Although some research has been conducted in the past, few studies have investigated children's conceptions of life, death and dying. To study children's ideas about death, 112 children, age 4-18, were asked to draw what they thought of when they heard the word "death" and also to make verbal comments about their drawings. Three qualitatively different categories of themes or motives were discerned from the drawings. Category A depicted violence and external causes of death. The mean age of children in this category was 9.13 years. Category B described what happened to a person after death and often included Christian symbols and ceremonies. The average age of children in Category B was 12.74. Category C focused on the process of dying related to illness and old age. The average age of the children was 16.38. Overall, category differences were significantly related to age-levels. The findings suggest that these qualitative differences are a consequence of norms and values imposed on children from the adult world in order to meet adults' ideas concerning children about death. (Author/JAC)