Our spring break was more of a staycation this year because my husband had to work. We didn't do a lot, but one thing we did was to visit the FamilySearch Discovery Center up in Salt Lake City in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building where the famous Family History Library is located. It's a new attraction designed to get youth and adults too excited about family history. You definitely want to make an appointment which can be done up to two months ahead of time.
Our appointment was for Thursday about noon. We parked in the City Center parking garage. There is an area in the garage specifically for the Joseph Smith building but I caused a small traffic jam trying to go in there not realizing my van was too tall for that area. So I had to back up with the help of the attendant and go into a different area! The parking was cheap and the visit was free.
Once we got to the Discovery Center, we were all given Ipads or Ipad minis to use during our visit. It's very important to have a FamilySearch account already with some connections to ancestors in that account so you can get more out of the visit. My youngest doesn't have an account so she had an account as a guest. She was still able to go to some stations but not the ones that tap into your ancestor information.
There are quite a few different stations, some easier to access than others. For children younger than 12, it can still be fun. My little girls had fun dressing up in the explorer accessories that they provided:
They also had a little block building station that they enjoyed as well as the regular stations. But I probably wouldn't take anyone younger than 6 or so.
One of the stations showed a world map with the places my ancestors came from:
You can see that my ancestry is very much northern Europe and Scandinavia. They did make one mistake though. One of my more recent ancestors was born in Indiana but they misread that as India.
Another station took a picture of your face and put it into a native costume of whatever country you picked. My kids really enjoyed that.
The first station I went to told the meaning of my names and how common both my first and last names (using my maiden name) are--pretty common. My son Talmage has a much less common first and last name. His name combination might be unique in the United States.
Another feature of that station was what happened the year you were born:
I was surprised that both the world and national populations have changed so much just in my lifetime. Both of them have almost doubled.
In a sound and video booth, we recorded a group discussion of family sayings and family vacations. We brought a jump drive to save that. I also wanted to go in a different booth which recorded a personal history-type interview but the wait was too long. There was also another booth I could have gone in that looked interesting but that one was also busy. If I had been willing to wait, I'm sure I could have gotten in. There weren't that many people there and they weren't trying to kick us out after an hour of being there, which was the length of our appointment.
All in all, it was a great visit and I would be happy to go again.
Our appointment was for Thursday about noon. We parked in the City Center parking garage. There is an area in the garage specifically for the Joseph Smith building but I caused a small traffic jam trying to go in there not realizing my van was too tall for that area. So I had to back up with the help of the attendant and go into a different area! The parking was cheap and the visit was free.
Once we got to the Discovery Center, we were all given Ipads or Ipad minis to use during our visit. It's very important to have a FamilySearch account already with some connections to ancestors in that account so you can get more out of the visit. My youngest doesn't have an account so she had an account as a guest. She was still able to go to some stations but not the ones that tap into your ancestor information.
There are quite a few different stations, some easier to access than others. For children younger than 12, it can still be fun. My little girls had fun dressing up in the explorer accessories that they provided:
They also had a little block building station that they enjoyed as well as the regular stations. But I probably wouldn't take anyone younger than 6 or so.
One of the stations showed a world map with the places my ancestors came from:
You can see that my ancestry is very much northern Europe and Scandinavia. They did make one mistake though. One of my more recent ancestors was born in Indiana but they misread that as India.
Another station took a picture of your face and put it into a native costume of whatever country you picked. My kids really enjoyed that.
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| Here is Everett trying to get a good picture of himself in a native costume. It was challenging to get your face framed just right. |
The first station I went to told the meaning of my names and how common both my first and last names (using my maiden name) are--pretty common. My son Talmage has a much less common first and last name. His name combination might be unique in the United States.
Another feature of that station was what happened the year you were born:
I was surprised that both the world and national populations have changed so much just in my lifetime. Both of them have almost doubled.
In a sound and video booth, we recorded a group discussion of family sayings and family vacations. We brought a jump drive to save that. I also wanted to go in a different booth which recorded a personal history-type interview but the wait was too long. There was also another booth I could have gone in that looked interesting but that one was also busy. If I had been willing to wait, I'm sure I could have gotten in. There weren't that many people there and they weren't trying to kick us out after an hour of being there, which was the length of our appointment.
All in all, it was a great visit and I would be happy to go again.
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