From Pit to Playground: Childhood in a Changing Wales

Museum Workshop

From Pit to Playground: Childhood in a Changing Wales

🔍 Discover and Explore

What was childhood like in Victorian Wales? Step back in time and experience a day in the life of the children that lived in the coal mining areas of Wales in the nineteenth century. Explore work, home, and school, and discover how different life is for children today.

✏️ Take Part

Experience a typical day in a Victorian school, Miners’ cottage, and a coal mine.

Crawl through a mine, discover what home life was like, and become immersed in a Victorian school lesson.

ℹ️ About This Session

From Pit to Playground discusses themes of work, home and school for children in the nineteenth century and includes themes of health and injury and has some reference to death and punishments in school.

This is an interactive session that has physical elements. Please let us know when you are booking if you have any pupils that would be sensitive to these experiences, and we will do our best to make everyone feel comfortable!

Duration: 1 hour

Dates: To enquire about available dates and cost, please send your school’s name, number of pupils, year group and preferred dates to bigpit@museumwales.ac.uk or call (029) 2057 3650

Cost: Led by Museum staff - £40 for up to 15 pupils, £60 for up to 35. Free for some schools (see booking information).

Curriculum

Humanities: Enquiry, exploration and investigation inspire curiosity about the world, its past, present and future.

Health & Wellbeing: How we engage with social influences shapes who we are and affects our health and well-being. 

Languages, Literacy and Communication: Languages connect us.

Learning Objectives:

Build up a body of knowledge and develop skills to connect and apply that knowledge in different contexts through exploring the daily life of Victorian children at home, school and work.
Lead and play different roles and understand the responsibilities of children in the nineteenth century.
Develop knowledge about their culture, community, society and the world, now and in the past by comparing their lives to the lives of children in the nineteenth century.
Build their mental and emotional well-being by developing confidence, resilience and empathy through learning about health and wellbeing of children in the past and their own lives today.