My family tree

I had to teach sharing time for the younger kids on Sunday, which is basically a 20-minute lesson that usually involves activities, singing, or a craft. My theme was on family history aka genealogy and it was so fun to plan! The only problem was that my plan involved a fake potted tree that I was positive was at our church building. With only a few minutes to set up, I found out it was no longer there.

In a panic, I found Nathan and told him I didn't know what to do, because it was critical to my plan and I wasn't capable of drawing anything that looked like a tree. He said he would take care of it. I figured he was going to either draw one for me or track down the tree, stashed away in a closet somewhere.

In a few minutes, he walked into the room with a tree branch. My first reaction was not favorable, because I knew he had to have cut/broken it off a tree in the parking lot, but I squashed that reaction in about 1.5 seconds and exclaimed how wonderful he was. We propped it up in the plastic crate I had brought my props in, and it was a huge hit! We brought it home after for the cats to enjoy (and boy, did they ever!), so here it is in our dining room.


Anyway, for sharing time, I taped a picture of myself to the bottom and taped paper leaves with relatives' names to the branches. We talked about how family history is important and it's really cool to find out about our ancestors and stories about them. I had children come pick a leaf and then I told a story about that family member, usually having them help act it out with some props. I'll share a few stories here, although they lose something in typing them out. It was a huge hit and the kids stayed fairly attentive.


(Hey, family - if I'm a little inaccurate, forgive me, sometimes my memory mixes up stories.)

Grandpa Parker - My grandpa was a chicken farmer. Sometimes he would bring the eggs inside and he would cook them and make scrambled eggs. What he really liked to do, though, was to take an egg, still warm from the chicken, and eat it raw. (This story was demonstrated with a plastic egg, not a real one!)


Dad - One day my dad went to his sister's house, but he stayed too late and it got dark. His dad couldn't come pick him up. It was in the country and a really long time ago, so they didn't have streetlights. When it was night, it got REALLY dark. He started running through the fields as fast as he could, when all of a sudden, BAM! He ran into a hay wagon. He hit it so hard with his head that he fell down. When he got up, he started walking a lot more slowly. (Demonstrated by having a child run back and forth really fast, then I warned him to slow down a little and I stuck out my hand so he ran into it, then we both fell down on the ground.)


Uncle Red & Aunt Fran - My Uncle Red drove a motorcycle. When he got married, they went on their honeymoon on his motorcycle. As they were riding along, he saw a really big bug coming at him, so he ducked like he always did. He forgot he had his brand new bride behind him and so it squished all over her forehead, YUCK!

(Mom, when you read this, give me a call and I'll tell you the rest of the sharing time, you'll like it.)