Kids Zone

Down the Pit !!

At the National Mining Museum you see what life was like working in a cramped, dark and cold pit. Just be glad you weren’t born a couple of hundred years agao – in the 1800s children as young as five worked down the mines!

Coal mining uses to be really important to Scotland’s economy – but it was not an easy job. During your visit you will get a sense of the tough conditions miners worked in. Fortunately all of the tour guides at the museum are ex-miners and will have lots of stories to tell you about what it was like for them.

Here are just a few things you must do when you visit!

• Squeeze through a tight, dark tunnel in A Race Apart Exhibition and find out if you would have made it as a miner!
• Experience “wash day”, back-breaking work for the wives of the miners
• Build a bridge, find out about friction and learn about levers in the hands-on Operations Centre
• Drive Scotland’s largest winding engine
• Ask at reception for one of our “back packs” which contains lots of activities to help you make the most of your stay.

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