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Kōrero: Childhood

Making your own fun

Image
Making your own fun

Children are good at making their own fun with whatever is at hand. This type of play was common through the 19th and most of the 20th century, when children were given the freedom to play outdoors away from adults – though children in the 2000s are still capable of playing in this way. This group of boys are having a play fight, around 1906. The girl in the background is engaged in a more sedate pursuit, stroking a kitten.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library, R. McIndoe Collection

Reference: 1/4-023867-G

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Kerryn Pollock, Childhood – Play and recreation, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/26264/making-your-own-fun (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Kerryn Pollock, i tāngia i te 22 March 2011.