Overcoming Loss: Activities and Stories to Help Transform Children's Grief and Loss

Overcoming Loss is a photocopiable resource that addresses childrens' feeling of loss, which can arise from changing communities, schools, moving house, divorce or the death of a parent or grandparent. Children are limited to a vocabulary of broad emotions like 'happy', 'sad' and 'angry', and are often unable to articulate their grief in words. This can impair their long-term emotional development.

The activities in Overcoming Loss use the power of play and creative arts to give the grieving child the language to identify subtle feelings, such as shame, despair and jealousy. Designed to encourage social and emotional learning, these exercises employ play, art and story-telling to access the ways in which children naturally express their feelings, and offers opportunities for parents and professionals to direct the child towards understanding their emotions.

Parents, teachers, counsellors and anyone working with children between the ages of 4 and 8 who are dealing with a loss will find this resource a practical and effective tool.