The Craft Mine Liverpool

Yesterday – Wednesday (April 1st) we had the pleasure of attending the press event for the Easter Craft Mine, hosted at St George’s Hall heritage centre in Liverpool.

The event itself opens up to the public on April 7th and runs throughout the Easter holidays until April 17th. There will be 2 hour sessions running each day and more information on times and prices can be found at The Liverpool Echo website.

This was the first time I had taken my children to Liverpool and the first time I had been myself throughout the day (I spent many nights there clubbing in my younger days). Everything in Liverpool centre seems to be signposted and therefore very easy to find. St George’s hall is right across the road from Liverpool Lime Street station.

As always we arrived early and were greeted by staff, offered drinks and then taken into a room for more drinks, refreshments, cakes and a little talk on the Craft Mine and St George’s building history. I actually felt really honoured to be their as there was only one other family there meaning my children were the first to see the Craft Mine. We also had the whole of the Craft Mine activities to ourself. It was quite a strange but lovely experience.

Once ready we were taken to the Craft Mine for the fun to begin!. The event is fully accessible for buggies and wheelchairs with lifts and minimal stairs. There is also a buggy park too for the toddlers who would rather walk. The craft mine is a maze of workshops scattered amongst catacombs. There is so much to do that it’s quite easy to get lost. The event started with a tour and a brief explanation about the project.  

There are so many rooms to explore with all sorts of crafts and games going on. One of the first things we came across was a very strange optical illusion bridge which made us feel a little weird crossing it.  

Below the bridge is even an actual mine with mine carts full of gems.

Even the corridors are lined with games, activities and experiments.  

It’s hard to know where to begin describing the various rooms as there are just so many to explore. As this was a press event, there were obviously a few rooms and things that were not quite ready just yet but even so, there was still more than enough to keep us entertained.

My girls were of course fascinated by the Frozen room, with a real life Elsa helping with crafts. Izebella was very happy decorating a castle. Ryan loved the experiments such as an exploding volcano and Jordanna enjoyed drawing a picture of her sister in the charicuture room. They all enjoyed a big art room, using blow pens, making posters and decorating a big wall.  

And when kids get tired of just making things then there is also a boogie room where they can dance or try hula hooping.  

I don’t think hula hooping is Ryan’s thing but he was more than happy playing a variety of computer games on huge screens in the gaming cave. Minecraft, Pacman and Mario X-Box can all be found for gaming enthusiast to compete. There was also lots of fun to be had with some familiar rc droids too. Jordanna loved the huge archery activity and proved to be quite a natural at it too.  

There is just so much to do here. The catacombs seem endless. If I am being totally honest, I’m not sure 2 hours is quite enough, especially for larger families. I was really impressed at just how many rooms and activities there are. Izebella is only 2 and even she had plenty to do. 

There is a small cafe at the event for when your feeling tired, and benches and chairs to sit along the way.  

So much fun for all members of the family. 

Children also get a goody bag full of craft materials and of course get to keep anything they make in the Craft mine if they wish.

The Craft Mine is a short walk from the huge shopping centre and Albert Docks.  

A big thank you to the Bill Elms Associates for a wonderful day. If you live in Liverpool then look out for us in the local newspapers as many reporters were there taking our pictures.

The Craft Mine makes a great Easter holidays day out whatever the British weather may throw at us.