Printable Family Tradition Activities

What Are Family Traditions?

Life is full of traditions. Some are indicative of a wider community in the form of religious or cultural festivals while others may be specific to a single family. They are most often used to mark a certain event of the year or a milestone.

They are activities that the family or a specific member of the family will undertake for some significant purpose. It could be something as simple as a certain family member always making the same Thanksgiving dish.

Some family traditions are solemn and considered important to the family while others are just plain goofy and intended to entertain and delight the rest of the family. Basically speaking a family tradition can be almost anything as long as it is done consistently around a certain event or occurrence in the family.

Why Are Family Traditions Important?

I am not going to say your family has to have traditions. Some people might find such things ponderous. However it should be noted that there is the potential for both fun and deeper family connection through engaging in traditions.

They do not have to be faith based; they can pertain to something related to the family unit and serve as a celebration of the family. Traditions are something that become part of the fabric of the family and create long lasting memories.

If your family has or had traditions it might be fun to try and keep these going or rekindle them. Some traditions may be archaic and might not match the morals and beliefs of the family today so there is no shame in changing them slightly or completely if need be.

What if Your Family Has No Traditions?

Not all families have traditions; they may adhere to the standard ones that pertain to their faith or cultural identity but they may not have specific traditions that are unique to the family. There is nothing wrong with this, it doesn't lessen the family.

The family may have had traditions earlier however and perhaps your research might uncover these traditions. This may pique your interest and inspire you to try and rekindle those traditions which, depending on what they are, may give you a sense of connection to your ancestors.

Printable Family History Ideas

1. Scavenger/Treasure Hunt

This is one of the most obvious activities with a printable element. Create a treasure hunt including findable items and printed clues to direct family members to the next point. When it comes to a family traditional activity this can become a huge event that might even grow to include extended family.

2. Make Greetings Cards

With so many possible holidays throughout the year getting a little crafty can be a lot of fun. A great way to do this especially with young kids is to print out holiday-themed shape templates on paper which can be safely cut out and glued to homemade greetings cards. You might use colored papers to print onto or let the kids color in their shapes themselves.

3. Family Tree Templates

There's nothing more connected to family tradition than our family history so creating a day for the kids to get together and fill out printed family tree templates can be great. The family can sit around the table and talk about the family history and ask questions about their ancestors. This can bring together multiple generations of living family and help create a connection to the family's heritage.

4. Family Reunion

As the grown ups catch up at a family reunion, kids are often meeting their cousins for the first time and may not know who some of these new adults are. This creates a chance for a lot of printable activities such as name tags that have their parents' names or printable family tree templates to help them understand how people are related to them.

A big wall mounted family tree could be a project to set up to which pictures of everyone present can be affixed. This is not only informative, it also has elements of a Harry Potter-esque portrait wall to it as well. Ultimately kids can get bored and confused at family reunions so making sure there are plenty of printable activities to keep them occupied and help them bond with new cousins.

5. Decorating for the Holidays

Kids love being part of the decorating for holidays and this can be a chance to bring a printable element into the crafts of decoration. Again you can print off pages of shape templates or even have the kids create designs on the computer that can be printed off and made into decorations. This is not to replace more traditional decoration crafts but rather to augment them and make them easier and kid friendly.

6. Post Movie Quiz

Watching a movie as a family is a lot of fun but when the final credits roll the activity is done. Well it doesn’t have to be if you plan in advance. This works best with classic movies that the grown ups have probably seen before but the idea is to write a really easy quiz about the movie that the kids just watched.

You can print out quiz sheets for the kids to fill in with the answers, offer prizes and essentially make it as fun and competitive as you want. This can be a great memory and cement a certain movie as a perennial family favorite.

7. Scrapbooking

This is a wonderful activity for the family and involves taking pictures and adding them to a scrapbook. The family can search online for the perfect images to fit into the book, print them and then glue them in place.

It used to be that most households would have newspapers and magazines but in our more digital world there is a distinct lack of such materials for old school scrapbooking. This is why printing off the pictures we need is really the way of scrapbooking in the future.

8. Pumpkin Carving Templates

Pumpkin carving is a fun family activity which some find easy while others may become frustrated. If you have kids who might be trying for the first time and working on a small pumpkin you can print out a carving template.

You can help the child overlay the template on the pumpkin and carefully cut it out using the guide of the image. This is a great way to help teach them to carve the pumpkin and also ensure they feel proud of their first attempt.

9. Go to a Sports Game

Sometimes kids can get a little bored at a sports game but here is a fun printable tradition that can teach them and entertain at the same time. Print out a score sheet for the game you are going to see which can be filled in with results of the game as it goes on.

This will help the kids engage with what’s happening in the game, teach them how the scoring works, help develop basic math skills and give them a sense of being part of the event. A clipboard and pencil along with the printed sheet is all you need to create memorable family outings at the game.

10. Start a game night

The family that plays together stays together. Yes, that is the intent of this tradition: plan a regular family game night which can be weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. This can be simple playing the same printable game or it can be more elaborate with a different branch of the family hosting each time and being responsible for the games.

Final Thoughts

Family time is important so gathering traditions to enjoy year round is a great way to build memories and pass on generational connections. We live in a very digital age which allows us access to many options for printable activities and traditions.

Neil Edwards

Genealogist and family-tree research specialist

Neil was born in Shropshire, England surrounded by centuries of living history. His interest in the past has been a lifelong passion leading to undergraduate degrees in both Economic History & Geography and History & Politics.

This interest in history quickly translated to family history when he moved to the U.S. in 2010. It was here that he began working on his own family tree as well as that of his American wife. That research allowed him to gain a wealth of experience working with both U.S. and European genealogical documents and studying their best uses in researching family history.

Following 9 years of honing his genealogical research skills, Neil was proud to have earned a certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University in late 2019. Neil also took part in the research process for a Duke University study into the families of 19th Century UK Members of Parliament.

Link To or Reference This Page

We spent a lot of time downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!