23 Vintage Photos That Show What Summer Fun Looked Like Before the Internet

   

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