Roots, Branches and more!

This classroom activity is inspired by the article “Roots and Branches” from the Our Families issue of Kayak: Canada’s History Magazine for Kids. 

When people talk about their relatives they often talk about their family tree. But a lot of people’s family story couldn’t possibly fit onto just one tree. And for many people, that family is more like a forest than a single tree. A forest shows all the different ways people can be related to each other.

Activity:

Challenge your students to draw their family connections.

Here are some ideas and questions to help with the drawing process:

• If you drew your family connections, what would they look like?
• Would one tree with lots of branches show your whole family?
• Could your family look like two trees with intertwined roots?
• Would you need a whole forest to display your connections?
• Maybe your family is not in a forest at all. Could another visual help illustrate your family (ex. a coral reef, or a bee hive)?

Bonus: Challenge your students to try and illustrate the connections of some of the families featured in the February 2020 issue of Kayak.