Investigating Family is a chance to explore who your family are and where the similarities and differences are with other families in your community and around the world.
Investigating Your Family
Start with the people you live with, then add other members of your extended family if you have them. Family doesn’t have to be people you are related to by birth – who feels like family to you?
- Do you have any cousins? If so how many?
- Do you have any step family?
- Who is the oldest person in your family?
- How many generations back in your family can you find out about?
- Are there any family friends who feel like family?
- Do you give ‘family’ names such as ‘auntie’ to people outside of your immediate family?
Investigating Other Families
Do the other families around you look like yours? Can you think of different family set ups you have met, heard of or seen? You might like to think about:
- What are the other families on your street like?
- How about your friend’s families?
- What about families you know from books or TV?
- How many different sorts of families can you think of? For example: families with a mum and a dad; two dads; two mums; one-parent families; single child families; step families; foster families; families living with grandparents, etc.
Family Tree
Has anyone in your family ever drawn a family tree? If so see if you can see it – how many generations back did they manage to find out about? Can you draw a family tree for your family – or for a family who is quite different to yours?
There is some information on how to draw a family tree here.
Take it further
Create a short video using your pictures talking about what families have in common and what makes them different to each other. What different challenges and opportunities might different families face? You could interview some of your family or friends and find out about their experiences of family.
This activity was inspired by our friends at Stonewall.
If you enjoyed this activity you might like to try out doing a Bookshelf Audit or trying out What’s in a Name?
