Picture: Mint Owl on Unsplash
Share this page
Colouring may have once been regarded as an activity just for kids, but it’s now a hobby that’s also inspiring grownups.
However old you are, colouring is regarded as a meditative pursuit that can be good for emotional wellbeing, while art therapy can help people channel and process many of the complicated emotions they face when someone they love dies.
“The time and focus that adult colouring takes,” says counsellor Dr Nikki Martinez, “helps the individual remove the focus from the negative issues and habits, and focus them in a safe and productive way.”
Here are 10colouring books with a focus on bereavement, created for both adults and children who are coping with loss. They may help you or someone you love, as you cope with grief after the death of someone significant in your life.
Remembering Dad
Artist Nami Nakamura turned to drawing as a form of grief therapy after hearing her dad's death.
She created this grief colouring book for other grown ups who are grieving, to help them cope and express feelings loss and love for their father.
Butterfly Wings
Methodist Deacon Rev. Penny Stemley created this colouring book for grieving children. As adults, she says, it’s difficult enough to deal with grief and loss.
Her book tells a story of faith, hope, and love, with a spiritual take that she hopes may potentially bring hope and comfort to grieving children.
Bereavement and Grief
This colouring book for grown ups who are grieving by JC Grace, has 14 pages focused on different phases of grief.
It also includes a three-month grief work journal, helping people who are bereaved to channel and process their thoughts.
Colors of Loss and Healing
Author Deborah S. Dermen witnessed the death of her parents in a plane crash and was bereaved again when her husband and father of her very young children died.
Today she is an experienced bereavement counsellor and in this adult
coloring book for getting through tough times, she provides guidance and quiet, contemplative activity through grieving and towards healing.
Colour Me Grief Recovery
Anthea Peries created this mindful colouring book for grownups to help people focus on the present moment and give their active mind a break from stressful emotions.
As well as calming images, it also includes words to colour, with inspirational thoughts to support people through difficult days.
Colouring the Shades of Grief and Healing
This colouring books is for grieving teens and young adults who have lost a loved one. Author Lyn Ragan’s belief is that colouring can be a meditative pursuit, which can help channel the mind towards a healing path.
Grief Healing Coloring Journal
If its suits your mood to colour outside the lines in this book by Benjamin Allen and Deborah Louise Brown – it’s all good, they say.
This colouring book for adults aims to help alleviate emotional stress and inspire you to journal about memories, reflections and the path you’re taking in a new life after loss.
Coping With Grief
This bereavement colouring book by Danette Simmons was designed to help very young children after a loved one has died.
It explains in simple words what death is and how we can learn to cope with the loss of someone who has died.
When My Grandmother Went to Heaven
Explaining death in away that younger children can understand from a Christian point of view, Dr Jan Lightfoot’s colouring book uses pictures and simple language to help them understand what happens to people when they die, from both a physical and spiritual perspective.
Grief Colouring Journal
Part of a series of therapeutic coloring books for adults by clinical therapist Courtney Wegner, there’s space to write your own thoughts, quotes and reflections in this 80 page grief colouring book.
- Discover more about the different ways of understanding grief and the grieving process and other alternative grief therapies to explore.
