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Grief does something strange to stillness. The couch that used to mean rest starts to feel like a trap. Books refuse to be read — your eyes cross the same paragraph four times. Television asks for attention you do not have. And the evenings are the longest part, especially now, with the holidays coming and the empty chair at the table.
If you have lost someone — or you love someone who has — you know this already. What you might not know is that coloring can help. Not as a cure; nothing on a page replaces a counselor, a friend who sits with you, or time. But coloring gives your hands a job while your heart does its work. The small decisions — blue or violet, press hard or barely at all — occupy just enough of your mind to soften the quiet, without asking a single word from you.
I have colored through losses of my own, and I have sent more grief coloring books to people than I can count. These are the four that earned their place on the shelf, with honest notes on where each one falls short.
Colors of Loss and Healing — The Grief-Counselor-Built Pick
Colors of Loss and Healing by Deborah Derman is the only title here built by a working grief counselor — twenty years of clinical practice — and it shows. Each coloring design faces a journal prompt written by someone who has sat beside grieving people professionally. The questions are gentle but real: what you wish you had said, what you are afraid to forget. You can color while you think, or color instead of thinking. Both count.
Two honest caveats. The prompt pages take up real estate, so there is less room to color than in a standard book — closer to half journal, half coloring. And the inspirational text skews traditional, warm and spiritual in a way some readers will find comforting and others will not.
My take: The closest thing to guided grief work you can do at your own kitchen table. If you are processing, not only distracting, this is the pick. If you want pure quiet for your mind, keep reading down the list.
Remember Grief Is Love Coloring Book — The Floral Comfort Pick
Remember Grief Is Love (about $12) is the book I reach for when someone says they do not know what to do with themselves. The designs are calm florals — nothing symbolic, nothing you have to be in the mood for — and the short quotes sit quietly in the margins. You can color around them, or color straight through an evening without reading a single one.
The honest caveat: this is a print-on-demand title, and paper quality varies from run to run. Most copies arrive crisp; some come with faint ghosting, where text shadows through from the other side of the page. It is not a dealbreaker, but know it before you gift this one.
My take: The gentlest book on this list, and the one I gift most often. Florals forgive a shaking hand, and the pages ask nothing of you. If you buy only one book from this post for a hard season, make it this one.
Grief in Color Journal — The Journal Hybrid
Grief in Color by Rebecca Black (about $8) solves a problem nobody warns you about: grief changes its mind by the hour. Some nights you need to process; some nights you need to think about anything else. This book alternates coloring pages with remembrance prompts, so you can open to whichever half the evening calls for. There is no wrong page to land on.
The honest caveat: because the book splits its attention, its coloring designs are simpler than dedicated coloring titles. If you love intricate work that swallows your attention whole, this will feel light. But in the first raw weeks, when a complicated page feels like a demand, that simplicity is the point.
My take: The best choice for the newly grieving, and the least expensive way to test whether the practice helps you at all. If coloring becomes your anchor, graduate to a dedicated book later. If it never clicks, you are out eight dollars.
Coping With Grief Coloring Book — The Budget Option
Coping With Grief is the lowest-priced way to try grief coloring without commitment: thirty single-sided pages, open and simple designs, and no prompts to face on days when words are too much. Single-sided pages also mean your markers cannot bleed through onto the next design.
Two honest caveats. Single-sided printing sounds generous but means the book holds half as much coloring as the page count suggests. And this title has only around ten ratings, so its track record is thin compared with everything else on this list.
My take: A fair trial book — for yourself, or tucked into a care package for someone else. Low risk, easy pages, no pressure. If coloring helps, you will know within a week. If it does not, you have lost very little.
How to Choose a Grief Coloring Book (and What to Skip)
A few things matter more than usual when the hands holding the book are grieving hands:
Paper weight matters double. Thin print-on-demand paper that lets marker bleed through will ruin a page, and a ruined page on a hard evening stings more than it should. Tuck a scrap sheet behind your page when you use markers or gel pens, no matter which book you buy.
Prompts are tools, not obligations. Some nights a journal question opens something that needed opening. Other nights it is homework assigned by your sadness. Pick the book that matches what your evenings actually look like, and skip the prompt pages whenever you need to. Nobody is grading.
Skip anything saccharine. If the quotes on the pages would have made you wince before the loss, they will wince worse now. Calm florals and quiet patterns age better than loud “healing vibes” typography. Comfort is personal, and you are the only expert on yours.
Forgiving designs beat ambitious ones. Grief makes hands shake and eyes tire. A book of open, simple designs will get used; a book that demands three hours of detail work will sit unopened while you quietly blame yourself for not doing it right. Choose the one you will actually open.
The Budget Setup That Still Works
You do not need a forty-pencil set to color through grief. The Coping With Grief book above plus any basic twenty-four-pencil pack gets you coloring for about the cost of a takeout dinner, and for the first weeks that is enough. Upgrade only when you notice yourself reaching for a color the cheap set does not have. That small wanting — a specific shade, of all things — is a quiet sign of life coming back. Follow it.
Keep Reading
Two guides from this site meet you there: grayscale coloring for beginners, where the photo does the shading for you and tired eyes only have to choose colors, and gel crayons for grown-up coloring books, which give you bold color without the grip work when your hands are worn out from holding it together all day.
One small confession before the fine print: deep-focus coloring hits different with an audiobook — someone else’s voice carrying the story while your hands carry the page. Audible’s free trial is here.
ColoredCalm is reader-supported. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you buy through one of the links above, I get a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend supplies I actually color with.
Related Guides
- Bold and Easy Coloring Books for Overwhelmed Brains: The Format That Asks Nothing of You
- The Audiobook-and-Coloring Evening: The Routine That Beats the Second Screen
- Coloring as Self-Care: Building a Practice That Nourishes You
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does coloring actually help with grief?
Research on art therapy and grief counseling suggests that repetitive, low-stakes creative activities like coloring can help regulate the nervous system during acute grief. Coloring gives your hands something to do while your mind processes loss, and the repetitive motion can be meditative. It is not a replacement for grief counseling, but it is a gentle, accessible tool that requires no skill and no words.
What do you write in a card for someone grieving?
Keep it simple and honest: I am thinking of you, I am here if you need anything, or I do not know what to say but I want you to know I care. Avoid platitudes like everything happens for a reason or they are in a better place. If you are sending a coloring book, a note like I thought this might give your hands something to do on the hard evenings is enough.
Can coloring help with anxiety and loss?
Yes. Coloring engages the prefrontal cortex in a way that can interrupt anxious thought loops, and the focus required to stay within lines or choose colors creates a gentle mindfulness effect. For people experiencing both grief and anxiety, a 10-minute nightly coloring routine can serve as a transition ritual between the stress of the day and the attempt to rest.
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