Grief Ball Toss
Suggested Group(s): Middle/Teen
Purpose: To allow group members to express thoughts, feelings and memories about their grief experience
Task/need: Approaching the pain of the loss
Activity Setup Ideas:
- Ask, "Has anyone ever had a question that they wanted to ask about grieving, but didn’t?" "Often kids that have had a family member die have some of the same questions, thoughts, feelings and fears."
- "This game allows us to talk about some of the common questions that grieving people ask."
Materials:
- A full size soccer ball
- Grief related questions that have been written or adhered to the sides of the soccer ball
Description: The group members stand in a circle or sit at the table and gently toss the ball to whomever they would like to answer a question. The catcher of the ball answers the question that is on the ball where their right thumb lands or they may choose between the questions where either of their thumbs land.
Activity Wrap Up Ideas:
- Thank the group members for their participation
- Encourage the members to continue to think of questions that people may ask and bring them to the group in the future
Adaptation: Instead of writing questions on the ball, you may want to write numbers and have the numbers correspond to a list of questions on a separate sheet of paper. This way, the questions can be changed from session to session to address different needs, ages and tasks of grief.
