Rainbow Review is an activity that can be used as a handy check-in for children to find out a bit more about how they’re coping at the moment by asking about the good and not so good parts of their day or week. You can do this as a parent, carer, teacher, or any other supporting adult, to ask them how they’re feeling that day or week.
A child who is grieving may not be experiencing emotions in the same way as a child who isn’t grieving. You may be surprised by their answers to this check-in activity, and their stand-out moments from the day or week might not be exactly what you expected.
It’s important to listen to the child, you can also ask them questions about their answers to try and work out why these moments stood out to them. If you need any advice or help in talking to the child about their grief and emotions, Winston’s Wish is here to support you and listen.
Make a Rainbow Review
You will need:
- A sheet of paper
- Pencils
- Ruler (or a steady hand!)
- Coloured pencils or pens
How to make a Rainbow Review
1. Take the sheet of paper and divide it into six sections using a pencil and ruler (or a steady hand!).
2. With the paper in portrait orientation, ask the child to draw a sun, rain cloud, and rainbow in each of the three boxes on the left side.
3. In the boxes opposite those drawings (on the right), you can ask the questions below and the child or you can write in their answers.
Questions to ask the child
For this activity, we’ve selected three simple associations with different moods or feelings: sun, rain, and rainbow. You could add more and create a whole array of weather or nature themes to match up emotions to.
Ask the child how their day or week has been using the associations of sun, rain, and a rainbow to determine their good, bad, and brilliant moments…
1. What was your sunny moment?
Something the child enjoyed. This could be a happy moment, an achievement, or a time when they felt relaxed.
2. What was your rainy moment?
Something that was a challenge or disappointment. This could be a moment where something didn’t go quite as planned, or the child felt sad or uncomfortable about something.
3. What was your rainbow moment?
Something that was surprising or unexpectedly brilliant. This could be something the child did that they thought was their highlight, or something they found out that they’re now looking forward to.
This exercise can be repeated each day for a week, or once a week for a month… Or for as long as you like. It can be useful for children to reflect on how they’ve felt, and for the adult supporting them to have a useful tool to check in with them regularly or when you feel it’s suitable.
You may find that using the same associations of the sun, rain cloud, and rainbow becomes repetitive. You could use something else, like emoji faces, colours, animals… Get creative and ask the child to think of their own ideas too!
Rainbow breathing exercise
When you have completed the Rainbow Review activity, you could try the following breathing exercise with them.
Start at one side of the red band on the rainbow and trace the curve while breathing in until you reach the other side. Trace back along the red band again while breathing out. Repeat this for each coloured band of the rainbow. Sometimes breathing techniques can help to ground us and stabilise our emotions. This part may not only be helpful for the child, but also yourself!
Getting grief support
If you’re a young person who is struggling with their grief or you are an adult who would like help to support a child or young person after the death of someone, Winston’s Wish are here to help. Winston’s Wish provides support for children, young people up to the age of 25 and adults supporting them.
You can call our Freephone Helpline on 08088 020 021 (8am-8pm, Monday to Friday), email us on ask@winstonswish.org or use our live chat (open 8am-8pm, Monday to Friday). Our support workers are here to listen, can offer immediate guidance and resources and tell you what support we can offer and what might be most suitable for you.
Our Winston’s Wish Crisis Messenger is available 24/7 for urgent support in a crisis. Text WW to 85258.
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