Touch What They Touched

Touching family heirlooms and learning their history creates a bridge between past and present generations.

• Ask your parents to show you objects of importance in their life. Ask them what heirlooms they have and what they would want to pass on to you.
• Put yourself in an ancestor’s shoes; read a story about an event in his or her life. What was life like for him or her? What was going on in the story?
• As a family, walk through each room in your home and look for things that belonged to family members from long ago. Discuss each object, who it belonged to, how old it is, and the story behind it.

• Take photos of family heirlooms and upload them to FamilySearch. Capture audio recordings of people talking about these items.
• What other family heirlooms are kept by your extended family? Consider documenting who has what.