Making a salt jar is a lovely way for your child to make something unique and personal to them that helps them remember their special person who has died and to talk about their memories.

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You will need:

• Paper plate or some plain paper
• Coloured chalks
• A label
• A glass jar with a wide opening and a lid
• Salt

Instructions:

1. Talk to your child about things they remember about their special person who has died. These could be things ]they liked, something they enjoyed doing, perhaps somewhere they went with their special person, or something they remember - ask them to choose colours that represent each memory for them.  Alternatively, you could also think about colours that remind them of  the colour of their special person's eyes, their favourite colour, or colours that remind them of a holiday or a place they loved.

2. Put some salt in a jar making sure to fill it up to below the rim.

3. Now pour the salt out and divide into equal sized piles.

4. Ask your child to colour each of the piles of salt using a different coloured chalk. It can help to place the salt on a piece of paper or a paper plate. Rub each chalk backwards and forwards into the salt. The salt will begin to take on the colour of the chalk. The harder you rub the brighter the coloured salt will become. 

5. Now gently place each pile of salt into the jar making sure to tap it down gently between colours to create layers. Some children like to mix up the colours and this is OK too. If you tilt the jar, you can make waves appear. Do not shake the jar unless you want to mix up all the colours. Then fill any remaining space with plain salt (right up to the very top!) This is important and will prevent the colours mixing. 

6. Put the lid on your jar (you may want to stick it down with some sticky tape) and ask your child to create a label for the jar with a key to the meaning of each of the colours. Your child might like to their 'jar of memories to  other people in their family or think of a place that like to keep it. 

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Watch our short animated film which suggests ways children and young people can remember someone important to them who has died.