Crafts can be a helpful, alternative way for children and young people to explore and process their grief and loss of a loved one. Here our Family Support & Bereavement Services Team give some examples of craft activities.
Crafts can be a helpful, alternative way for children and young people, (CYP) to explore and process their grief and loss of a loved one. At KEMP, our Family support & Bereavement Service Team use creative activities such as making memory boxes, memory bracelets or chains, and memory gardens.
Whilst making them, it can encourage the child or young person to talk, explore and reflect deeper in their emotions and feelings around their loss. This helps them to understand their own personal experience of grief, whilst at the same time raising their self-awareness and recognising what they need, and can help support them during this time.
Take a look below at three of the activities the KEMP Family Support & Bereavement Services Team suggest to support children and young people:
Memory Box – A collection of memories
A memory box can be a gentle way for children and young people to remember someone special.
Emotions can be overwhelming during a time of loss. A memory box can give a safe space to reflect on memories and be a reminder of happier times and the moments shared together.
Memory boxes can also help provide a connection between a child and their loved one, keeping a continued bond which is important in the grief process. It’s important for the child or young person to choose and decorate the box, and for them to choose the items they’d like to go in it. Some of these items might be:
- Photos of them and their loved one
- Photos of activities and places they’ve been together
- A perfume, a lotion or scent that reminds them of the person
- Items from the loved one’s hobbies or crafts
- Their favourite song, book or poem
- Tickets or items from the places they’ve visited or events they’ve attended together
It can also be useful to write a note to go with each item, explaining the meaning to help remind the child or young person.
Memory Bracelets or Chains – A special keepsake
A keepsake can be a helpful way to support a child or young person through the process of grief.
A memory bracelet or chain can be a physical reminder which helps to keep a connection and gives comfort. When making a bracelet or chain the child or young person should:
- Write notes as a reminder of what each bead represents
- Pick the beads themselves
- Select beads which have meaning, or place a memory to their chosen bead
Memory Garden – a place to reflect and remember
Creating a memory garden can provide a space for a child or young person to visit, to reflect, to remember and talk.
It can offer solace having a place to go to offering comfort. It can help with ending and closure in grief. When creating a memory garden they should choose their own plants or trees, and they could:
- Choose plants the person who has died liked
- Choose plants in the person’s favourite colour
- Select ornaments to place in the garden
- Make their own ornaments or crafts to place alongside the plants or trees.
A memory garden is a place the child or young person can go to when they want comfort, to reflect and remember. Watching the garden grow can symbolise growing and change in grief through time.
These are just a small selection of ideas for how creative activities can help support a child or young person through their grief. Some other ideas include:
- Tealight candle holder: Decorating a tealight holder such as a glass jar and lighting the candle on special occasions. This gives them a moment for reflection and remembering of a loved one. (We recommend using battery powered tealight candles)
- Making a personalised photo frame: selecting a favourite photo of their loved one.
- Placing Memory stones or heart plaque: in a location where they choose such as in the home, or garden or resting place.
Memory Craft Activities
Memory Events at KEMP to Support Children & Young People
An important part of the calendar each year for the KEMP Family Support & Bereavement Services Team, are the Memory Events held for children and young people who have accessed the services. These events are designed to:
- Help them enjoy activities in a safe space,
- Spend time with their peers who are experiencing similar emotions
- Help them express how they are feeling through the creative nature of activities
Find out more about our most recent event that took place in December 2024.
If you have a child or young person who lives in the Wyre Forest or attends a Wyre Forest school and has experienced a bereavement in the last five years, find out more about our Family Support & Bereavement Services or how to make a referral.