Kids today might find this hard to believe, but there really was a period in time when smartphones didn't exist. But how did they entertain themselves?. How did they survive without instant and constant access to hilarious videos of cats being cats and people failing at stuff?
Well, actually, they managed just fine. Check out these vintage pictures of children enjoying themselves before mobile phones were invented to see what we mean. Compiled by Bored Panda, the list serves as an important reminder that all you really need to enjoy yourself is a little bit of imagination. Don't forget to vote for your favorite!
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Girl Playing For Her Dog
Children In A Manchester Street Find Their Own Enjoyment With The Aid Of A Rope And A Lamp Post, 1946
Health and Safety violation right there. Shut these kids down.
Children Playing "Push The Peanut", King's Cross Street London, 1938
Imagine that!? Kids with their noses on the ground, crawling.... and most likely no child died as a direct result. People are so germaphobic these days - THAT is what's frightening!
Best Friends
Girl Dancing In Front Of Her Teddy Bear, Paris, 1961
I LOVE the way kids valued their toys back then. Toys were treasured because kids were lucky to have them. We lined up our little stuffed animals and performed plays for them.
Two Little Kids Dancing On The Streets Of New York City, 1940s
Paul Remos, A Circus Strongman, Hoists His Son Up In The Air Using Only His Right Arm To Feed A Giraffe At The London Zoo, 1950s
Three Boys Are Fishing For Change During The Great Depression, New York, 1930
Even The Dog Gets A Go On This See-Saw, Northamptonshire
One of my favorite games to play as a kid. I remember my neighbor had one in their backyard.
Kids Playing With Skippy Balls, London
I need to find out who took this photo..the boy on the left looks exactly like my son! His that age now.
I had one of those I remeber mine was called a hopperoo & had 2 handles instead of one!!
They're on the sidewalk, the sidewalk is not busy, and who says they aren't "supervised"? Did the picture take itself?
Load More Replies...Child Hung Up On A Clothing Rope, Paris
This was before we could put our children in the tumble dryer.
Two Girls Ride Sheep
Children Drawing With Chalk, Manchester, 1966
This is one I believe hasn't died in years gone by. I do see kids or sidewalk and street art every year. I remember drawing our hopscotch game on the pavement with chalk
Kids Dancing In The Street, New York, 1964
Set up by the fire dept. during a heat wave. People so poor they didn't have air conditioning, some as you can see didn't even own a bathing suit.
A Young Boy Wearing An Indian Headdress Hides In A Coal Hole And Takes Aim With A Toy Pistol, London, 1954
Nowadays a kid can't even own a toy gun and people would call the head dress as 'profiling' or any numerous other terms
Children Playing, New York, 1940s
We used to play on the roof of the house. We also used to climb trees equally as tall, or taller. NEVER once did a child fall or get hurt. Kids are adaptable that way. A child can get hurt falling off a skateboard or bicycle, it's just as easy
Police Officer Playing With Children, Harlem, 1978
Two Boys Engrossed In Their Comic Books, Outside On The Street, 1952
Must have been the newest edition. That was the day we all headed to the stores to buy brand new comic books
Catching Rain
Ten-Year-Old Martin Witter Watches Two Snails Race In His Home In Lynwood, California, 1954
Nun Dancing With Children On Saint Patrick's Day, Ireland, 1964
Girls On Swings
We used to try to get the swing to flip over the pole! Of course that would be impossible, but on a good 10 foot (3 meters) tall swing set it would certainly feel like you were about to go around!
Tuba Players, New York, 1940s
Girls Doing Handstands, Southam Street, London, 1956
The Little Marilyn, Paris 1975
Children Playing With Paper Boats, Paris, 1950
This Girl From Finchley, North London, Shows No Fear Of Being Dropped By Her Two Friends As They Play, 1954
And most likely they NEVER did drop her. Look how tall the slide was too! Now this IS a playground!
Young Daughters Of Air Raid Wardens In South-east London Practising First Aid With The Aid Of Their Dolls, 1940
A Group Of Children In The Middle Of A Haystack In A Field In Pawling, New York, Early 20th Century
Children Playing Marbles, Missouri, 1940s
Getting the 'cats eye' marbles or another 'shooter' was always the BEST. I lost most of my great marbles to the older kids. Especially my sister, she had won all the GREAT marbles on the block.
Russian Child Plays On Homemade Swing Made On A German Cannon Left Behind, 1944
i like this not only because of the happiness on the child's face, but the beauty of a weapon made for destruction now being used in the most innocent fashion. what a great shot.
Children Playing In Paris Under The Eiffel Tower
Girl In Japan, 1958
Adorable. That is one big telephone receiver, even for an adult - It's as long as her whole arm!
Children Playing, Ribeira, Porto
We did this indoors at the homes of kids who lived in 2 story houses. We would ride the carpeted stairs.
Children Leaping With Umbrella, 1963
Sometimes we used sheets as parachutes too. We knew the umbrella might break, and that is actually what we would get in trouble over, but not for playing on the roof. lol
Kids Keeping Cool In The Summer, New York, 1937
Children Playing In The Housing Slums Of Gorbals District, South Bank Of The River Clyde, Glasgow, 1960s
Those three kids were LUCKY. They actually got a boat to play in. It looks like 8 others had to watch
The Little Parisian, 1952
Youngster Playing In Water From Fire Hydrant. Police Are Waging Campaign Against Indiscriminate Opening Of Hydrants Since It Reduces Water Pressure And Poses A Threat To Fire Fighters, New York, 1959
Children Fishing In Victoria Park, London, 1953
Children Singing In A Snow Cave, Niigata Prefecture, 1956
An Eye On The Street, Glasgow, 1968
Boys Skateboarding In Streets Of New York, 1960s
A Group Of Boys Aged Between 8 - 14 Out At Play
Adults would disapprove. It's not that kids don't want to play, it's just that we don't get as many opportunities any more.
Children Balance On Rail In South Dakota, 1959
Girls Playing With Their Skirts On An Air Vent
Boys Riding The Rails After The Liberation Of Holland, 1945
A Us Soldier Helps Some Children With Their Skipping, England, 1944
One of my favourite old school activities. My class was the best at this sort of entertainment.
Two Girls Swing On A Lampost, Manchester, 1965
Children Walking Rue Marcelin Berthelin Berthelot, Choisy Le Roi Mai, Paris, 1946
In the too big boots handed down from an older boy probably stuffed with wool or old newspaper to prevent slipping :) lol
German Kids Flying A Kite Made Of Worthless Money During Hyperinflation, 1923
Children Playing With A Bike Wheel, Palermo, 1971
Children Playing With Stacks Of Hyperinflated Currency During The Weimar Republic, 1922
Girls Playing, Barcelona, 1958
Two Children Have Great Fun Hanging Upside Down Off A Low Rail In Stockport, 1966
Kids Play With Boxes
Children Looking At Billboard Adds, New York, 1950s
I don't think they were necessarily looking at ads, I think they were looking at ladies in their undergarments. This would have been more on the seductive side for the 1950's.
Girls Playing Hopscotch In The Street, New York, 1947
Two Girls Playing In Sydney Slums, Mainly Surry Hills, Woolloomooloo, Redfern, 1949
Youngsters Play In Harlem Street In The 1920's
Young Boys Swinging From A Lamp Post In The Midst Of Rubble Left By A Bombing Raid On London During The Blitz, 1940
It's so fascinating to see the happiness on their faces when so much turmoil surrounds them. These days, people record their children having tantrums when they don't get the gift they want.
Kids Play In The Street, New York, 1900s
Two Girls Play With Their Tricycles, 1920s
London Children Wear Their Gas Masks As They Skip In The Park At Their Temporary Homes On The South Coast Of England, 1940
Children Playing A Game Of Leap-frog In A Street In Harlem, New York, 1935
Girls Peeping
Children In Swansea Make The Most Of This Climbing Frame, 1939
German Kids Playing On A Panther Tank Turret Following The Fall Of Berlin, 1945
Berlin has a history before 1989. You might consider to google WWII.
Children Playing On Waste Ground, Middlesbrough, England, 1976
Girls Playing, Italy, 1954
Children Climbing Walls, Amsterdam, 1964
Children Playing With Toy Guns, Rome, 1951
Kids Playing On Rue Edmond-Flamand, Paris, 1952
Kids Play In A Fort, New York
Kids still build forts. It's a great play to watch to tv from.
Fifteen Children Enjoy A Ride In London's Bloomsbury
Children Peeping Through The Window
Boy Climbing A Pole, Paris
Two Boys Playing At Water's Edge With Toy Sailboat, 1930
Girls Jump Rope In Zennor Road, London, 1960s
Pupils Walking On Rue De Rivoli, Paris, 1978
Kids Playing In A Fire Hydrant, New York, 1954
Children Playing In An Area Of Bomb-damaged Wasteground In Stepney, In The East End Of London, 9th March 1946
Children Playing, New York, 1940s
Err they arn't playing here they are picking up pieces of the broken mirror !
Two Young Girls Play A Campbell Soup Kid Doll, New York, 1912
A View Of Children Playing Hopscotch In The Street In Spanish Harlem, 1965
Children Playing With Sleigh In The Snow, Oxford, 1903
Three Children Playing Golf With Clubs Made Of Sticks, 1905
This proves the power of playtime ... problem solving and innovation can be fun.
Young Boys Playing Stickball In Vacant Lot Next To An Apartment Building, New York, 1947
Kids Splashing Water, New York, 1942
Children Balancing On A Wall, France, 1949
Children Playing At The Berlin Wall Near Bernauer Strasse. The Three Boys Are Climbing Up The Wall And Moving Along A Barbed Wire Fence Alongside The Wall Hand By Hand, 1963
Children Playing Cricket In A London Street, With The Wicket Drawn On A Lamppost, 1930
Girls’ Playground, Harriet Island, 1905
Children Play In The Gutter In The Southern Section Of The Bronx During The Great Depression, New York, 1936
Boys Posing For A Photo
Children Playing In London's Bethnal Green Area, 1949-52
A Group Of German Children Playing War, 1915
Playing Cricket On Wasteground In Manchester, 1970
Children Play In Slum Housing Area In Hulme, Manchester, 1946
Kindergarten Children Playing With Plasticine, 1910
Children Playing In The Streets, Paris
These Young Neapolitans Like The Danger Of The Strictly-forbidden Practise Of Hanging Onto The Backs Of Street Cars, 1948
Group Of Gleichen Boys Playing In Rubber Tires, Alberta, 1920s
Girl Playing Stickball, New York, 1947
Kids Play During Recess In School
Game At A Girls' Orphanage, Naples, 1948
Young Boys Hitch A Ride, London, 1941
Children In A Street, Paris, 1953
Kids Playing In Water After Busting A Hydrant, New York, 1953
It's not just that there are no smart phones. It is also the fact that modern parents are way too overprotective, and too many of those activities would horrify most of them. All that climbing, jumping... and toy guns? Oh, the horror (and that's called sarcasm, in case you didn't get it!)
I once threw a small seventh birthday party for my daughter when we had an evergreen tree with very low branches. My kids and two of my daughter's friends were in the tree very low when their parents arrived to pick them up and both sets of parents just freaked out that I let them in a tree. The parents didn't even have to reach up for them. They were literally low enough that a parent just reached over and plucked them like goofy fruit from the branch. I felt very sad for those children.
Load More Replies...these are the same kids who grew up and set rules on the next generation of kids.......
We can't blame technology for kids not playing outside. Parents today are WAY to over protective. the term "helicopter pa
When I was a kid in the 1950s they warned we'd all end up with "TV legs" from not getting enough exercise...
Load More Replies...What a lovely presentation of images! Kids doing what kids are supposed to be doing. I used to have so much fun playing outside ALL DAY LONG and using my imagination, returning home only for lunch and dinner.
30 or 20 years ago I didn't had any smartphone...don't need to go so far. And I don't intend to give one to my kids before puberty (even then). Maybe I'm a bit old-school :D
I think it's possible to have a balance between technology and nature. When I was a kid, I had an Atari, a Commodore 64, and later, a Nintendo, but I still played outside a lot. My kids each had electronic gadgets as older kids (computer, tablet), but didn't get phones until they were teens. There are actually really good educational apps nowadays and apps that can help keep your kids safe, not to mention they have no excuse to not call you when they have a phone. For us, it is all about setting boundaries with the tech and making sure they still get outside.
Load More Replies...It's not the parents setting the rules. I would love my kids to have the freedom I did but it's not that simple. The days of allowing your child to rationalise and make decisions have gone. We live under constant worry of the authority deeming us unfit parents and just taking a child into care. It's scary. Coupled with the fact that the world is a different place now it makes it almost impossible. It is not safe enough for children now days to play like we did.
You all fail to realize that these are the parents of today literally. Most of our parents were born in the 50s, 60s, 70s.
That same generation pictuted here, helped raise the current one. So you can hardly say any of what y'all say.
Could some one send me back to these times, please? they seem so much better
This is depressing, mostly because kids aren't raised the same. Parents don't play as often with their kids. None of the kids in these photos are obese, unlike today. They don't have their faces buried in electronic toys, and creativity back then was a requisite for childhood fun!
Sadly in our modern times it is near impossible to capture such wonderful and historically important candid images of children. As a street photographer I will avoid shooting children unless I get a nod from the parents beforehand, people are too quick to judge now due to widespread media coverage of child abuse. I imagine that little has changed in the prevalence of that abuse since those times and it saddens me that hysteria of this possibility leads to confrontation with street photographers today. Parents really need to ask themselves... what kind of paedophile would want a candidly captured image of a child fully clothed and playing in the street? Images like these here are an important historical record of everyday life and that is what drives me as a street photographer today.
It's amazing how deserted these city scenes appear! What a nice time for "city life"!
My brother and I would put a blanket in the backyard and pretend we were on a ship and the grass was the ocean with dangerous sharks 😆 I'm glad I was a child right before internet and phones became a huge thing. I loved my childhood and my huge ridiculous imagination.
Ok, you have shown a tiny sample of carefully selected 1/60 sec moments from past children's lives and constructed a theory or argument and concluded that children in the past were happier than children today. B******t. I can also find just as many, in fact, many more images of happy, creative, better-educated children from today's generation. Your personal bias and lack of research are mind numbing, how can you condemn a whole generation due to your negative technological prejudice. Today's children have the right to own their own experiences and make what whey want from them, without sour, fearful, judgmental idiots telling them how to live. Did you notice that in all the shots you selected the children were engageing in and exploring some sort of technology?
Ok, you have shown a tiny sample of carefully selected 1/60 sec moments from past children's lives and constructed a theory or argument and concluded that children in the past were happier than children today. B******t. I can also find just as many, in fact, many more images of happy, creative, better-educated children from today's generation. Your personal bias and lack of research are mind numbing, how can you condemn a whole generation due to your negative technological prejudice. Today's children have the right to own their own experiences and make what whey want from them, without sour, fearful, judgmental idiots telling them how to live. Did you notice that in all the shots you selected the children were engageing in and exploring some sort of technology?
Beautiful collection, it will be interesting to find out where all these people are now and talk to them about those times...
And so we all complain about the kids and technology...on a virtual platform.
This is how childhood should look ! This is how you form yourself as a person .
As we move forward you can only look back and see what we have lost. Progress does have its downsides.
The real way to live life and grow up. Now a days not only restrictions are imposed even the life style of kids have became miserable. With them they daily carry the burden of our those ambitions which we could not achieve and want them to have. Restrictions as society life style, strict schools, coaching classes and TV have taken the life of them.
There were a few. And other parents pointed at them and laughed.
Load More Replies...This what a childhood should look like. I will show all the crazy things I did to my kids one day. Unfortunately the society will not allow that, because of the stupid norms they try to put in place - facebook and instagram are now the big thing.. Our kids will be socially inadequate.
It's not just that there are no smart phones. It is also the fact that modern parents are way too overprotective, and too many of those activities would horrify most of them. All that climbing, jumping... and toy guns? Oh, the horror (and that's called sarcasm, in case you didn't get it!)
I once threw a small seventh birthday party for my daughter when we had an evergreen tree with very low branches. My kids and two of my daughter's friends were in the tree very low when their parents arrived to pick them up and both sets of parents just freaked out that I let them in a tree. The parents didn't even have to reach up for them. They were literally low enough that a parent just reached over and plucked them like goofy fruit from the branch. I felt very sad for those children.
Load More Replies...these are the same kids who grew up and set rules on the next generation of kids.......
We can't blame technology for kids not playing outside. Parents today are WAY to over protective. the term "helicopter pa
When I was a kid in the 1950s they warned we'd all end up with "TV legs" from not getting enough exercise...
Load More Replies...What a lovely presentation of images! Kids doing what kids are supposed to be doing. I used to have so much fun playing outside ALL DAY LONG and using my imagination, returning home only for lunch and dinner.
30 or 20 years ago I didn't had any smartphone...don't need to go so far. And I don't intend to give one to my kids before puberty (even then). Maybe I'm a bit old-school :D
I think it's possible to have a balance between technology and nature. When I was a kid, I had an Atari, a Commodore 64, and later, a Nintendo, but I still played outside a lot. My kids each had electronic gadgets as older kids (computer, tablet), but didn't get phones until they were teens. There are actually really good educational apps nowadays and apps that can help keep your kids safe, not to mention they have no excuse to not call you when they have a phone. For us, it is all about setting boundaries with the tech and making sure they still get outside.
Load More Replies...It's not the parents setting the rules. I would love my kids to have the freedom I did but it's not that simple. The days of allowing your child to rationalise and make decisions have gone. We live under constant worry of the authority deeming us unfit parents and just taking a child into care. It's scary. Coupled with the fact that the world is a different place now it makes it almost impossible. It is not safe enough for children now days to play like we did.
You all fail to realize that these are the parents of today literally. Most of our parents were born in the 50s, 60s, 70s.
That same generation pictuted here, helped raise the current one. So you can hardly say any of what y'all say.
Could some one send me back to these times, please? they seem so much better
This is depressing, mostly because kids aren't raised the same. Parents don't play as often with their kids. None of the kids in these photos are obese, unlike today. They don't have their faces buried in electronic toys, and creativity back then was a requisite for childhood fun!
Sadly in our modern times it is near impossible to capture such wonderful and historically important candid images of children. As a street photographer I will avoid shooting children unless I get a nod from the parents beforehand, people are too quick to judge now due to widespread media coverage of child abuse. I imagine that little has changed in the prevalence of that abuse since those times and it saddens me that hysteria of this possibility leads to confrontation with street photographers today. Parents really need to ask themselves... what kind of paedophile would want a candidly captured image of a child fully clothed and playing in the street? Images like these here are an important historical record of everyday life and that is what drives me as a street photographer today.
It's amazing how deserted these city scenes appear! What a nice time for "city life"!
My brother and I would put a blanket in the backyard and pretend we were on a ship and the grass was the ocean with dangerous sharks 😆 I'm glad I was a child right before internet and phones became a huge thing. I loved my childhood and my huge ridiculous imagination.
Ok, you have shown a tiny sample of carefully selected 1/60 sec moments from past children's lives and constructed a theory or argument and concluded that children in the past were happier than children today. B******t. I can also find just as many, in fact, many more images of happy, creative, better-educated children from today's generation. Your personal bias and lack of research are mind numbing, how can you condemn a whole generation due to your negative technological prejudice. Today's children have the right to own their own experiences and make what whey want from them, without sour, fearful, judgmental idiots telling them how to live. Did you notice that in all the shots you selected the children were engageing in and exploring some sort of technology?
Ok, you have shown a tiny sample of carefully selected 1/60 sec moments from past children's lives and constructed a theory or argument and concluded that children in the past were happier than children today. B******t. I can also find just as many, in fact, many more images of happy, creative, better-educated children from today's generation. Your personal bias and lack of research are mind numbing, how can you condemn a whole generation due to your negative technological prejudice. Today's children have the right to own their own experiences and make what whey want from them, without sour, fearful, judgmental idiots telling them how to live. Did you notice that in all the shots you selected the children were engageing in and exploring some sort of technology?
Beautiful collection, it will be interesting to find out where all these people are now and talk to them about those times...
And so we all complain about the kids and technology...on a virtual platform.
This is how childhood should look ! This is how you form yourself as a person .
As we move forward you can only look back and see what we have lost. Progress does have its downsides.
The real way to live life and grow up. Now a days not only restrictions are imposed even the life style of kids have became miserable. With them they daily carry the burden of our those ambitions which we could not achieve and want them to have. Restrictions as society life style, strict schools, coaching classes and TV have taken the life of them.
There were a few. And other parents pointed at them and laughed.
Load More Replies...This what a childhood should look like. I will show all the crazy things I did to my kids one day. Unfortunately the society will not allow that, because of the stupid norms they try to put in place - facebook and instagram are now the big thing.. Our kids will be socially inadequate.