Family Tree Indoor Activity for Seniors

I believe that a family tree is a very precious document. However, most people either do not have one or have a very simple or limited one. An extensive family tree is rare because it takes a lot of time to prepare and it requires a great deal of knowledge about the entire family which is also exceedingly rare. It could very well be that the person who took upon himself or herself the task of making a family tree would have to visit and speak with many relatives in order to try to gather the entire picture.

Simple or Complex Family Tree

One of the first things which would be important for seniors to choose is the complexity of their family tree. If you may want to include absolutely all relatives including distant cousins and including both sides of the family then you are definitely in for a very long and exciting project.

However, those seniors who would like to have fun indoors by making a family tree, but, at the same time, do not want a huge almost never ending project on their hands, can simply restrict the family tree to various degrees. One logical and famous restriction in preparing family trees is looking only at the bloodline of a certain person. This means skipping out on wives and husbands and step children, etc, which may result in not visualizing very important people, however, if the aim is to follow strictly the bloodline then this would be the way.

Royal families and nobles usually employ a type of a historian who also maintains such a family tree based on bloodline and they always try to keep the blood within this noble elite circle. Well, at least that intention is coming from the past and although slightly diluted in the 21^st century, it still holds strong.

Preparation of This Indoor Activity for Seniors

There are two main ways to go about making a family tree indoors:

• Pen and paper
• Computer software

Pen and paper is of course completely free, however it is best suited for a limited family tree project for seniors. For larger, more complex projects, perhaps computer software is better suited.

Types of Software for the Senior’s Family Tree

Firstly there are a number of completely free software, but I would strongly suggest to make a small experiment with several to see which works best. As they are free  they can be not the most user friendly and may have limitations not advertised on the description page.

If seniors are familiar with Microsoft Excel or Power Point then they can use the organization chart tool which is normally made for companies to make a nice looking family tree. If this software is on your computer already this would be completely free.

Then there are paid solutions which seniors can go to if they don’t have issues with money and which are specially designed for family tree preparation indoors. These would be relatively speaking expensive, but seniors should find them affordable and perhaps it is worth paying this for having a much easier time and worrying about the family tree instead of fighting with the software.

Please also see other indoor activities for seniors or browse the entire activities for seniors website for fun, ideas and interesting articles.