‘I care very much that STEM learning about Mining Heritage should not be above people’s heads, very technical. It must be engaging and lots of fun’. As you see, dressing up is just one of many ways we achieve this!
‘Full STEAMS Ahead’ is a title that combines STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) with our creative elements of Art (drawing, painting, photography, crafts and textiles), plus Music with Make-Believe and Movement (Re-Enactment), all served up through Stories.
SUMMER 2025 – Stories of Mining, Past and Present
After months of preparation, involving the many and varied talents of our staff team, we are pleased to announce our best ever experience, for families (or other small groups) who have the motivation to engage together in learning that goes ‘Deeper and Deeper’. The stories you hear, over a 2.5 hour visit, whilst also dipping into Art, Music and Re-Enactment, will ensure you can confidently answer the question below.
Who will enjoy these sessions?
We started out designing activities for Early Years and Primary age children. But soon we expanded to engage adults of all ages, especially volunteers in retirement, with interest and time to bring to the sessions:- they were vital to our success. Later, we had an opportunity to work with young people on the cusp of their teenage years (Y8). What this tells us is, multiple ages in a group can work very well. The key thing is that they should be keen to dig for facts and truths.
Please send an email to enquiry@themeadowbarns.co.uk with 2 or 3 possible dates and we will create the experience for you. Our prices are for a maximum of 6 in a group, which we have found to be the best number, but please simply include in your message if you wish to bring more. We always encourage multiple generations of a family to join in, and will adapt activities to suit various ages. Further details and prices are here.
Choice of the sessions you can book
Full STEAMS Ahead is offered in 6 sessions of story telling, and the progression through is chronological: –
Session 1 – Stories of Rocks & Metals, Making Money. You will be listening to recorded conversations as you move between 4 different Geology Garden areas. We invite you to paint titles of rock types, using colours, onto slates. The second half involves digging in rocky ground for Cornish Metals and historic and contemporary coins. To conclude you make pictures of money, rubbed with wax crayons.
Session 2 – Stories of Water and Fire, Streaming & Smelting. For this session we take to the woods, by a real stream if possible, for A Forest School mode of learning with extra cooking & music with the stories. In the stream we hunt for tin and iron, then cook and enjoy a lunch, baking tins of beans or spaghetti directly in the fire. Resting after the meal, our stories tell how tin influenced our textiles, from the Cornish flag to rugby shirts!
Session 3 – Stories of Wheels & the Mechanics of Mines. We study a range of different wheels, made of timber and iron. From early times they were driven by humans, animals, water or wind, and this topic inspires us to sing as we play with a variety of models. Soon we embark on a walk to an historic waterwheel pit, to fully appreciate Nature’s Power.
Below you see a Head Gear wheel and tin streaming at Wheal Martyn; iron, with wind and water power at Penpell, Meadow Barns; and chains used for logging, by one of our working horse partners.
Session 4 (normally the first introduction at Meadow Barns) – Stories of ‘Going Deeper and Darker’ into themes of the Industrial revolution. There are 5 short sections to this session, which unfolds in the 1840s. A Prologue or ‘Starter’ sets out the earlier history of gunpowder and blasting, followed by visits to a tunnel, a scarred landscape and a garden area for meeting Queen Victoria. The ‘main course’ is a drama scene, imaginary but very rooted in known facts, when Charles Dickens visits a mid Cornwall copper mine and we all learn about pollution of rivers and sky e.g. the visible ash and smoke, and the invisible gases, which today we realise to be the cause of Climate Change.
Session 5 – Stories of A Fresh Start, Looking after Nature. We begin this session with a reflection on the last one, about Emissions from mining and industries in later Victorian times, Next we go out and embrace trees, learning more about oxygen and CO2 and the techniques of deep breathing, which leads us to discover ESG (Environmental and Social Governance). This can help achieve a better future, and guide us as we study soil and water ‘remediation’. During this experience we are encouraged to invent short poems (Haikus) about ‘A Fresh Start for Mining’.
NB – Session 5 is suitable to be developed further, over weeks or months. It offers opportunities to adapt and extend in different types of terrain, covering inspection of damaged ground or polluted waterways, remediation and nature recovery. For instance, at Meadow Barns we may plant saplings, engage in horse logging of fallen trunks and finish with rubbing down wood and designing beautiful ‘platters’.
Session 6 – Stories of New Metals and Mining Today. This is where we have the great good fortune to work in tandem with industry members of the Cornwall Mining and Geo-Resources Alliance, especially the Lithium companies. They will either join us in a public ‘Learning Conversation’ about the future of mining in Cornwall or occasionally, as with this group of 12 – 13 year olds, may open their facility for a visit.
You can see the other films of illustration, mostly with Early Years but one also with the Year 8 students, at the playlist on our YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLL19dB7VxtVIzNSclCS7AVit2dmEvXpGu
Reasons to embrace the scheme
If you share our aim, to help on the journey to Net Zero, and our ethos of empowering local people to play their part through activities in our historic landscapes and nature, then those are good reasons. But the most important thing to realise is that it will be Play Time as you learn … lots of fun, really positive for mental health with all different generations of people mixing together.
In March 2025 we submitted a full Evaluation report to the University of Exeter; if you would like to read it please ask. But don’t take our word for this … we include below a few relevant quotes from participants.
I discovered a set of materials underpinned by rigorous and up to the minute research, appropriate for Masters level students, cunningly wrapped up with old nursery rhymes and playful movement, silly hats, toy animals, detective games, drawing and painting … umpteen inventive ways to deliver serious STEM. (Graham, secondary school Geography teacher)
The creative staff at Meadow Barns render the world of discovery into much simpler forms and add the elements of music and simple play to thoroughly engage not just a wide range of ages of children but also provide a fun learning environment even for some of us older “fuddy-duddies. (David, retired industrial chemist now a leading historian)
We found the activities engaging and fun and creatively educational for the children, who learned about mining and history accompanied by excellent quality music. The activities proved adaptable for all ages … Lostwithiel participating family, now part of our panel of advisors.