Learning About Families in First Grade: Free Printables

Inside: Assorted printables for a Kindergarten and First Grade Family Unit.

Yesterday I told my students we were going to begin our Family Unit and one little girl said to me, “But why? We already know all about our families.”

I almost fell over laughing and really, I didn’t even have a good answer.

But it’s in the curriculum, people! So we will learn about families.

A Family Tree Book

We began our unit by reading the book “Me and My Family Tree” by Joan Sweeney (affiliate links are included in this post).

This was a good way to get the kids thinking about their various family members and how they’re related to one another.

When we made our own family trees we kept it very simple with siblings and parents. We discussed grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles but didn’t include them in our trees. But you could, of course!

This is what we came up with:

These are the printables we used. You can download them below.

DOWNLOAD: Family tree and apples

Family Labels

Also, I was inspired by First Grade Blue Skies to make a labelling sheet. Be sure to visit Jennifer’s blog — it’s amazing!

DOWNLOAD: Family Labels Printable

Needs and Wants

We also discussed the various needs and wants of families. Right away we noticed similarities and differences but we were able to pair it down to the very common basics. And of course love topped the list for both needs and wants.

We worked on this activity together. I created a needs/wants chart and the kids followed along using the sheet below. You can download it below.

Family Venn Diagram

Every family is unique and special. I think it’s reassuring for young children to highlight the similarities and differences between our families.

This is a wonderful way to honour and respect single parent families, adopted families, foster families, and families with two dads or two moms.

When we created our venn diagrams, we actually compared our families to Splat the Cat’s. We’ve been reading all the Splat books lately, so it seemed like a fun, light-hearted, and non-threatening approach.

But it would also make complete sense to have kids buddy up and compare their families with each other.

You can download the printable below.

DOWNLOAD: Family Needs and Wants & Venn Diagram

More Family Books

As much as I like the book “Me and My Family Tree”, which I introduced at the beginning of this post, I’m careful to include a variety of family books in my unit.

I want my kids to see themselves in the books I read to them so I like to use books that show a lot of diversity in terms of family size, make-up, race, economic status, culture, etc.

Here’s a collection of books that might fit that bill for you: