Skip To Content

    This Is What Recess Looks Like Around The World

    Take an eye-opening journey around the globe to see how children spend their lunch recesses.

    Recess is a important part of childhood development, but where those children play can differ dramatically between nations and even neighborhoods.

    Photographer James Mollison traveled around the globe to document where children spend their lunch recesses. His new book, Playground, shows what school playgrounds look like all around the world in schools both rich and poor.

    Inglewood, California — Inglewood High School

    Mathare, Nairobi, Kenya — Valley View School

    Tokyo, Japan — Shohei Elementary School

    Tel Aviv, Israel — Holtz High School

    Hull, United Kingdom — Hull Trinity House School

    Bethlehem, West Bank — Aida Boys School

    Kårvåg, Averøy, Norway — Utheim Skole

    Freetown, Sierra Leone — Kroo Bay Primary

    Brookline, Massachusetts — St. Mary of the Assumption Elementary School

    Thimphu, Bhutan — Dechen Phodrang

    "Playground" will be on exhibition at the Aperture Foundation in New York, New York, from April 16–June 11. The accompanying book is now on sale here.