Printable family tree template
A blank family tree to print and fill in, for three or four generations, and a finished one to copy from. Free, as an A4 PDF or a PNG, with no sign-up. Or skip the pen: fill it in online and it draws itself.
Blank template to fill in by hand
You at the bottom, your parents above you, your four grandparents above them. Boxes for your brothers and sisters and for aunts, uncles and cousins sit beside you. Prints on one page.
A filled-in sample to copy from
Maya’s family, three generations with an uncle, an aunt and two cousins, drawn by Bargad the way it draws any tree. Look at how it is laid out, then fill in your own.
Family tree for a school project
A family tree project asks you to find out who is in your family and draw how they are connected. Printing the template above does the drawing; the part that is yours is the asking. Here is how to do it, step by step.
Start with you
Write your own name in the box marked Me, with the day you were born. Every family tree starts from one person, and for this one it is you.
Ask your parents
Ask your mum and dad for their full names and the year they were born. Ask what they were like when they were your age. If you have a stepmum or stepdad, or someone who looks after you, put them in too: they are your family.
Ask your grandparents
Your grandparents are the best people to ask, and they love being asked. Ask where they were born, what school was like, and what games they played. In many families these have different names: grandma and grandpa on your mum’s side and your dad’s side, or Nani and Nana on your mum’s side and Dadi and Dada on your dad’s.
Fill the boxes in pencil
Use a pencil first, so you can rub out a wrong year. If nobody knows a name, leave the box empty or write “not known”. That is normal, and it is part of the story.
Add the rest of the family
Use the side boxes for your brothers and sisters, your aunts and uncles (mama and mausi, chacha and bua) and your cousins. You do not need everyone, only the people you want in your picture.
Make it yours
Stick a photo in each box, or draw a small face. Add one thing you learned from each person, like “Nani makes the best dosa” or “Grandpa sailed a boat”.
A tip for sharing: a tree with living people’s birthdays on it is private. Show it in class, but ask your family before you put it online.
Not sure what to call a relative? Here are the Hindi names for every relation, and here are eight steps to make a family tree that keeps growing after the project is handed in.
Questions
Is the family tree template free?
Yes. Download it as a PNG or print it as often as you like, with no sign-up. Each sheet has a small Bargad footer with a QR code at the bottom; it is part of the picture.
How do I get it as a PDF?
Press “Print or save as PDF”. Your browser’s print window opens with the template on a single page. Choose “Save as PDF” as the printer (on a phone, “Share” then “Print” then pinch the preview to get a PDF), and pick A4, US Letter or A3 first so the page fits.
How many generations should I choose?
Three (you, your parents and your grandparents) fits on one page with room to write, and is what most school projects ask for. Four adds your eight great-grandparents; it still prints on A4, and gives bigger writing space on A3.
Can I edit the template in Word, Google Docs or Canva?
The PNG can be dropped into any of them as a picture, but the boxes are part of the picture, so you write the names in by hand. If you would rather type, build the tree in Bargad instead: you type the names, and it draws the boxes, lines and relationship labels, and prints them.
My family isn’t two parents and four grandparents. What do I do?
Draw the family you have. Leave a box empty if a person isn’t known, write in a stepparent or a grandparent who raised you, and use the box beside you for half-brothers, half-sisters and step-siblings. Online, Bargad draws second marriages, step-families and adoption as they are, and a template can’t.
Can it show more than four generations, or my whole family?
Not on a fixed page. A family of more than a few dozen people will not fit in blank boxes. Fill it in online with Bargad instead: it draws itself as you add people, it has no limit on the number of generations, and any branch prints or saves as a picture.