Muddles, Puddles and Sunshine - Paperback: Your Activity Book to Help When Someone Has Died (Early Years)

Product Information

Muddles, Puddles and Sunshine Activity Book helps children understand bereavement, grief and loss, by working through the book. This simple activity that can help to show young children how feelings can get all mixed up and can be explosive. Shake a bottle of fizzy drink and then take the lid off to show how feelings can burst right out. You could encourage your children to name their own feelings that might be ‘all mixed up’. Then repeat the activity with another bottle, but this time release the lid slowly and show that feelings can also come out in a more managed way. You can talk about the different feelings as they are released. For very young children they might only be able to name very simple feelings such as ‘happy’ or ‘sad’ but this activity can begin to encourage discussion around feelings. Making a memory box: We need to show young children the difference between dead and alive and using nature can be a useful way to help them understand death. You could encourage your children to look at the differences between dead and alive insects or plants and ask them questions like:

Stories and words have therapeutic potential. They can strengthen us, help to reframe things, and help make meaning. This book offers story medicine for children, families and communities at times of grieving, loss and separation. The death of a parent or sibling is a devastating experience for any child and often adults don’t know what to say or how to support them. If your child is under five then this can be even more difficult because they might not understand what has happened or be able to express their feelings. The expert team at Winston’s Wish offers their advice on how to tell a very young child that someone has died, how to help them express their feelings and whether they should attend the funeral. Should I tell a young child about the death of a parent or sibling?

We provide a range of individual support which includes;

This book offers a structure and an outlet for the many difficult feelings which inevitably follow when someone dies. It aims to help children make sense of their experience by reflecting on the different aspects of their grief, whilst finding a balance between remembering and having fun. This book is a useful companion in the present, and will become an invaluable keepsake in the years to come. A challenging experience can make a young child feel as if they are in emotional free fall. As a parent, you can’t stop them falling, but you can offer them a softer landing:

This book is an invaluable outlet for bereaved children and is likely to become a treasured and personalised keepsake. We cannot praise this book highly enough for its combination of enjoyable activities with its comforting words and therapy. Highly recommended. As a family, grieving can be very difficult and there may be new challenges along the way. As a child grows and develops there will be new questions and things to consider. They will begin to understand more about death and so you can begin to give them more information about the death of their loved one. We hope that you have found something on this document that has helped. If you have any suggestions for further information, or if you would like to share your own personal experiences with any of the books or resources you use then please do. Additionally, if you want to talk to someone, ask for advice, or have a question we have a number of Facebook groups specifically for parents and for teachers. Set Free Childhood shows how to counter screen culture and create a calmer, more enjoyable family life.

Who’s it for?

Betty Staley explores the vibrant and exuberant nature of adolescence, offering a wise guide to raising a teenager, including: the stages of adolescence, the search for the self, the birth of the intellect, the release of feelings, male-female differences, temperaments and character. Parenting is often seen as a skill which is instinctive and does not need to be learned. However, many parents and guardians can benefit enormously from learning child-sensitive techniques which help them reflect on their parenting. Here is a unique toolkit for parents and guardians who wish to give their children the best start in life. Muddles, Puddles and Sunshine offers practical and sensitive support for bereaved children. Beautifully illustrated, it suggests a helpful series of activities and exercises accompanied by the friendly characters of Bee and Bear.