Kids Zone

Down the Pit !!

At National Mining Museum Scotland 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 ago – in the 1800's children as young as five worked down the mines!

Coal mining used 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
• Dress in Victorian clothes
• Build a bridge, find out about friction and learn about levers in the Interactive Zone
• See Scotland’s largest winding engine in action
• Find all six colliery cats!
• Visit Mini Miners Soft Play (under 8s only)

Kids Artwork