When DS7 was about 3.5 and the preschool class's guinea pig died, followed closely by DS's 90yo great-grandfather's death, he got really interested in death.
Since I don't believe in choirs of angels, I had a hard time knowing what to tell him. Ultimately, we went with biology: bodies become elements in the soil that plants and animals reuse, and life goes on. I also told him that since we don't know what "causes" life in the first place, we don't really understand what happens when life ends, but that I think some part of us lives on. The combination seemed to work for him. He got past it without being too bothered by it.
He's a very logical child, though. I don't know if talking about decomposition is going to ease the minds of most kids...
