How do I explain a cemetery to children?

Unlike adults, children deal with the difficult subject of death relatively impartially. They have many questions and especially in cemeteries there are many ways to talk with children about death, burial and remembrance. By dealing directly with memorials and direct testimonies of a historical or living mourning at the cemetery, the strangely unknown, distant place becomes something approachable for children, to which the horror of the uncertain or even ominous no longer adheres. In addition to a selection of thematically suitable starting points and methodological possibilities, the training also provides an insight into the development of concepts of death in children.

Therefore, some cemeteries already offer guided tours for children. One does not need to look for occasions for questions and discussions here for long. Trench angels and mourning figures, unusual writings and unknown symbols, rare job titles and dates of life from which the age of the deceased can be calculated, graves of various sizes, special plants, but also animals awaken the spirit of research and offer the starting points for lively discussions. Because one thing is clear in guided tours for children: dry facts and abstract topics are undesirable.

Neither can the sequence of events be defined in detail. What is not interesting is ignored. However, the tour as a whole should be carefully prepared. In addition, one must take into account that the idea of death in children is still developing.

The training therefore provides – in addition to a selection of thematically suitable starting points and methodological possibilities – also an insight into the development of concepts of death in children.

The daily schedule includes a lecture, a guided tour of the museum and a walk through the main cemetery. Therefore please remember to wear weatherproof clothing!