Other activities could include determining the mileage between the various residences and how far the ancestor moved throughout their life. If you know exactly where a certain ancestor lived, mark it on a map. The same mapping could be done with other landmarks. The library, courthouse, historical or genealogical society may have county, township, or city maps to aid you in this process. Take an estate inventory from an ancestor one or two hundred years in the past and find out what the items are and explain the more interesting ones.
Older children can use reference materials and determine what the items are for themselves.
There are wonderful, personalized history lessons to be had in these records. While suggesting a child read a transcript of a court case is too much, there are records that are more appropriate. The locations could be mapped out or you could even ask the child questions based upon the biography. Taking a family in the 1850 census and approximating the individual's birth dates from their ages is an exercise in subtraction. Take a person listed in several censuses and have the child use the age listed in each census to determine the year of birth for that person.