Museum Hosts Event to Help Children Cope With Grief

Anchorage Children's Museum held its first Healing with Play event, aimed at helping kids work through the loss of loved ones.

Updated on Nov. 15, 2026 in Family

Museum Hosts Event to Help Children Cope With Grief

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Should communities offer more free grief support programs for children?

The Anchorage Children's Museum hosted its first 'Healing with Play' event on Saturday, November 14, 2026, in partnership with the New York Life Foundation and Knology. The event aimed to help children work through grief and gave parents tools to talk with their children about loss.

Why it matters

Nearly one in eleven U.S. children will lose a parent or sibling before age eighteen, and in Alaska the figure is one in eight, making support for grieving children a local concern for Anchorage families. The museum said it hopes to hold more events like this one in the future.

Nearly one in eleven children nationally and one in eight in Alaska will lose a parent or sibling before turning eighteen, according to the figures cited at the event. The reported numbers do not indicate how many local children currently need grief support or how many were served by the program.

The players

Anchorage Children's Museum

A children's museum in Anchorage, Alaska, that hosts family-oriented educational programming for local kids and parents.

New York Life Foundation

The philanthropic arm of New York Life Insurance Company, which funds youth-focused programs including grief support initiatives for children.

Knology

A company that partnered with the museum and foundation to present the Healing with Play event.

The details

Anchorage Children's Museum hosted the event with the New York Life Foundation and Knology, and a New York Life agent attended with the foundation. Brennon Land outlined four key concepts for parents to impart on children about death.

Saturday, November 14, 2026: the museum held its first Healing with Play event.

Big Picture

The Anchorage event extends the New York Life Foundation's youth grief-support work from national programs into a local museum setting. It reflects a model of pairing corporate philanthropy with community institutions to reach children where they already gather.

Parents in Anchorage who want to help children process loss can look to community programs like this one for structured ways to open conversations about death. The event offered practical guidance on what to say to children about grief.

The takeaway

Children often need guidance to understand loss, and simple, structured conversations at home can help them work through grief. Parents seeking support can ask local institutions like the Anchorage Children's Museum about upcoming programming.