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The Enrichment Project
My Family Today
Steps
1. Create fact sheets for family members.
Create fact sheets for family members to ll out or you can ask your questions and record
the answers. You can include anything you want to know. Here are some to start:
Physical stats
Important dates
Favorites (movies, television shows, music, etc.)
Sketches of themselves
Things they have achieved
Activities (job, career, volunteer, hobbies, etc.)
Unrealized dreams
2. Share your favorite family stories via written or recorded media.
When youre collecting stories, its often better to record them so you dont miss anything.
Diferent people have diferent points of view, so you might want to get the same story
from multiple family members. Type the stories up and share them with other family
members via print or electronic distribution.
3. StoryCorps.
storycorps.org
StoryCorps is an oral history of the United States. Started in 2003, it has over 35,000
interviews on le at the Library of Congress. Find out more about StoryCorps and see if its
something you might be interested in doing to help preserve your familys stories.
4. Create a scrapbook.
You can scrapbook a specic event, a family member growing up, one persons military
career, family changes with time or any other theme that ts with your family dynamic.
Explore ways to create copies to share physical and digital. Share your scrapbook with
others in your family.
5. Create a photo slideshow.
Select photos and music to t a theme. Perhaps select a favorite photo and start with that
image. If any of your family is a musician, ask them to provide music. Find ways to share
your slideshow with your family.
6. Journal a week in your life.
Everyone remembers the big stories and most embarrassing moments. The everyday items
get lost to time. Preserve these memories with words, sketches or small paper items you
can put into a journal. You can even recreate the times in an art journal to give it more of
a feel for a certain time. If you nd you enjoy journaling, keep doing it.
7. Create a family recipe book.
Ask everyone to share their favorite recipes and cooking-related stories. Research the cost
of print-on-demand and determine whether you will make physical copies available to
family members. If the cost is too much, what other ways might you share these items?
My Family
Today
Studying family
history is a favorite
hobby. Document
your family today to
keep a living history
for generations to
come.

Enrichment
Project
larajla.com
8. Create a family traditions book.
What does your family do for birthdays? Which holidays do you celebrate? How do you
celebrate the holidays? How have your celebrations changed over the years? Look for
photos to illustrate these items instead of writing it all out. The amount of information
you put into your family traditions may be only a few pages to a full volume.
9. Make a whos who game with family photos and/or facts.
Gather baby photos and see if everyone can identify each other. If you cant nd baby
pictures, make a question sheet listing pets, favorite colors, favorite sayings or other items
that your family shares now. Ask each family member to identify each other through your
quiz.
10. Plan a photo event.
Have you seen the disposable cameras at weddings? This is a low-cost way to help
document the event. Add in camera phones and digital cameras and youll nd most
family members already have a way to take photos without you providing one.
Ask family members to take pictures. To keep track of who took the photos, ask them to
have someone take a picture of them rst (or take a sele) and then a picture of a sheet of
paper with their name written on it. Those two pictures will be your identication markers.
To help them, you may want to give your family a theme or a question to answer with the
photos they take. For example, asking everyone to take pictures to share where they spend
most of their time may get you photos of ower gardens, craft rooms or even a favorite
shing hole.
Develop and share the photos. You can also use a site such as Flickr or Picasa and have
family members upload the les they take. Perhaps you can have them all send CDs to one
person to create slideshows for an upcoming family event.
11. Plan a family night.
Everyones busy. Make some time just for your family. Plan on a movie, game, etc. to have
fun and make memories together.
12. Reunion.
If your family is spread over the country, or even the world, research the possibility of
having a family reunion. This can be as large or small as you wish. You can have everyone
meet somewhere such as Walt Disney World or have a party in your own backyard.
Sites to Explore
storycorps.org
lds.about.com/od/familynight/a/101-Family-Home-Evening-Activities.htm
fun.familyeducation.com/slideshow/summer/62526.html
kids.familytreemagazine.com/kids/default.asp
www.caring.com/articles/8-ways-to-preserve-family-memories
entertaining.about.com/od/personaloccasionparties/a/familyreunion.htm
familyfun.go.com/parties/family-reunion-checklist-701447
familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Document_AS_YOU_GO!
Check out larajlas Enrichment Project
to start your own adventure.