Grief in childhood does not always look the way adults expect.
Some children cry openly. Others become quiet, angry, anxious, clingy, distracted, hyperactive, perfectionistic, withdrawn, or emotionally numb. Many move in and out of grief repeatedly as they grow and develop new understanding of loss over time.
The Helping Grieving Children & Teens Toolkit was created to provide emotionally safe, developmentally appropriate support for children and adolescents navigating grief while also helping the adults around them respond with confidence, compassion, and understanding.
Designed by an experienced child and adolescent therapist, who was a prior hospice social worker, this printable resource collection blends grief education, emotional regulation support, reflective activities, and relationship-centered guidance into one easy-to-use digital toolkit.
A child-friendly educational handout that gently teaches children and teens healthy ways to understand and cope with grief. Each topic includes a corresponding worksheet for exploration.
Topics include:
It’s Okay to Feel Your Feelings
Talk About It
Remember in Your Own Way
Take Care of Your Body
It’s Okay to Have Good Days and Hard Days
Do Things That Bring Comfort
Ask Questions
Be Patient With Yourself
This visually engaging handout normalizes grief reactions while reinforcing emotional safety, support, and self-compassion.
Each coping topic includes a matching interactive worksheet designed to help children and teens explore the concept more deeply through:
Reflection prompts
Feelings exploration
Drawing opportunities
Coping skill identification
Emotional expression activities
Regulation-focused exercises
Child-friendly journaling prompts
Developmentally supportive discussion starters
These worksheets are designed to be approachable, non-threatening, and emotionally validating while supporting meaningful therapeutic conversations.
Perfect for:
Therapy sessions
School counseling
Grief groups
SEL supports
Home conversations
Child life and hospice work
A practical, compassionate guide for caregivers that explains:
What grief may look like in children and teens
Common behavioral and emotional grief reactions
How to respond to difficult questions
Ways to support emotional regulation
What children need most from safe adults
Helpful versus unhelpful responses
When additional support may be needed
One of the hardest realities for families is grieving the same loss together while trying to care for one another at the same time.
This supportive handout helps caregivers navigate:
Parenting while grieving
Emotional modeling versus emotional flooding
Co-regulation during family grief
Creating safety during uncertainty
Balancing honesty with developmental appropriateness
Reducing guilt and perfectionism in caregiving
Allowing space for both child and adult grief experiences
Warm, validating, and realistic, this resource helps families feel less alone during overwhelming seasons of loss.
Children spend a large portion of their lives in school environments, yet many educators receive very little grief-informed training.
This handout helps school staff understand:
How grief impacts learning and concentration
Behavioral changes related to grief
Emotional dysregulation in classrooms
Trauma-sensitive responses
Supporting grief anniversaries and triggering events
Communication and classroom accommodations
Ways schools can create emotionally safe environments
Ideal for:
Teachers
School social workers
School counselors
MTSS teams
Administrators
Behavioral support staff
This developmentally informed handout explains how grief commonly presents across different age groups, helping adults understand:
Preschool grief responses
Early elementary understanding of death and separation
Middle childhood emotional and behavioral grief patterns
Adolescent grief reactions and identity development
Re-grieving across developmental stages
Why grief may reappear over time
This guide helps adults respond with greater empathy, realistic expectations, and developmentally appropriate support.
A clinician-friendly guide explaining how to adapt the activities for:
Pre-literate children
Pre-writers
Young children with limited expressive language
Play-based therapeutic work
Sensory and movement-based engagement
Includes:
Visual response ideas
Gesture and picture-based adaptations
Play and puppet integration
Sensory-friendly approaches
Developmentally appropriate modifications
An additional support sheet filled with:
Drawing prompts
Coloring ideas
Storytelling activities
Memory-building exercises
Play-based grief supports
Sensory and regulation activities
Creative connection rituals
Preschool and Kindergarten-friendly intervention ideas
Perfect for:
Early childhood therapists
Preschool staff
Parents
Child life specialists
Early intervention providers
✔ Developmentally informed
✔ Trauma-aware and attachment-sensitive
✔ Child-friendly and emotionally safe
✔ Designed by an experienced child therapist
✔ Easy to print and use immediately
✔ Balances clinical insight with warmth and accessibility
✔ Appropriate for therapy, school, grief groups, and home support
✔ Supports both emotional expression and regulation
Child therapists
Social workers
School counselors
Psychologists
Educators
Pediatric providers
Hospice and bereavement professionals
Parents and caregivers
Children do not need perfect words.
They need emotionally safe adults who are willing to sit beside them, listen without rushing, support without fixing, and remind them they do not have to carry grief alone.
This toolkit was created to help make those moments a little easier, a little safer, and a little more connected.
Download today and begin using these supportive grief resources immediately in therapy sessions, schools, support groups, classrooms, or at home.