Bear Essentials cancer support group for children of a parent with cancer: Family memories activity

Missouri Baptist Medical Center, St Louis, Missouri, 63131

Activities For Children

Family Memories

Suggested Items

Construction paper
Hole punch or stapler
String, yarn or a shoelace for binding
Crayons
Markers
Items used to decorate -- buttons, shells, dried beans, sequins
Blank cassette tapes
Tape recorder

Information for Parents

Information for Children

Activity

Resources

Parents:
Memories help us remember and create family history. Talk to your children about their family memories. Do you share the same memories? These activities provide children with special ways to hold their family memories.

Children
What are some of your family memories -- a favorite holiday tradition, a time when someone in your family felt sad, a special birthday party or family get-together or maybe a family vacation?

Activity: Record Your Memories
Compare your memories with others in your family and record them on a cassette tape. Are the memories the same or different?

Activity: Make a Family Memory Book
Gather five to eight pieces of construction paper and stack them one on top of the other. Staple the pages down the left side or punch four holes down the left side and bind the pages together with yarn, string or a shoelace. Now you have a family memory book. Decorate the front of your book with:

Pictures
Sequins
Markers
Crayons

Use this book to hold your special family memories.

Activity: Create a "Memory Maker"
Find a box with a lid -- a shoebox is perfect -- and decorate it with:

Paint
Buttons
Shells
Rocks
Dried beans

Use this box to hold your special collection of memory makers -- special toys, photographs, a special rock, trading cards, pieces of fabric, etc.

Resources
Book Suggestion: The Family Memory Book