The Grief Mask is a great way to get kids talking about grief and how we sometimes show the world a different face than what we are feeling on the inside. Kids often hide their grief for any number of reasons including:

• Fear of adding to the pain of an adult in their life.
• Not wanting to seem like “a child” who can’t handle it.
• Not wanting to deal with all the “sympathy.”
• Wanting to “feel normal” again.

Unfortunately, burying their grief for outward appearances only leads to more significant suffering when they face their grief in private. The grief mask can be an awesome tool for talking to kids about the need to express their feelings and the dangers of keeping it all inside.

Here’s how it works:

• Get a paper plate and some markers.
• On one side of the plate, have the child draw a picture of the face they show the outside world.
• On the other side, have the child draw how they’re feeling on the inside.

Talk to the child about what they’re drawing and what it represents. Follow up with ways they can constructively express what’s going on inside to other people and who those people might be.