Creating the Finished Family Tree Project
Get out your file box with the interviews, photos, and tapes you've worked so hard to collect. You need to get together your markers, glue sticks, stickers or anything else you would like to use.
There are so many ways to put your project together. You might make a scrapbook or a poster. If you are doing this project for school or scouts, your teacher or leader may tell you how to make it. Genmama made a scrapbook! I found that I didn't use quite all the information that I collected but I did use the very best parts! I put photographs and quotes and family stories and family memories in a scrapbook. For example, my very first page is where I introduced my grandparents. I glued their photos down on the page and I wrote their names under the picture. Then I wrote a short paragraph about where they came from, where they married and lived, and their childrens' names. Then I wrote a memory that my grandma told me. I decorated the page with a couple of stickers and I drew a sun and a house. Do you get the idea?
But Genmama, what about all that information I collected on family group sheets?
GOOD QUESTION!
The family group sheets helped Genmama to keep all the families straight. I remembered the names and dates and I didn't have to ask those questions many times. I had all the information in the file folders in my box.
If you are making a poster you can put it together in many ways! One way is to draw a tree with many branches. Before you glue down any photos, arrange them on the tree. Your grandparents should be at the very top, their children should be in the middle branches and the grandchildren should be on the lowest branches. Make sure to put all the children under the correct parent. You don't want to glue your photo underneath your aunt and uncle! And wouldn't it look funny to have one of your cousins in your family, under your parents? Usually on a poster there is not any room to write the family memories. Just the names and places and dates that people were born. Once you have the photos arranged and glued down you can fill in the information for each person under their photo.
Have fun creating your project! It is sure to be something you and your family will will enjoy looking at in the years to come.