You bought a package of funeral toys. Below are some helpful things to use when deploying funeral toys. Some things are cross-package, while others are designed specifically for a particular package.
We begin with three videos. Using these videos, you can explain a number of things.
Video 1: Placing a deceased person in the coffin.
video 2: the stages of a farewell service.
Video 3: tour of a funeral home with auditorium, cooling room, funeral rooms and crematorium.
In addition, you can use it to discuss after what happened. Did the child understand everything, are there any issues that need additional explanation?
starter kit
The starter kit consists of the following items.
– emotion memory
The emotion memory can be used to talk about emotions with children in an approachable way. In addition, it can also be used, to have the child discuss from the child’s point of view how they are currently feeling (by picking a corresponding picture and describing the current feeling from there). This is especially something that the adults around the child can do well, or can be used in a therapy setting. For funeral directors, this is less appropriate.
–set of A6 talking boards
The set of talking boards is ideal for discussing all the steps of a funeral with children. They are drawings, which makes the steps – especially for adults – less difficult to behold, making them more engaging. Using these slides, you can have the conversation with the child. Do you find it difficult to start the conversation? Then use the input on the back of the card, to start the conversation.
– 5x A3 building board
I use these building boards myself in a first meeting as a funeral director. During the time we complete the formalities, the child works on this record (creating an immediate opportunity to engage the child in an easy way). In addition, by coloring the record, you get valuable input for a follow-up conversation. If the hearse is painted pink, I would like to know if this is the favorite color of the child or the deceased, so that part of the funeral service can be more personalized and the knowledge of the child can be used in a valuable way.
– cot
Many deaths occur after an illness. This marks the transition between illness and death. Use it that way, too.
– funeral van
Often the funeralvan is the first one seen on the street when a death occurs. That is precisely why this typical bus was added. A low-key conversation can be started by the typical features this bus has.
– grieving family
– puzzle hearse.
For the little ones, this puzzle has been added.
– lady with book and candle.
– coffin with deceased
Of course, this one cannot be missed.
cremation package
– auditorium
With this auditorium, you can perfectly prepare children for the funeral ceremony. You can use the video above for inspiration, or, of course, you can have the children perform the ceremony – using your script – for you. That way, they know what’s going to happen and how the service will go. This helps them feel a little safer in this unfamiliar place, and it helps adults to see a little better that the children can come along without harm to a funeral.
– cremation furnace
The device that makes everyone curious. It is perfect for explaining what is going to happen and how the process works. Of course, the coffin will not fit in the oven without first removing the flames. As in real life, the process does not start with flames. Included, of course, is an ash container, some ashes and a cremation stone, so the identification of the ashes can also be explained.
– columbarium
Whether seen as a columbarium, or an “urn display case”; it helps children with the steps involved in cremation.– grieving adults
– grieving children
– grandparents.
burial package
– cemetery + expansion
the expanded cemetery shapes all aspects that take place in the cemetery: an assortment of headstones, an opened grave, as well as flowers for the scattering meadow and a soothing lake with a fountain.
– hearse
The hearse takes the deceased from the funeral home to the cemetery. It helps children to be able to look at the hearse, at the aspects that characterize a hearse. Thus, they understand on a approachable way what is involved in this type of transportation, which in turn contributes to children’s understanding of the topic of death and dying.
– pallbearers
The bearers make a beautiful (classic) picture in the cemetery to bring the funeral casket to the grave. They help the adult next of kin, from a familiar scene, discuss the customs and rituals surrounding the cemetery with both adults and children.
– grieving adults
– grieving children
– grandpa & grandma
Certainly grandparents deserve a place in it all, as they not only say goodbye to their child or assist their child in saying goodbye to their partner, but also say goodbye to part of the role they played as grandparents.