2 Ways to Keep Genealogy Fun When Researching

Sometimes we stop our genealogy journey because it’s not fun anymore, right? We lose the excitement or the novelty of the project and now we’re left with the work. This is a crossroads moment. Will we choose to press forward knowing that it won’t be as much fun or do we stop where we are and move to something else? Sometimes that decision is lightning fast and other times we spin in indecision. Sound familiar? Well let me share some ways to keep genealogy fun.

Make it a game to Keep Genealogy Fun

I know this may sound silly to some of you, but hear me out. It doesn’t have to be a long game or a complicated one. It doesn’t even have to be about the current project you’re working on. Sometimes you need to step out of your genealogy project in order to find inspiration again.

For example, when I feel this way I take a random picture from somewhere and write a story about that picture. I may write it down in my phone, or computer, or a notebook. But I have a spot where I just write. I don’t judge my writing. It’s not for anyone to see. I just want my brain to think of something different for a minute. Now if it’s a good story or a picture that I want to remember, then I save and edit it. But for the most part I just pick a picture and write what I remember about that picture. Done! That usually gets me inspired to get back to my research or to whatever project I’m working on.

Here are some other ideas…

• Find how many funny names you have in your family tree.
• See how many funny genealogy quotes, that you like, that you can find in one minute.
• Doodle your family’s name, or anything family history related, with markers, colored pencils, chalk, crayons, etc.
• If you have the time, then create your own family history game with your kids
• Create a sport around your family history such as volleyball where every time you hit the ball you had to say a family member’s name and no repeats

Give Yourself a Challenge

This one can be as silly or as serious as you want. I know some genealogists who have a photo challenge where they post a photo a day on their blog or social media. Then they write about that picture for everyone that sees their stuff. They also tag people so the next person gets to do the challenge. Another challenge could be setting a goal to comment on five blog posts from other people before the day is over. A challenge doesn’t have to be hard or complicated. It’s just a matter of doing a challenge to get your brain thinking differently. I like to brainstorm a list of all of the different challenges that I can set for myself and then pick one when I get bored.

Other ideas include…

• story challenge where you write one story a week about a family member
• family yearbook challenge where you make one page a week or month about your current family
• set a timer and color code your entire family tree
• See how many fun facts you can find about your family

Conclusion

Do you see how you can have small fun activities with your genealogy research? Try it and see! When we include fun activities throughout our genealogy journey, it helps us keep going. And that’s what we all want, right? Just keep going!

And in the meantime…good luck and happy hunting!

Tiffany

P.S. For more fun ideas check out these blog posts…

• Genealogy Hack: Create Your a Genealogy Bucket List
• 9 Simple Ways to do Genealogy During Spring Break
• 3 Steps I Took to Create My Family Yearbook