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.
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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 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 |
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Water from a fire hydrant sprays onto a New York City street, June 12, 1976 |