20 Vintage Photographs of Children’s Life Taken by Yale Joel

Below are 20 fascinating vintage photographs capture children’s life in France, Switzerland and the United States by LIFE photographer Yale Joel from the 1940s to 1960s:

Small flock of chickens in Swiss farmyard being fed by girl of the farm family, Switzerland, 1947.

Elementary school music teacher playing F-Major chord on piano while corresponding keys light up on plastic keyboard model above him as do finger chart for L & R hand & notation for Treble a Bass clefs while student watch & immitate on dummy keyboards, 1947.

A boy dancing while the French gypsies around him playing music and watching, France, 1948.

Children watching circus show, Switzerland, 1948.

Child actor Chet R. Allen mulls over his lines in a classroom in which boys' choir used as a dressing room, 1952.

A small boy playing in a tree during springtime in Clarksville, Arkansas, 1953.

Kids playing outdoors during springtime in Clarksville, Arkansas, 1953.

Children petting on of the winning dogs of the Mutt Derby, Topsfield, Massachusetts, 1953.

Children petting a dog at a Mutt Derby event, Topsfield, Massachusetts, 1953.

Group of boys club little league baseball players putting on their uniforms while sitting in classroom of school prior to playing a game, Manchester, New Hampshire, 1954.

A boy playing catcher during a Little League baseball game, 1954.

Children participating in a bicycle safety program run by the police, New York, 1954.

Fathers and their children imitating giraffes during play period of special Father's Day at co-op nursery school owned by parents, New York, 1955.

Children looking out the window of a building in the neighborhood of the Mad Bomber, 1957.

A father giving his children haircuts, 1958.

Children playing on a playground, 1958.

Second graders using abaci especially designed to teach them arithmetic, Columbus, Ohio, 1958.

Children playing on a swing set, 1958.

School children visiting the British aircraft carrier HMS 'Ark Royal,' 1961.

Children wearing Batman costumes in a New York dance class, 1966.

Two children, both dressed in Batman capes, jump in front of a studio mirror during a dance class, New York, 1966.

A girl playing with a clown at the 'HemisFair' in San Antonio, Texas, 1968.