During our eight free Family Days for bereaved families, we asked families to sit down and create origami butterflies, hearts and birds in memory of their loved one.
Family Days took place throughout the UK in venues including Legoland Windsor, Techniquest Cardiff, National Space Centre Leicester and Bristol Aquarium. Around 1,000 bereaved adults and children participated in the project, creating 100s of origami sculptures.
Creative activities are often used in grief therapy. Through our involvement with The University of Sheffield’s Remembering Baby project, we know that families value the opportunity to create something tangible as a way to remember their babies.
In an online survey of participants, one family told The Lullaby Trust: “It was nice to do something positive together as a family in honour of our baby. It was also nice to know that the other families there would have faced similar difficulties to us yet we were all able to come together in memory of the children we lost.”
The Lullaby Trust has combined all the memorial origami shapes into one large love heart which is installed in the charity’s London office.
