Activity 3: Children and Grief
Part of Facing Death with Life
Activity time: 20 minutes
Show “About Uncle Jack,” “Expressing Emotions,” and “You Can Talk to Me,” three Sesame Street segments that explore helping children cope with grief. If you are unable to stream the segments, explain that you are going to show a segment of an hour-long PBS video called “When Families Grieve.” The video follows four real-life families in which a parent has died, and Sesame Street’s Elmo, whose uncle Jack has died. Show a clip that focuses on how parents and caregivers can help grieving children. Show 15:06-21:08 of the video.
Then call attention to color pencils, markers, pens, and pencils. Invite participants to consider their own experiences of grief as a child and experiences they have had with grieving children, and to write or draw in their journals as they feel moved.