What toy holds a special place in your heart? What games captivate your interest the most? Have you ever wondered if children long ago cherished the same toys and enjoyed similar games as you do today? Discover the playful histories of yesteryears with these 33 amusing images showcasing how children once entertained themselves.

Hanging around in Swansea, April 1939

Keep cool in summer, New York City, 1937

 

Little girl playing with kitty, ca. 1910s

 

London in the 1920s

 

Messing around the phone booth, New York, 1975

 

New York City in the 1970s-80s

 

On a play street in New York, ca. 1900s

 

Playing time at school, 1956

 

Ring around the rosie, ca. 1940

 

These young Neapolitans hanging onto the backs of street cars, Naples, 1948

 

Two children have great fun hanging upside down off a low rail in stockport, 1966

 

Two girls play with their tricycles, ca. 1920s

 

Two girls swing on a lampost, Manchester, 1965

 

Two little kids dancing on the streets of New York City, ca. 1940

 

Young boys hitch a ride, London, 1941

 

Brooklyn, New York, April 1949

 

Children balance on rail in South Dakota, 1959

 

Children draw on pavement with chalk, ca. 1960s

 

Children drawing on the pavement, 1941

 

Children hanging on a full train after the liberation, 1945

 

Children playing at The Bronx, New York City, ca. 1940s

 

Children playing on a street, ca. 1890

 

Children playing, Misawa, Japan, 1960

 

Edwardian children on stilts

 

Girls doing handstands, Southam Street, London, 1956

 

Girls jump rope in Zennor Road, ca.1957-65

 

Hanging around in Swansea, April 1939

 

Children on seesaw in a park, ca. 1910s

 

Children playing in the snow at residential school, 1946

 

Group of Gleichen boys playing in rubber tires, Alberta, ca. 1920

 

Little cowboys riding wild horses, ca. 1910s

 

Sarcee children on Sarcee Reserve, Alberta, playing with bows and arrows, 1911

 

Slide and swing in a park, ca. 1910s