My older sister broke it down for me in an understandable way when I was a little boy. She said "Dying is when you go to sleep and you never wake up."
That clicked for me and the full horror built until I went to my parents in tears after sis told me they would die as they got older.
Seeing how terrified I was for them, my mom and dad assured me they were not going to die and I was able to calm down and breathe a sigh of relief. They thought I wasn't old enough for this yet and told my sister not to scare me like that. However, I think you are taking a wise approach to be honest with her in a calm way.
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did that soften the blow?
I think Smallsteps has a decent understanding of what death is - but she is just starting to think about what the death of others means for her.
The concept of eternity is impossible to imagine for a human - as are the concepts of nothingness and non-existence.
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I was crying and shaking in fear for them as I was still in single digits. If they had confirmed what my sister said, I would have been sick with worry for them. They wanted me to enjoy life as their son and not worry about their passing. Yes, it was what I needed at the moment and I'm glad they did that way at that time. It allowed me to learn on my own when I was a bit older.
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I was trying to remember how it was introduced to me, but can't. When I was young, my mother's best friend and someone we considered family, died from cancer. I think I was around 8, but I remember by that time it was already quite "normal" for me.