What was life like for children in Victorian times?

Here are some pictures of Victorian artefacts which can be found in the visitor centre at Killhope Wheel.

These boots were definitely made for hard work.I'm sure the workers would be really glad to get home, have a shower, put their slippers on and have a look at the paper. Unfortunately, they've got to be up again at three in the morning, they didn't have showers, most workerswould not be able to read and there aren't many pictures in that newspaper are there? D'oh!

These were very important to the workers. If you go to Killhope, you can experience the mines and... you can experience being down the mines with no candles or torches! Imagine trying to eat your lunch in complete dark... with the rats after your sandwich!

Have you ever tried this cup and ball game? All of Class 5 were dieing to have a go with this pop gun as well. It's amazing how good wooden toys can be!
Back to work now. These are some of the rocks and minerals that the miners were bringing to the surface. They would make the mine owners very rich while the miners risked their lives in terrible conditions.

Here is some writing, from Class 5, describing life for Victorian children.

What was life like for Victorian children?

I am studying Victorian Children. I think that there are lots of differences because children sometimes worked then. Some differences were in clothes, schools, toys and homes.
Toys were different. Children didn't play with Gameboys and Playstations. They played with dolls ,dolls houses, rocking horses board games, tin and lead soldiers and clockwork trains. For leisure children from rich families played in the garden. Children played with Boolahs, skipping ropes, marbles and stones used as footballs. Sometimes Hopscotchs were marked out with chalk.
In Victorian times, schools were sometimes horrible places to be. Classes were large and teachers were strict. At first, people had to pay a few pence a week. Parents weren't happy, children couldn't work and earn money. In the1880s a law was passed that all children must attend school until they were 12 years old. The subjects children learnt were reading writing and arithmetic or the 3 R's. They also learnt Geography and History. Girls learnt sewing ,boys learnt gardening or technical drawing. Punishments were a caning, the slipper or the dunce hat. Once a year an inspector tested them on what they had learnt. If they failed the exam ,they remained in the same class.
Jennifer C5

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Here are some links to useful websites on the Victorians- especially the third one.

Edward Lear Home Page- www.pair.com/mgraz/Lear/learwk.html

Victoriana for Children- http://www.tbc.gov.bc.ca/culture/schoolnet/victoriana/fungames/children/child.htm

The Learning Curve Gallery- http://learningcurve.pro.gov.uk/snapshots

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	These boots were definitely made for hard work.I'm sure the workers would be really glad to get home, have a shower, put their slippers on and have a look at the paper. Unfortunately, they've got to be up again at three in the morning, they didn't have showers, most workerswould not be able to read and there aren't many pictures in that newspaper are there? D'oh!
	These were very important to the workers. If you go to Killhope, you can experience the mines and... you can experience being down the mines with no candles or torches! Imagine trying to eat your lunch in complete dark... with the rats after your sandwich!
	Have you ever tried this cup and ball game? All of Class 5 were dieing to have a go with this pop gun as well. It's amazing how good wooden toys can be! Back to work now. These are some of the rocks and minerals that the miners were bringing to the surface. They would make the mine owners very rich while the miners risked their lives in terrible conditions.