Explore, Discover, Learn! - February Half Term Fun

Visit the National Coal Mining Museum for England this half term, there’s a whole host of activities and family fun – for free - both indoors and out, above and below ground, which guarantees to keep the whole family busy.

Get ‘hands-on’ and discover even more about the lives of coal miners on the new Go Mining! interactive tour. These lively, ex-miner led, underground tours are a must for all visitors. Journey 140m below ground to experience genuine sights, sounds and smells of a working coal-mine, find out how horses were once kept underground; feed, muck-out and learn how to put their bridles on in the new underground stable area. Get your hands dirty and experience life at the coal-face as it would have been for families in the early 1800s, visitors will also get the chance to experience lighting through the ages, from the pitch dark of an unlit coal mine, through candles and early lamps, to compressed air and modern electric lighting.

Plus, ahead of your tour, don’t forget to stride out over the Lamp Room’s new glass-topped Furnace Shaft and peer down 140m! Visitors going below ground can also gaze from the bottom up as they start their underground tour experience. This huge shaft, once used for ventilation, really is something to behold.

Back on the surface, if the sun is shining, make the most of a walk around the half mile long Nature Trail. Before you set off, pick up the handy re-usable, ring-bound, activity pack from the Shop and enjoy interactive games and puzzles with Motty the mole along the way (£3 per pack). The Trail begins near the Museum’s picnic area where you take the gravel path into the valley to follow the stream - look out for the bird hides and see if you can spot any of the colliery’s wildlife!

The trail also takes you to see the special water-treatment reed beds and then on to the Hope Pit where you’ll find lots of hands-on interactive models and touch-screen displays to help you get to grips with the science of mining. Join us on Tuesday 19 and Thursday 21 February when you can meet the curators who look after the Museum’s really big machines, and learn about what each one was used for.

Plus, don’t forget to swing by the playground and make a ‘pit stop’ at the stables to visit our rescue ponies, Eric & Ernie, and our beautiful Clydesdale horse Finn.

Indoors, little ones will also love the new ‘Little Diggers’ under 5s, allotment-themed soft play area, whilst the whole family can explore the original colliery buildings including the steam winder, medical centre and pithead baths, then dig deeper into the history of coal-mining in the 1842 and Coal Interface Galleries. Get to the heart of mining communities, homes and family life in Mining Lives and, on selected days over the holidays, call into Parkinson’s Yard where history will literally be brought to life by colourful, costumed characters from mining past.

Pop into the Learning Curve this half term and get creative during our popular art and craft sessions; design a decorative plate (Monday 11 to Friday 15) or why not take inspiration from our new Special Exhibition ‘We Still Stand’ and create your very own silhouette mining scene? (Monday 18 - Friday 22)