Children and Teens

Books by Age

Picture books and guides for young children, school-age children, and teens, chosen for how each age understands death.

• The Goodbye Book: Todd Parr's bright, simple picture book walks a young child through saying goodbye to someone they love. Gentle and reassuring, for young children, ages 3-7, with room for a child's own feelings.
• Something Very Sad Happened: Written by a child psychologist, this picture book explains death in plain words a very young child can hold onto, for children about ages 2-6, and gives parents a script for the first conversations. Warm and developmentally honest, from the American Psychological Association's Magination Press.
• When Dinosaurs Die: A Guide to Understanding Death: A straightforward, child-friendly guide to what death means, what funerals are for, and how feelings work afterward. A staple for school-age children, ages 5-9, that families and schools keep coming back to.
• Tear Soup: A gentle storybook about Grandy, who makes a pot of tear soup after a great loss, showing that grief is slow, personal, and not something to rush. For school-age children, it includes a recipe-style grief guide for the adults reading with them. Published by Grief Watch, a longtime grief resource nonprofit.
• Straight Talk about Death for Teenagers: A classic, direct book for teenagers about what mourning feels like, what helps, and how to talk to friends and family. Written without condescension by a longtime grief counselor.

Podcasts

• This Teenage Life: A teen-produced podcast where young people talk about what is actually hard, including episodes on grief and loss from a teenager's point of view. Useful for a grieving teen to hear peers naming the same feelings.

Videos and Educational Content

• Sesame Street in Communities: Grief: Sesame Workshop's free grief topic page, with short videos featuring beloved Muppets, printable activities, and simple caregiver tips, for children ages 2-8 and their caregivers. Made for very young children who cannot yet put grief into words.
• National Child Traumatic Stress Network: Traumatic Grief: A federally supported network's hub on childhood traumatic grief, explaining how children of different ages react after a death and what adults can do, for parents, caregivers, teachers, and professionals. Includes practical family resources and school guidance.

Downloads and Activities

• The Center for Grieving Children Free Resource Library: A free online library of downloadable activity sheets and articles built by a longtime children's grief center. Activity pages give kids a hands-on way to remember and to put feelings into pictures and words.

Camps and Retreats

These free grief camps give children and teens a weekend to meet peers who have also lost someone close.

• Fernside Camp Program: A structured grief camp where kids and teens spend a weekend with trained volunteers and peers who have also lost someone. Activities are built around remembering and healing, and the camp is free.
• Camp Braveheart: A free weekend grief camp where campers share stories, make memories, and meet other kids who have lost someone. Sibling loss is common among campers.
• Camp Good Grief: A free grief camp built around healing-centered activities and peer connection for young hearts. Small, kid-focused, and run by people experienced in children's grief.

Peer Support and Virtual Programs

• My Grief Angels: A volunteer-run online grief community offering moderated support groups and a warm peer forum. No cost, no insurance, and open to anyone looking for other people who get it.

School and Educator Toolkits

• After a Suicide: A Toolkit for Schools (Suicide Prevention Resource Center): The standard U.S. guide for schools responding to a student death by suicide, developed with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Covers communications, memorials, and supporting grieving students and staff.
• Rainbows for All Children: A national nonprofit that trains adult volunteers to run structured peer support groups in schools for kids grieving any loss. One of the few programs that bring grief support directly into the school day.
• Fernside School Program: Provides schools with grief-informed support, classroom guidance, and crisis help after a death touches a school community. Includes teacher training on how to support grieving students.

Organizations

These grief centers serve children and teens directly, with free support groups and programs.

• HeartLight Center: A grief center offering peer support groups and programs for teens, young adults, and adults in Colorado after any loss. Known for its welcoming groups and community education.
• The Caring Tree: A children's grief center in Northeast Florida offering peer support groups and family programs after the death of someone significant. Siblings and parents are served together.
• Highmark Caring Place: A free nonprofit grief center for children, teens, and the adults who care for them, with peer support groups, family activities, and programs designed around a child's developmental age. Whole families, including surviving siblings, are welcomed.
• Fernside (Hospice of Cincinnati): One of the oldest children's grief programs in the country, offering family groups, camps, school support, and crisis outreach. Sibling grief is addressed openly in its family programming.
• The Center for Grieving Children (Portland, Maine): A peer-support grief center where children and teens find others their age after any death in the family. Services and resources are free, and families can also access its online resource library.
• Mourning Hope: A grief center built for young people, with peer support groups, camps, and family programs. Designed to give grieving kids a place where they are not the odd one out.

National Resource

The Dougy Center: The National Center for Grieving Children & Families, offering peer support groups and resources for grieving children, teens, and the adults who care for them.

Recommended Reading

Talking with Children About Loss by Maria Trozzi: A wise, practical guide for parents and professionals on how children understand death at different ages, and how to help them grieve without fear or silence.

Listen

Grief Out Loud: The Dougy Center's podcast, made for the adults supporting grieving children and teens, with episodes on how young people grieve and how to show up for them.

Grief & Support

More Grief Support

Eluna (home of Camp Erin): The national organization behind Camp Erin, the largest network of free weekend bereavement camps for children and teens, plus programs that support grieving families year-round.

Comfort Zone Camp: The oldest nonprofit bereavement camp in the country, offering free camps where grieving kids meet other kids who get it, plus online programs that reach families far from a camp location.

Experience Camps: A national network of free summer camps and year-round virtual programs for kids who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling, or guardian, built on grief-informed activity and peer connection.