree

For a more organized and unified family tree, this template is what you should use. It focuses on the structure of the tree and the arrangement of its parts through clearly defined connections and allotting only small spaces for each family member:

4. Graphic family tree

Here’s a template that you can use if you want to represent family members with icons or graphic illustrations instead of photos. It also uses roles as labels instead of names, which is more effective at portraying relationships.

5. Four generation family tree

Last but not least, here’s a perfect example of a family tree that depicts four generations of family members. If you want your family tree diagram to focus on distant relatives instead of immediate family members, then this template will come in handy:

What is the history of making family tree diagrams?

Genealogy or the study of families was the earliest form and application of family trees.

Historically, in Western civilizations, family trees, also known as genealogy charts, were used to depict the ancestry of kings and nobles and verify their claims to royalty and power.

Family trees were maintained for years on end. The family tree of Confucius, for example, is already 2,500 years old and is recorded as the world’s largest family tree with 2 million known descendants.

Today, a genealogy chart is no longer just for aristocrats and important people, but for everyone to record their family history and maintain their family tree.

Should you create a family tree?

If you would like to know more about your family or you want to start recording your family history, then you should definitely make your own family tree.

It is also a great way to find out how your family story relates to important historical events.

More importantly, a family tree can help you identify genetic traits and conditions that run in your family. These are often referred to as genograms .

Related: 10+ Genogram Examples (and How to Create Them)

How can you make a family tree diagram with Venngage?

Venngage’s  Family Tree Maker  lets you create a family tree diagram in 4 simple steps:

• Sign up to create an account and use the Family Tree Maker for free
• Choose a free template from Venngage’s Templates library
• Edit the template to create new shapes, reconnect the lines, add labels, and upload your own images or choose free stock photos and graphics from our library
• Download your family tree as a PDF or PNG file or share it online with your family and friends

Is there a template for a family tree?

There are many family tree templates available online. However, using Venngage’s templates means you can also use the smart editor for free and not have to download or purchase a graphic design software just to edit a template. Venngage also offers a Genogram Maker .

How do you start a family tree online?

You can use a variety of online design platforms and software to create a family tree but they may require you to purchase plans and templates. Fortunately, Venngage is a free tool and has free templates to help you create a family tree without any restrictions.

What program do you use to make a family tree?

When it comes to creating a family tree, you have plenty of options including traditional tools like Microsoft Word or PowerPoint. Check out this blog for the top family tree software picks.

However, if you’re looking for a user-friendly and visually appealing experience, consider Venngage! Venngage provides customizable family tree templates , allowing you to personalize and showcase your family connections with ease. The easy-to-use interface simplifies the process, making it easy for anyone to create a unique and engaging family tree.

Visualize family relationships with Venngage’s Family Tree Maker.

Making a family tree diagram can help you learn about your family history and understand the connections between family members. Use Venngage’s  Family Tree Maker  to create a well-defined family tree.

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Family Tree Lesson Plans

 Getty / Diane Collins and Jordan Hollender

• Genealogy Fun
• Vital Records Around the World
• American History
• African American History
• African History
• Ancient History and Culture
• Asian History
• European History
• Latin American History
• Medieval & Renaissance History
• Military History
• The 20th Century
• Women's History
• Certificate in Genealogical Research, Boston University
• B.A., Carnegie Mellon University

Family tree lesson plans help teachers and students bring history to life, through the important steps and principles of family history research. These genealogy lesson plans help teachers and students trace their family tree, understand immigrant origins , explore history in the cemetery, discover world geography and investigate genetics.

Find and create interactive learning activities for your students with primary source documents that promote historical thinking skills. The website provides ready-to-use tools for teaching with documents in the classroom, as well as thousands of primary source documents selected from the National Archives to help you tailor the lesson to your students.

Little House in the Census & Other Lesson Plans from the National Archives

The U.S. National Archives & Records Administration offers dozens of lesson plans from all eras of U.S. history, complete with documents. One popular example is the Little House in the Census lesson plan, with pages from the 1880 and 1900 census schedules, teaching activities, and links related to the family of author Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Ancestors Teachers Guide

This free guide was developed in conjunction with the

Ancestors television series from PBS to help teachers and students in grades 7-12 actively discover their ancestors. It introduces important steps and principles of genealogy research and provides family history assignments. television series from PBS to help teachers and students in grades 7-12 actively discover their ancestors. It introduces important steps and principles of genealogy research and provides family history assignments.

History Hunters Cemetery Tour

This elementary lesson plan makes an interesting field trip to the local cemetery or is easily adaptable to a regular classroom setting when exploring topics in state and local history. From the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Design Your Own Coat of Arms Lesson Plan

This lesson plan, most easily adapted to an Art or Social Studies curriculum, introduces students to the history of a Coat of Arms and some traditional heraldic designs, by encouraging them to design their own Coat of Arms and then interpret each other's designs.

All in the Family: Discover Relatives & Genetic Connections

In this lesson from the New York Times , students develop family genealogy charts in search of noticeable genetic relationships between relatives. , students develop family genealogy charts in search of noticeable genetic relationships between relatives.

Climbing the Family Tree: A Jewish Genealogy Lesson Plan

This lesson plan/lecture outline by Yigal Rechtman introduces Jewish genealogy myths and methods for reconstructing an ancestor's life, with accompanying teachers' notes. The scope includes both genealogy in the United States, as well as Jewish genealogy in Eastern Europe.

Cemeteries are Historical, Not Solely Grave

The New York Times shares a Social Studies or Language Arts lesson examining graveyards as historical sites for students in grades 6-12. shares a Social Studies or Language Arts lesson examining graveyards as historical sites for students in grades 6-12.

Listening to History

This lesson plan from Edsitement is designed to help students explore oral history by conducting interviews with family members. Recommended for students in grades 6-8.

Coming to America - Immigration Builds a Nation

Discover the United States all over again as you introduce your students to the two major waves of immigration that brought 34 million people to our nation's shores and spurred the greatest period of national change and growth. Part of a series of lesson plans from EducationWorld.

Planning a School or Community Archives

Practical suggestions from The Montana Heritage Project on establishing and maintaining a school or community archives or historical collection. An excellent school or district-wide project.

History in the Heartland: Lesson Plans

Classroom activities from History in the Heartland, a project of Ohio State University and the Ohio Historical Society, offers dozens of lesson plans and primary source document activities based on Ohio Social Studies Academic Content Standards. Several are related to genealogy and immigration.

Genealogy: Coming to America

This free lesson plan, just one of many created by FirstLadies.org, focuses on Ida McKinley's great grandparents who emigrated from England, Scotland and Germany prior to the opening of Ellis Island. In this lesson, students will learn about the history of their family as it relates to the history of the United States and the world.

The Third Grader's 1850 Census

This suggested project by Michael John Neill uses a family group chart to explore the census and to interpret old handwriting. The exercise leads to map reading and ends with more genealogy exercises for children.

This is Your Life

In this set of three activities, students in grades 7-12 create family trees, interview a family member, and share childhood treasures.

The Valley of the Shadow

The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War by historian Edward L. Ayers of the University of Virginia allows students to compare and contrast a Northern town with a Southern one before, during, and after the Civil War.

What is History? Timelines & Oral History

To understand that history is made up of many people’s stories of the past, students interview family members about the same event and compare the different versions, construct a personal history timeline and connect it to larger historical events, and synthesize eyewitness testimony from different sources to create their own “official” account. Grades K-2.

Where I Come From

Students take research into their heritage a step beyond the construction of a family tree in this Edsitement lesson, traveling through cyberspace to find out what's happening in their ancestral homelands today. Grades 3-5.

U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services – Lesson Plans & Activities

USCIS offers lesson plans with instructions and teaching strategies for the novice and seasoned ESL instructors preparing students for U.S. citizenship, including interactive games and activities.

Tracing Immigrant Ancestors

This assignment is designed to teach students the concept of immigration and how to connect events in history with the movement of their ancestors, as well as develop a better understanding of the United States as a melting pot. Appropriate for grades 5-11.

UK National Archives - Resources for Teachers

Designed for teachers, this online resource is designed to tie in with the History National Curriculum from Key Stages 2 to 5 and contains a varied range of sources, lessons, and tutorials from the holdings of the Public Records Office in the UK.

My Piece of History

Students examine pictures of household objects from the late 20th century, gather historical information about them from older family members, and then create an in-class exhibit of historical objects from their own homes. Grades K-2.

Library and Archives Canada - For Teachers

Lesson plans, teacher resources and more from Library & Archives Canada to help students appreciate their own personal past by identifying significant people, places and events.

• iPad Apps for Genealogy
• Top Genealogy Magazines for Family History Enthusiasts
• How to Create a Genealogy GEDCOM File
• 5 Great Ways to Share Your Family History
• How to Open a GEDCOM file in Your Genealogy Software
• Creating a Genealogy Research Plan Like a Detective
• Free Online Genealogy Education Sources
• 10 Top Genealogy Questions and Answers
• Free Family Tree Charts
• 10 Steps for Finding Your Family Tree Online
• Top 10 Genealogy Mistakes to Avoid
• 19 Places to Research Your Family Tree for Free
• How to Handle Adoption in the Family Tree
• 5 Family History Scams to Avoid
• 5 First Steps to Finding Your Roots
• How to Begin Tracing Your Family Tree

ESL Activities

ESL Games, Activities, Lesson Plans, Jobs & More

in Icebreakers + Warm-Ups · Speaking

ESL Family Activities, Games, Lesson Plans & Resources| ESL Family Tree

The “Family” unit is a classic is almost every single ESL/EFL textbook, especially for beginners. It can be a little bit boring for the teacher, as well as the students if you do the same old thing all the time. Check out some of my favourite family ESL activities to try out with your classes today. They range from beginner to advanced, and kids to adults.

ESL Family Activities and Games

ESL family games and activities

Let’s get into the best ESL family tree activities and ESL family games. Keep on reading for our top options for family tree ESL ideas.

#1 ESL Family Games: Mixed up Sentences

If you’re teaching beginners the basics of how to describe their family, then you might want to consider using this grammar review activity.

You can use sentences like:

“I have a brother and two sisters.”

“My Mom is 48 years old and my dad is 45.”

“My brother likes to play soccer.”

You mix them up in random order and the students have to unscramble them to make correct sentences. Learn more here: Mixed Up Sentences Review Activity .

#2 ESL Family Activity: Picture Prompt

This ESL Family Activity works for just about any topic actually. The way it works is that you put a picture or photo up on the screen. In this case, you’d probably want to show a family doing some activity. Then, depending on the level, students have to say vocabulary words they see in the picture (beginner), or describe what’s happening (more advanced).

It’s a nice way to begin a class as it helps to set the context. Check out more details here: Picture Prompt ESL Warm-Up .

#3: Information Gap Activities

This style of ESL activity is a classic! It’s where there is a single set of information, but each student only has some of it. They have to work together to put the whole story together.

Information gaps lend themselves well to stories of another family (not their own). Instead of just reading it, do this kind of activity to make it more memorable.

Find out more here: ESL Information Gap Activities .

#4: Just a Minute

If you teach more advanced-level students, then you’ll want to consider using this Toastmaster style activity. Students have to speak for an entire minute about their families without stopping. It’s a nice warm-up, or you could consider using it at the end of class as well.

To turn it into more of a conversational activity, put students into groups of 4. Then, each of the 3 students who were listening has to ask 1-2 follow-up questions based on what they heard.

Check it out here: Just a Minute ESL Speaking Activity.

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#5: Just One Question

This is a fun warm-up activity that gets students out of their seats and moving around the class. If you have sleepy students, it may be your ideal solution!

Put students into pairs and then ask them to think of some interesting questions related to family (around 5). Then, they choose just 1 that they want to survey their classmates about.

Give students time to ask 8-12 of their classmates and take notes about the answers (1 member of the pair is the “talker” and the other is the “writer”). Then, students take a look at their answers, find some patterns and then report their results to the class.

You can learn more about it here: Just One Question ESL Warm-Up .

#6: Typhoon

The ideal way to review just about anything, including family vocabulary is with this game. Check it out:

#7: Journalling about Family

If you teach writing, or even a 4-skills class, consider using journaling with your students. You can give them a few minutes at the beginning or end of a class to do this, or assign it for homework.

I generally assign my students a topic or question to help them get started. Some questions about family that you could use include the following:

• Describe your family.
• What qualities do you admire in your Mom and/or Dad?
• How does your family spend time together?
• What’s your favourite memory of your family?

Find out more here: Journalling for English Learners .

• Amazon Kindle Edition
• Smith, Jennifer Booker (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 144 Pages - 03/31/2016 (Publication Date)

#8 ESL Family Activities: Dictogloss

This ESL activity can focus on either speaking or writing, and either way, it’s heavy on the listening. Choose a reading passage related to family. Then, read it out at a mostly normal pace so that the students can grasp around 50% of the information.

Put the students into pairs and they have to work together to recreate the main idea of what they heard. Then, read it again and students can add more information.

At the end, put the reading passage on the screen and students can check and see how they did. Find out more here:

Dictogloss ESL Activity .

#9: Family and Relative Clauses

Relative clauses and the topic of family are often put together in ESL textbooks. It just lends itself well to this in my ways. Think about these example sentences:

• My father is someone WHO is very trustworthy.
• I have a brother THAT can play the guitar.

Find out more about how to teach this grammar point here: How to Teach Relative Clauses.

Family ESL Games and Activities

#10 Family ESL Activity: Speaking Fluency Activity

120-90-60 is a way to encourage students to speak more fluently. Have students prepare a short talk about their family, around 2 minutes long. They can write a few short notes, but not full sentences. Then, they give their speech to a partner or small group.

The next round requires them to include all the same information in 90 seconds. Round 3 is 60 seconds. It’s a fun challenge that students have fun with! Of course, the topic you’d set would be something related to family in this case, although it lends itself well to almost anything.

English Speaking Activity (Fluency) .

#11: Family ESL Surveys

I’m ALL about using surveys in my TEFL classes. Just ask my students and they’ll tell you that they have to do them around once a month, if not more. There are a few reasons that I love them:

• Students have to get out of their seats
• They cover all 4-skills
• You can use them for almost any topic (including family)
• It’s simple to make your own in just a few minutes
• They help students with follow-up questions

Check out some examples of surveys I use in my classes here: Surveys for ESL Students.

#12: ESL Family Trees

Making an ESL family tree is a classic activity for this unit. Depending on the level of student, you could make it as simple, or as detailed as you want. It’s an ideal way to review ESL family vocabulary, and it also makes a nice homework assignment, or class presentation.

Family Tree ESL

How you do your ESL family tree activity is up to you, but I strongly recommend checking the textbook that you’re using. They’ll often have a page with a family tree already there.

The next best option is to print off a simple, blank family tree from the Internet and have students fill it in. A way to extend this activity is to have your ESL students share their tree with a partner or small group (bigger classes) or to the whole class (smaller classes). Be sure to give them some example sentences that they can use to describe their ESL family trees.

#13: ESL Family Vocabulary

If you have a textbook that you’re teaching from, the basic family vocabulary words will almost always be included. More advanced books will include things like niece, nephew, step-brother, etc. However, if you’re not using a book but want to teach your students this vocab, there are plenty of worksheets out here.

Here’s one of my favourites:

ESL Family Vocabulary .

Or, here are some of the most common words related to family that you’ll want to teach your students:

• Grandparents
• Great-grandparents
• Stepmom/dad
• 86 Pages - 12/24/2015 (Publication Date)

#14 ESL Family: Yes and No Question/Answer Activities

One of the first grammar lessons that most beginners learn in English is the “Be” verb. And one of the most common topics to combine this with is “family.” It’s very easy to explain to even total beginners the concepts of: mother, father, brother, sister, etc.

Taking these two things together, there are a ton of simple concept check questions you could ask:

• Do you have a brother?
• Are there four people who live at your house?
• Is there a mom and dad in the picture?
• Do you see three children?

For more ideas, you’ll want to check out the following: ESL Yes or No Activities .

#15 ESL Family Activities: Using the Whiteboard

I don’t know what it is, but my students are ALL about drawing on the whiteboard. There are a ton of fun activities you can do with the whiteboard and the topic of family. If you want to see some of them, then you’ll need to take a look at this awesome resource:

ESL Whiteboard Games and Activities .

ESL family tree

#16 ESL Family Vocabulary Game: A to Z 

If your students have seen family vocabulary before, then you may want to consider using this quick warmer activity to help them activate their prior knowledge before jumping into the heart of your lesson.

The way it works is that each group (2-3 students) writes down the alphabet. Then, they try to think of one family related vocabulary word for each letter. For example:

G=Grandmother

And so on. The winner is the team with the most points at the end of the allotted time. More details about this quick ESL vocabulary warm-up right here: A-Z ESL Warmer.

#17: ESL Family Songs and Chants

If you teach kids, then songs and chants are some ESL teaching gold! However, if you don’t have a musical bone in your body (like me), not to worry. There are lots of good ones on YouTube to consider for any age and level of student.

#18: Speaking Fluency Activity

To use this activity with the family unit, have students talk about a family member that they know really well.

#19: Using Eliciting for ESL Family Vocabulary

Unless your students are true beginners, it’s likely that they already know at least the basic family vocabulary like mom, dad, brother, sister, grandma, etc. If that’s the case, consider starting off your classes by eliciting some of these words. There are two reasons to consider doing this.

The first is that you’re able to find out what the students already know so it’s possible to target the lesson more specifically to what they don’t. The second reason is that it’s useful for activating the students’ prior knowledge so that the new words they learn can be easier to remember. Check out some of the best ideas for doing this:

ESL Eliciting Activities.

 #20: Concentration Vocabulary Memory Game

One of the best games to help students review new vocabulary is concentration. Make up some cards with either words/definitions, words/hints, or words/pictures of the various family vocabulary. What you choose to do really depends on the level of the students.

Then, students play a matching memory game with each other. Find out more about it here: ESL Concentration Game .

#21: Fun TEFL Games for Teaching about Family

#22: word association esl families.

A nice warmer activity for the unit on family if your students are not beginners is word association . Elicit some words that students think of when they hear the word “family.” Then, organize them into various

#23: Me Too!

This is a simple speaking and listening activity. Students have to make a true statement about their families. For example:

• I have a twin.
• My grandparents live with me.
• I have a younger brother.

If other students can agree, they stand up and say, “Me too!”

#24: Running Dictation 

#25: family interviews.

Encourage students to interview their family members about their interests, hobbies, and daily routines. In class, students can share what they learned, using sentences and vocabulary related to family and personal information. This activity helps build communication skills and vocabulary.

#26: Family Photo Gallery

Ask students to bring in family photos and create a classroom photo gallery. Each student can share their photos and talk about their family members, using adjectives to describe them and sentences to explain the significance of each photo.

#27: Family Cookbook

Have students collect family recipes and create a class cookbook. They can write or dictate the recipes in English, including ingredients, instructions, and personal stories or memories associated with each recipe. This activity promotes reading, writing, and speaking skills.

#28: Family Storytelling

Encourage students to share stories about their family traditions, memorable events, or experiences. Students can prepare a short narrative and present it to the class, incorporating descriptive language and sequencing words.

ESL Family Worksheets

Do you want some ready-made family worksheets for your English learners? Then you’ll need to check out some of our favourite resources right here. And of course, be sure to check out the textbook you’re using, along with the homework book or teacher’s resource book which often has some excellent resources to use in your classes.

Family ESL Worksheets:

ISL Collective

Be sure to check out these resources as well if you’re looking for some ESL family tree worksheets. There are lots of them there, ranging from very simple to a bit more complicated.

ESL families activities and games

What about a Family ESL Lesson?

If you’re looking for a ready-made ESL family lesson plan or two, then these activities and games probably didn’t work for you. Not to worry. Here are some of our top picks for complete lesson plans for the family:

ESL Kids Stuff

BBC Teaching English

Or, you might consider planning your own conversation lesson. Find out how here:

Did you like these ESL Family Activities? 

• Bolen, Jackie (Author)
• 148 Pages - 03/09/2016 (Publication Date)

Yes? Though so. Then you’re going to love this book available on Amazon: 101 ESL Activities for Adults . It’s the book you need if you want to have more interesting, engaging English lessons.

The best part is that it’s divided up into easy to find sections. You can look for speaking, listening, reading, writing, review, grammar or 4-skills games and activities in seconds and find what you’re looking for in just a minute or two. Now, if that’s not some English teaching awesome, then I don’t know what is.

You can get the book in a couple of different formats. Take the e-version with you on your phone or tablet to your favourite coffee shop for lesson planning on the go. Or, get the physical version and keep it on the bookshelf in your office to use as a handy reference guide. It really is that easy to have better English lessons.

Check out the book for yourself today, but only if you want to get yourself a serious dose of ESL teaching awesome in your life:

There are a number of common questions that people have about teaching this unit. Here are the answers to some of the most popular ones.

Why is teaching the family unit important in ESL/EFL?

Teaching the family unit is important because it is a fundamental aspect of everyday life and provides language learners with vocabulary and language structures relevant to personal relationships and descriptions.

How can teachers introduce the family unit to ESL/EFL learners?

Teachers can introduce the family unit by using visuals, real-life photos, or flashcards to teach family members’ names and relationships. They can also incorporate related vocabulary, such as adjectives to describe family members or possessive pronouns to show ownership.

What activities can teachers use to teach the family unit?

Teachers can use activities like family tree projects, role-plays, drawing or describing family members, and creating dialogue or narrative exercises centered around family relationships to teach the family unit.

How can teachers promote cultural awareness while teaching the family unit?

Teachers can promote cultural awareness by discussing and comparing family structures and traditions across different cultures, sharing personal experiences, or incorporating multicultural materials that depict diverse family units.

What language skills can be practiced when teaching the family unit?

Teaching the family unit provides opportunities to practice various language skills such as listening (listening to descriptions of family members), speaking (describing family members or answering questions), reading (reading texts or descriptions about families), and writing (writing about one’s own family or creating fictional stories).

How can teachers personalize the family unit lessons for ESL/EFL learners?

Teachers can encourage students to share information about their own families, ask them to create profiles or presentations about their family members, or provide opportunities for students to discuss cultural aspects of their family backgrounds.

Are there any cultural considerations to keep in mind when teaching the family unit?

Yes, teachers should be sensitive to cultural differences and avoid making assumptions about family structures. It is important to create a safe and inclusive environment where students feel comfortable discussing their families and cultural backgrounds.

What resources can be used to teach the family unit?

Resources such as textbooks, picture books, videos, online interactive exercises, and authentic materials like family photos or interviews can be used to teach the family unit.

How can teachers assess students’ understanding of the family unit?

Teachers can assess students’ understanding of the family unit through activities like quizzes, oral presentations, writing assignments, or by observing their ability to describe family members or engage in conversations about family relationships.

How can teachers extend the family unit topic to further language learning?

Teachers can extend the family unit topic by incorporating related language skills and topics such as describing physical appearance, discussing family traditions, talking about hobbies or interests, or exploring other topics related to personal relationships and communities.

Have your say about these ESL Family Activities

What are your thoughts about these family ESL games and activities? Did you try them out in your classes? Do you have a recommendation for an ESL family tree worksheet for kids or adults? Leave a comment below and let us know your thoughts. We’d love to hear from you.

Also be sure to give this article a share on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. It’ll help other busy teachers, like yourself find this useful teaching resource.

Last update on 2022-07-17 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

About Jackie

Jackie Bolen has been teaching English for more than 20 years to students in South Korea and Canada. She's taught all ages, levels and kinds of TEFL classes. She holds an MA degree, along with the Celta and Delta English teaching certifications.

Jackie is the author of more than 100 books for English teachers and English learners, including Business English Vocabulary Builder , 67 ESL Conversation Topics ,and 39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Speaking Activities for Teenagers and Adults . She loves to share her ESL games, activities, teaching tips, and more with other teachers throughout the world.

You can find her on social media at: YouTube Facebook Instagram

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Sentences structure games | fun sentence building activities for esl, animals that start with j | names, pictures, fun facts, esl review games & activities: ideas for english review in class, esl grammar activities, games, worksheets and online practice, about, contact, privacy policy.

Best-selling author and English teacher Jackie Bolen has been talking ESL activities and games since 2015. The goal is to bring you the best ideas, lesson plans, and activity recommendations for your TEFL classes.

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How to Find Your Ancestors for Free in the Shared Family Tree

Are you trying to find an ancestor or deceased family member? If so, you should search our Family Tree—the largest shared family tree in the world. The Tree contains more than a billion names . It’s free and open to the public, and the ancestor you’re looking for might already be in it.

Gather what you know about your deceased relative—such as his or her name, birth or death information, and perhaps the name of a parent, spouse, or child—and follow the steps below to see if he or she is in the Family Tree. Or click the button below and go directly to our Find page. 

Find Your Ancestor in the Tree

Searching Family Tree—A Quick Way to Start or Add to Your Genealogy

If you want to find a relative who may be in the Tree, go to FamilySearch , and under the Family Tree tab, choose Find . Be prepared to log in or create a free FamilySearch account . (You can also get to this same page by going to the Search tab, and choosing Family Tree .)

Once onto the Tree Find, enter what you know about your deceased relative. The page opens with a simplified search panel, which works for early searches. To get better results, however, it’s a good idea to open the full search experience by clicking More Options .

The Tree Find looks and functions almost exactly like FamilySearch’s Search Historical Records tool. We did this on purpose, of course. Any search strategies you learned for that page will be equally useful here. Let’s go through the filters one at a time, though, and examine some best practices. 

Consider some best practices for filling out the name fields:

• Enter the person's first and middle names into the First Names field.
• Enter the person’s family name or surname into the Last Names field.
• Use the Alternate Names tab for maiden names, nicknames, aliases, other spellings, second last names, and any name changes that may have occurred during a person’s lifetime.

Choosing  Male  or Female , if known, can help narrow your search results.

3. Life Events

Under Add Life Event, enter what you know about where the person was located during their life. Be sure to change the filter from Any to Birth , Marriage , Residence , or Death . Doing so is likely to make your search more accurate.

4. Family Members

Under Add Family Members , enter what you know about the person’s spouse, father, mother, or other relationship. You can use the same guidelines and strategies for entering names here as you did earlier.

5. Exact Search

Directly below the Family Member section is a toggle for Show Exact Search . Be careful using this option, and only use it when you are getting back more search results than you can reasonably consider. The actual data in Family Tree may be slightly different than the names, dates, and places you are entering, so being flexible with your search criteria is usually a good idea.

It's important to note that turning on the toggle for Show Exact Search doesn’t immediately engage an exact search. Instead, it opens a box next to all of the screen’s search filters, which you can then select or leave empty. It’s highly recommended that you only select the fields you’re sure you want to be exact, and that you start with a few. In other words, you could do an exact search for a particular birth date but not for your other fields.

Once you have entered the information you know, click Find to search for your ancestor’s profile in Family Tree. When the search results appear, click a name to see a summary of that person’s information. Then click on the name in the pop-up window to navigate to the person’s full person page .

Try It for Yourself

Advanced Tips for Finding the Right Person

Too many results.

Use the gray button filters at the top of the page to quickly fine-tune your search results:

In the search shown in these screenshots, I initially entered my great-grandfather’s name. As you can see, this broad search brought back lots of results—too many to search through. If I click the Birth filter, however, and select a specific area of the world, I can immediately make that number much lower.

No Results or No Matches

If your initial search came up empty, use the search panel on the right side of the screen to modify your search terms. Note: Depending on your screen size, the search panel might not be open at first. If that’s the case, click Search in the right corner to open it.

To broaden your search then, consider modifying anything that might have been too specific, such as an exact year. Increasing the date range for a particular life event can help. You also can try changing the Life Event menu to Birth or Residence instead of Any . If applicable, use the Alternate Names field to enter a maiden name, alias, or different spelling. Then click Search .

If after editing your search, you still can’t find the person you’re looking for, it may be that the person hasn’t been added to Family Tree yet. In that case, you could go ahead and add the person yourself .

In order to add a person to the Tree, you will need his or her name, and then you can enter as much additional information as you can about them, such as where they may have been born or where they lived.

Hint: If you’re missing information about your ancestor, try finding him or her in a historical record, such as a birth certificate, marriage certificate, draft card, or death certificate.

Using Preferences to Customize Your Search Results

Experienced researchers will likely appreciate the functionality that comes with the Preference button that appears at the top of your search results page. With Preferences, you can make important choices regarding the formatting and exporting of your search results.

For example, the first option under Preferences is the choice to present your search results in either Data Sheet or Fixed Table:

If I was looking for a search result that matched one specific piece of information—a particular birth date, for example—I’d use Data Sheet. The format makes it easy to scroll and find results that match.

I’d use Fixed Table, by contrast, when I wanted to take a closer look at a handful of search results that all seemed promising, and see how well they matched everything I knew about the person.

Further down the Preferences pane is a section titled Language Options. Here you can choose to view information how it was originally entered into FamilySearch, or to view it with slight edits—what we call “translations”—that make it easier to read. A simple example would be an entry for “Jan 1855,” which, when clarified or translated, would appear as “January 1855.”

Last but not least, in the Preferences pane is an option for downloading your search results to your own computer. Perhaps you have your own method for charting and filtering information. If so, you can download the information into any of the following file formats: XLS, XLSX, CSV, ODS, TSV, and ODS.

Find Your Ancestors in the FamilySearch Family Tree!

  Ready to learn something about one of your ancestors? Our shared Family Tree has a place in it for everyone in the world—and we want everyone’s help building it!

Pick a deceased relative, and see whether he or she is among the 1.2 billion names in the FamilySearch Family Tree! Find the person’s profile, and enjoy the stories, photos, time lines, and other items that have been attached to it. Then consider what you know about them and could add to their profile. Other relatives may thank you in the future!

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Why Did My Y-DNA Haplogroup Change?

By: Katy Rowe-Schurwanz

There are several reasons your paternal haplogroup may change. Understand why these changes happen and how new Y-DNA research and testing upgrades refine your haplogroup placement.

What are haplogroups.

A haplogroup is a branch on either the paternal or maternal Tree of Humankind . Each haplogroup represents an ancestor on that tree, with many being so far back the names of those ancestors have been lost to time.

Haplogroups can help you determine when you share a common ancestor with your matches, where your ancestors are from, and how they got there .

Your Y-DNA haplogroup is your placement on the Y-DNA Tree of Humankind. Your placement on your family tree doesn’t typically change, so why does your placement on the genetic tree change?

Your placement (i.e., haplogroup) might change for several reasons, including:

• Variations between test types and companies
• Naming conventions
• New phylogenetic information

Y-DNA haplogroup nomenclature

As mentioned above, one of the reasons your haplogroup can change or has changed is because of different naming conventions.

In the early years of Y-DNA testing, Y-DNA haplogroups typically had a longhand name . Longhand haplogroup names started with the letter for the root of the haplotree you belonged to, like R, followed by alternating numbers and letters based on where your branch fell below that root.

For example, R had two child branches, R1 and R2. Below R1, you’d have more child branches, R1a and R1b. From there, you would have more child branches, like R1a1 and R1a2. This pattern continued for every root branch from the top of the tree to the bottom of the tree.

You can still see examples of the longhand nomenclature when looking at mtDNA haplogroups on the Phylotree or Y-DNA haplogroups on the ISOGG Haplogroup Tree .

When FamilyTreeDNA launched our updated Y-DNA haplotree in 2014, we conducted Y-SNP testing through SNP Packs for several years, and thousands of Y-DNA branches and variants were added to the haplotree.

This made the longhand terminology unwieldy, so FamilyTreeDNA began using shorthand names for Y-DNA haplogroups. Instead of alternating numbers and letters like the longhand names, the shorthand names are comprised of the root branch followed by a hyphen and then the variant or SNP name. So instead of R1b1a2, your haplogroup was now R-M269.

If you tested before 2014, you may have received a longhand Y-DNA haplogroup. The name of that haplogroup may have changed before adopting the shorthand name for your branch.

This was a fortuitous change, as we also launched the Big Y in 2014. Since then, we have added tens of thousands of branches and hundreds of thousands of variants to the Y-DNA Tree of Humankind.

If all the new branches and variants added to the haplotree were phylogenetically below what was already on the haplotree, continuing to use the longhand terminology would not have been difficult.

However, we often discover new branches that split parts of the haplotree high up on the root branch, like the new branch discovered immediately below R-M269 in June. Discoveries like that would require the longhand for all branches below to change. When using the shorthand terminology, the new branches and variants are easily inserted into their place on the tree instead.

Y-DNA test differences

There are multiple different types of tests you can take to receive a Y-DNA haplogroup . Each type of test will cover a different amount of the Y chromosome , which can cause you to receive a different haplogroup and placement on the haplotree.

Y-STR tests like the Y-37 and Y-111 do not look at Y-SNPs. These tests will provide a predicted haplogroup based on your Y-STR signature. The predicted haplogroup will always be close to the top of your root branch. Sometimes, Y-STR testing cannot provide a reliable prediction. In those cases, FamilyTreeDNA will run an SNP test that covers the top of each root branch automatically and at no additional cost.

Many companies, including FamilyTreeDNA, offer autosomal tests run on a microarray chip. Each company customizes its chip to determine what SNP locations it wants to cover. Most of these are autosomal SNP locations found on chromosomes 1-22. Most chips also include Y-DNA and mtDNA SNP locations—enough to provide an intermediate-level haplogroup. FamilyTreeDNA’s chip also includes locations on the X chromosome.

The major autosomal testing companies, including FamilyTreeDNA, MyHeritage, Ancestry, and 23andMe, originally used the Illumina OmniExpress chip and have now switched to the Illumina Global Screening Array chip. National Geographic’s discontinued Genographic Project test also used the Illumina OmniExpress chip. Alternatively, LivingDNA uses an Affymetrix chip from Thermo Scientific.

Each company has used different versions of their customized chips over the years. Depending on when and where you tested, some Y-DNA SNPs may or may not have been included on your test’s chip. Early chip versions may have fewer Y-DNA SNP locations due to new SNPs being discovered later.

FamilyTreeDNA also previously offered individual Y-SNP tests and SNP Pack tests . Individual Y-SNP tests would look at a single variant and test to see if you were positive, negative, or received no call for that variant. SNP Packs would look at groups of Y-SNPs and report if you were positive, negative, or received no call for each of the included variants.

Individual Y-SNP or SNP Pack results may have placed you above or below your haplotree placement from a different test.

Other tests, like the Big Y-700 , scan the entire Y chromosome to find your most specific haplotree placement.

FamilyTreeDNA has offered three versions of the Big Y test since 2014: the Big Y, which only looked at Y-SNPs; the Big Y-500, which increased Y-SNP coverage and added bonus STRs above the Y-111; and the current Big Y-700, which maximized Y-SNP coverage and added even more bonus STRs.

Because the Big Y-700 looks at more of the Y chromosome than any other test, you will receive a haplogroup below your placement on the tree received from other tests. They can also discover SNPs unique to your line and not yet found in other testers. As those unique SNPs are found in more testers over time, they’ll be added to the haplotree, and your placement may change again.

Despite the differences in Y chromosome coverage, you should rarely ever receive haplogroup assignments from two different root branches. For example, if you’re placed on the R branch with one test, you should not be placed on J, I, or another branch besides R with a different test.

There are some exceptions:

• If limited Y chromosome information was tested and your coverage was poor for your root branch, you may be placed on a root higher up on the haplotree.
• If you received both a predicted haplogroup and a confirmed haplogroup, predictions may not always be 100% correct.

Types of Y-DNA haplogroups

Depending on the type of test you took, you may have received different types of haplogroups.

Predicted vs. confirmed

A predicted haplogroup is a haplogroup you have been assigned without Y-SNP testing based on your Y-STR results. The values for your first 12 STRs can reliably inform what major root branch of the haplotree you belong to. A prediction will place you near the top of that branch with a broad haplogroup assignment.

Predicted haplogroups typically will not change. If you receive a predicted haplogroup from a Y-37 and upgrade to the Y-111, your prediction will remain the same. If FamilyTreeDNA adjusts the science behind our predictions, your prediction may change at that time; however, this is an extremely rare occurrence.

A confirmed haplogroup is a haplogroup you have been assigned from Y-SNP testing. With a confirmed haplogroup, you will always be placed on the branch furthest downstream for which you tested positive. Confirmed haplogroups can come from individual Y-SNP or SNP Pack tests, autosomal tests like the Family Finder, or the Big Y.

Confirmed haplogroups can change over time, depending on if you take a more extensive test later (like upgrading from the Family Finder to the Big Y-700) or through changes to the haplotree with the Big Y-700’s Lifetime Analysis.

Partial vs. full haplogroups

Except for the Big Y-700, most tests will provide a partial haplogroup. A partial haplogroup means that you have been placed on a branch on the haplotree but that there are more branches below you where you could belong with further testing.

A full haplogroup from the Big Y-700 will place you as far down the haplotree as possible. This is the most specific and refined placement you can receive. However, this placement can still change over time with new phylogenetic evidence and Big Y-700’s Lifetime Analysis.

What are broad, intermediate, and refined haplogroups?

FamilyTreeDNA often describes haplogroups as broad, intermediate, or refined.

A broad haplogroup is one that originated typically in the Stone Age. It’s likely to be high up on your root branch of the haplotree. A predicted haplogroup will always be broad. Broad haplogroups will provide you with the early parts of your father’s father’s father’s story, showing migration paths from Y Adam across or out of Africa to the continent your ancestors called home.

An intermediate haplogroup typically originated in the Metal Age. It’s likely to be somewhere in the middle of your root branch of the haplotree. You will likely receive an intermediate haplogroup with an autosomal test like the Family Finder or the discontinued SNP Packs. These provide a little more granularity for your father’s father’s father’s story, expanding your ancestors’ migration path often to a particular region of a continent, but not typically much further than that.

A refined haplogroup typically originated in the Middle Ages or the Modern Age. It’s likely to be as far down on your root branch as you can get without additional phylogenetic evidence from more testers. These haplogroups come from the Big Y-700. They provide the most information possible about where your ancestors are from and how they got there. Many refined haplogroups formed within genealogical times, and when compared with the results of other Big Y testers, can sometimes narrow down the location where your father’s father’s father’s line is from to a country, region of a country or even to a village.

Private variants

The Big Y-700 also provides you with private variants . These are SNPs on the Y chromosome that were found in your results but have not yet been found in other testers’ results. Depending on how many testers from your lineage have Big Y results, you may have many, very few, or no private variants. When new testers receive results and match your private variants, those SNPs may be named and placed on the haplotree, further refining your placement.

Your haplogroup can also vary depending on your coverage for specific SNPs. Different types of tests provide different amounts of coverage of Y-SNPs. Y-STR tests provide no coverage. Individual SNP tests provide coverage for only one SNP. SNP Packs and autosomal tests provide coverage for selected SNPs. The Big Y-700 looks at all of the genealogically relevant portions of the Y chromosome, providing the maximum possible coverage.

Coverage can also vary based on how many reads of a position were obtained from your results. A read refers to how many times a particular position was examined during testing.

With the Big Y-700, we require at least 10 high-quality reads to automatically call an SNP positive or negative. SNPs with fewer than 10 high-quality reads will be no-called. Our phylogenetic expert can adjust no-call SNPs if there is enough evidence to call them positive.

Other analysis sites may have differing quality control requirements, meaning they may call something positive where FamilyTreeDNA’s quality control standards and our phylogenetic expert would not.

With individual, SNP Pack, and autosomal testing, an SNP has or doesn’t have a read. You may be called positive or negative for a particular SNP or receive a “no call,” meaning that we could not read a result at that position. Our phylogenetic expert will not alter these results, and additional SNP testing would be required to potentially receive a call.

Haplotree differences

Your haplogroup may also change when the Y-DNA haplotree changes. Y-DNA haplotrees are built based on the results of testers. FamilyTreeDNA has the largest database of Y-DNA testers in the world and has built the largest Y-DNA Tree of Humankind in the world.

Other haplotrees may have been built based on academic research and data or data from transferred results. Because of this, those haplotrees are less complete than FamilyTreeDNA’s, and the placement you received from us may not exist on another haplotree. You may receive a less refined placement on another site.

The FamilyTreeDNA haplotree is constantly being updated. As new results come in, our phylogenetic expert uses those to split existing branches and add new branches to the tree. This may cause your haplogroup to become more refined as these changes are implemented.

About the Author

Katy rowe-schurwanz.

Product Manager at FamilyTreeDNA

Katy Rowe-Schurwanz has always been interested in genealogy, inspired by her maternal grandparents, who told her stories about their family and family history when she was little. After studying anthropology and history in college, she joined FamilyTreeDNA in 2015 and became the trainer for Customer Support. Katy created and improved training processes and was fundamental in the creation of the Big Y Specialist team. In September 2021, she became Product Manager and has focused closely on improving FamilyTreeDNA’s genetic genealogy products.

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