No matter how many apps are available to kids today, summertime fun remains at its core about one thing: cooling off under the blazing sun. As these vintage photos from early 1900s to the 1970s show, nothing compares to the Internet-free experience of jumping into the water and splashing around with your friends. Play on, kids.
Children in the beach, the great paving stones, Seine-Maritime, France, 1909 |
Child playing in a Dinosaur imprint, U.S., 1945 |
Four children squat on rocks at edge of stream, mountains in background, U.S., 1905 |
Little boys playing with a hand-drawn cart made out of a crate in the shallow waters of the River Thames, June 6, 1925 |
Two girls fishing at weekend, Germany, 1927 |
Children on a water slide at the Wannsee, 1929 |
Children are playing in the Danube Lido, Klosterneuburg, Lower Austria, 1930 |
A heat wave incident outside the Tate Gallery, children who found the water cart being filled a great attraction, August 1932 |
Children jump into a pool in the Volkspark (urban park) of Berlin-Mariendorf, 1932 |
A signboard saying 'Senators only' near a fountain in the gardens of Washington's Capitol suggests that only senators are allowed to bathe here. As this is not the case, children of the capital are floundering about in the water, 1935 |
A young girl plays under the spraying water of a special shower constructed in the street and connected to a fire hydrant on a hot Summer's day as adults and other children look on, July 19, 1937 |
Children swimming in the Seine in Paris, near Notre-Dame, August 7, 1937 |
Children play in a sprinkler from a water hydrant, South Harlem, New York, August 8, 1937 |
A boy stands in a washtub filled with water, wincing as another boy sprays him with a water hose outdoors in a yard, 1947 |
Three children in swimsuits splash around in a paddling pool, 1950 |
Pint-sized skippers blow their sailboats along a 20-ft. course in the wading pool of a Children's Aid Society center, New York, July 30, 1952 |
A street hydrant provides an impromptu bath for a group of children in New York, July 17, 1954 |
Two children playing on Tower Beach, an artificial beach near Tower Bridge on the River Thames, London, August 31, 1955 |
A group of boys in swimsuits wave from atop a manmade waterfall, 1955 |
A young child paddling on Shanklin beach on the Isle of Wight, July 1956 |
Fresh pump water in the street during summer in the U.S., 1965 |
Neighborhood kids use Columbus Circle fountain on Chicago's West Side as a playground and "swimming pool", July 7, 1967 |
Water from a fire hydrant sprays onto a New York City street, June 12, 1976 |
(via The Huffington Post)