Children in Hiroshima, Japan, wearing masks to combat the odour of death after the city was destroyed by the first atom bomb. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images). 1945

As kids we have the natural desire to explore and to create. Whenever our parents would make for us a paper plane, we would become overjoyed seeing it fly across the room. However, planes are not the only thing that can be made from paper, and not only kids are fascinated by it. Some people master the art of origami and are able to create pretty much anything. You never know what’s going to come out when the artist twists and turns a piece of paper in meticulous ways. Finally, the figurine is complete, and you immediately see the striking resemblance of this piece of paper with an animal or some other creature. Ross Symons is one of those artists. He creates his figurines simply for the joy it brings him. Maybe, he uses this as a medium to enter his childhood, or maybe he has other motifs – we will never know. (Photo by Ross Symons)

Rangoli, also known as kolam or Muggu, is a folk art from India in which patterns are created on the floor in living rooms or courtyards using materials such as colored rice, dry flour, colored sand or flower petals. It is usually made during Diwali, Onam, Pongal and other Indian festivals. They are meant to be sacred welcoming areas for the Hindu deities. The ancient symbols have been passed down through the ages, from each generation to the next, keeping both the art form and the tradition alive. Similar practices are followed in different Indian states: in Tamil Nadu, there is Kolam in Tamil Nadu; Mandana in Rajasthan; Chaookpurna in Chhattisgarh; Alpana in West Bengal; Aripana in Bihar; Chowk pujan in Uttar Pradesh; Muggu in Andhra Pradesh and others.

New Zealand photographer Niki Boon captured her children, who are growing up with limited electronics, in the photo series “Childhood in the Raw Photos”. Niki Boon began taking photos as a hobby while she was working as a physiotherapist in Scotland. However, the New Zealand native found her interest in the art waning while she travelled, and it wasn’t until she had returned home and started raising a family that her passion was rekindled. “Childhood in the Raw”, an ongoing photo series of her four children’s technology-free life on her 10-acre property in New Zealand, is the perennial fruit of this passion. (Photo by Niki Boon)

A Filipino mother Nikki Garcia combined her love for arts and crafts with the Japanese tradition of bento boxes to combat her children’s eating habits.

«Sing»

The story of 20 children born or living with illness or health conditions is being told by Toronto photographer and artist Shawn Van Daele, by transforming their drawings into magical photographs.

“At her job, Maria Torero cares for sick human beings. At home, she lavishes love on slowly dying cats – 175 of them at last count. The 45-year-old nurse has turned her two-story, eight-room apartment into a hospice for cats with feline leukemia, scattering it with scores of feeding dishes and at least two dozen boxes litter boxes. Some have suggested she shelter healthy cats instead. “That's not my role”, she told The Associated Press. “I'm a nurse. My duty is to the cats that nobody cares about”. She said that “people don't adopt adult cats, especially if they are terminally ill”. – Franklin Briceno via Associated Press. (Photo by Martin Mejia/AP Photo)

A student of the Orchestra of Recycled Instruments of Cateura holds an instrument made from recycled material by craftsman Nicolas Gomez, in Cateura, near Asuncion, May 9, 2013. The orchestra is the brainchild of its conductor Favio Chavez, who wanted to help the children of garbage pickers at the local landfill, and the instruments are made from salvaged materials by craftsman Gomez. The orchestra now involves 30 schoolchildren who have toured countries in Latin America, North America and Europe to play music ranging from Beethoven and Mozart to the Beatles and Paraguayan folk songs. (Photo by Jorge Adorno/Reuters)