Last Minute Gift Ideas: Zap the Grandma Gap Ancestor Activity Workbooks For Kids

The Zap the Grandma Gap Ancestor Activity Workbooks are unique gift ideas for the children in your life, and if you order by midnight Monday, December 19, 2016 you'll get a free shipping upgrade so that you will receive them in time for Christmas delivery! Click here to order now.

The “My Ancestors” hands-on workbooks come in 8 different heritages including British, Danish, Swedish, Pioneer, Mormon, Civil War, German, & Jewish. These fun books create bonds between generations with hours of activities, puzzles, games, recipes, stories and crafts that can involve the entire family. Timelines, paper dolls, coloring pages, maps, music, dot-to-dots and crossword puzzles combine to give youth ownership of their own genealogy and the send them on a quest to bring their family history to life.

Studies have shown that greater knowledge about family history strengthens and empowers youth by creating self-esteem, resilience and a greater sense of control over their lives. Learning about the family's past also strengthens the relationships between living family members by creating a shared experience and core identity that no one else in the world can duplicate.  Our children’s workbooks are designed to help kids gain the benefits of family history and start asking their family members about their shared past. Order these meaningful gifts here to begin! 

Sharing Family History Through Food: Holiday Avocado Salsa

We hope you have enjoyed all the yummy recipes we have shared this fall.  We end this year with a colorful and meaningful salsa recipe from Lynette, our newest chart and shipping assistant. Lynette shares the story behind her recipe:

"I grew up in Cupertino, California in the heart of Silicon Valley. In those years, Santa Clara County was the world capital for apricot growing.  There were orchards everywhere, including behind our home. About 5 miles away, up a winding road in the Cupertino foothills, my grandparents had built a home in the late 1940's on several acres of rural property. My grandmother, Gladys Brush, went to work planting fruit trees and raising goats and chickens. One of my grandmother's favorite trees was a healthy pomegranate tree, but finding good recipes for pomegranates wasn't easy. My grandmother was a health nut, and as a kid I didn't like much of what she fixed for us. One year, however, in the 1960's, she found this recipe in a Sunset Magazine.  It was a big hit in our family! Every Thanksgiving and Christmas it was a favorite appetizer.  My parents and I both planted pomegranate trees in California that we shared with the family just for this recipe.  Now that most of my family has been priced out of Silicon Valley and live in climates that can't grow them, my brother in Vegas is the keeper of the family tree!  This recipe has been passed down, shared and enjoyed for 60 years now!"

You may just instinctively know some of your family's recipes if you make them often. When they are just in your head it is harder to pass them down to the next generation. Write down the ingredients and instructions in a way that anyone could prepare the food without knowing beforehand how to make it. Record the circumstances in which the recipes were used and who used them, along with a few details or stories about the creators' lives. Make sure your children and grandchildren have copies of the recipes. Family cookbooks or recipe card collections make great gifts!

Visit Zap The Grandma Gap for more info on how to make family history fun and to purchase the Zap the Grandma Gap books with additional recipes and activities for families.

Please comment with your one of your favorite family recipes!