Children play in the Crown Fountain at Millennium Park in Chicago, Wednesday, June 29, 2022. (Photo by Nam Y. Huh/AP Photo)

Children play amid icebergs on the beach in Nuuk, Greenland, June 5, 2016. (Photo by Alister Doyle/Reuters)

Internally displaced Syrian children play inside a refugee camp in the Hama countryside, Syria January 1, 2016. (Photo by Ammar Abdullah/Reuters)

Children play near an apartment complex on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar on July 29, 2019. (Photo by Sai Aung Main/AFP Photo)

Children play with their pet Hamster at a street in Kochi on March 29, 2021. (Photo by Arun Sankar/AFP Photo)

There’s an innate relationship between children and the animal kingdom. Our children sing songs about animals, the have toy animals, they have books about animals and they dream about animals. Capturing this unique connection is Indonesian artist Elicia Edijanto, who depicts small, vulnerable children alongside creatures of the wild like elephants, wolves and bears. Created in stark black and white imagery, and using only watercolors, Edijanto creates dreamlike-scenes that are both tranquil and contemplative.

These heartwarming images capture the pure happiness of young children playing with a buffalo in the sweltering Indonesian heat on July 28, 2018. The children are all sons of the farmers who work on the rice farms in the West Java region of Indonesia. Amateur photographer Tamlikho Tam, 46 from Depok in West Java Indonesia snapped up the joyful moment because it shows what a typical childhood should be like without technology. (Photo by Tamlikho Tam/South West News Service)

Maudy – Kalulushi, Zambia. Maudy was born in a hut in a small village close to Kalulushi, in Zambia. She grew up playing in the street with the other children in the village, who all attend the same school, where students ages 3 to 10 years old are in the same class. The village has no shops, restaurants or hotels, and just a few children are lucky enough to have toys. Maudy and her friends found a box full of sunglasses on the street, which quickly became their favorite toys. “Toy Stories” project. (Photo and caption by Gabriele Galimberti)