We’d all like to protect our children from tragedy, but even young children often hear about or are exposed to tragic events. Today is September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance. If you’re wondering how to help your children understand and cope with the September 11 anniversary, I’m sharing some posts that give helpful ideas for talking with children about tragic events like 9/11.
I’ll also share some posts with ideas for activities that would be good to share with children on 9/11. Just choose the activities and ideas that fit your child’s age and level of understanding.
Ideas for Helping Children Understand 9/11
“Look for the Helpers” Mister Rogers Word Art Freebie
How to Talk to Your Kids About September 11: An Age-by-Age Guide from iVillage
7 Tips: How to Talk to Our Kids about 9-11 from A Daddy Blog
Talking to Children about Terrorism from 9/11 Memorial & Museum
“Parents in action: Discussing 9/11 with your children” (video for parents from the 10th anniversary in 2011)
Patriot Day in United States (information for older children)
Talking with Children about Tragedy (my post)
9/11 Activities for Children
Montessori-Inspired Peace Education Activities
Sept 11th Picture Book and Sept. 11th Tues + Blue Skies: Then + Now from RainbowsWithinReach.
September 11th Free Resources, Tips, and Lessons from LMN Tree
Talking with Children about Death: Creating an “I Remember” Book (can be adapted for an event like 9/11 for families who lost a loved one)
Shape Fire Engine from I Can Teach My Child
Firefighter Printables (such as fireman magnet pages) from Making Learning Fun
Community Helpers Theme from PreKinders
Community Helpers Theme from First School
MONTESSORI-FRIENDLY COMMUNITY HELPER ACTIVITIES (MANY WITH FREE PRINTABLES)
Montessori-Inspired Fire Safety Unit with Free Printables and Activities
Free Medical Worker Printables and Montessori-Inspired Medical Worker Activities
Community Helpers Pinterest Board
Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who suffered and are suffering today.
Learn more about my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to. Teach Grace and Courtesy!
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Debbie Clement says
Deb, this is such a comprehensive and helpful list. Your work is always superlative in every way. I am grateful for your including my picture book in your list of resources. I have had visitors today as a result of your generously linking my work into your list of resources.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Debbie Clement
RainbowsWithinReach
Deb says
Thanks so much for your kind words, Debbie! It was my pleasure to link to your inspiring work. I’m so glad to hear you’ve received visitors from my post. I just added your latest post, too. 🙂
Carolyn says
This is such a wonderful resource about such a difficult- but important- topic. Thank you.
Deb says
Thanks, Carolyn! It is a difficult topic. I can clearly remember talking with my own children about it. They were 11 and 16 at the time, so it was easier to know what to say than if they had been younger. But it’s definitely helpful to know what the experts recommend for each age.
Adrienne says
Great resource! I honestly was not prepared for today. I wish I would have read this yesterday!
Deb says
Thanks so much, Adrienne! The day always shocks me when it arrives each year. I’ll have to remember to put this on Facebook and Twitter the day before 9/11 from now on.
Shannon Schmid says
What a GREAT resource! I am sharing it on my Facebook page as well as bookmarking it for myself to refer to when pumpkin gets a little older! thanks so much for sharing it!
Deb says
Thanks so much for your kind comment and for sharing my post, Shannon! Your 9/11 experience is so frightening. I hope even children who are too young to remember 9/11 can learn messages to help create a better future.
Michael says
This is great, and not just because you included my post in it. 😉 As my wife Shannon wrote just above, this is a great resource. Thank you for sharing all of this.
Deb says
Thanks so much, Michael! I really appreciated your post. It was wonderful to find resources that can help parents with difficult questions about such a tragic event.
Jackie Higgins says
Thanks for all of these resources. It hasn’t come up in our house as our boys are still young and at home with me but I am pinning this to return to. I really appreciated the age by age guide!
Deb says
Thanks, Jackie! I always liked to have resources available for when I needed them. I even had a small section of children’s books about death when my kids were little. I was really glad I had them when we faced the unexpected death of my grandmother.