The purpose of this dissertation is to identify and understand the conceptions of childhood inside an institution in the North Region of Brazil, amidst the complex set of actions in the culture, leisure, health and education areas. The study was conducted based on observations of interactions between adults (from the health, leisure, culture and education areas) and the children (in Child Education). Based on Lev. S. Vygotsky and Walter Benjamin s notion of children as cultural beings and Mikhail Bakhtin s language concept, the analyses presented were also the result of dialogues between research on children and their relationships with adults within educational spaces. The first chapter presents the research paths selected, the conception of childhood, on which the whole work was based, and the institution where the study was conducted and its boundaries. The second chapter discusses different conceptions of childhood, taking as a starting point the spaces and their respective organization, the action and how adults look at children, in addition to their own childhood experiences. Finally, in the third chapter children are given space and voice to tell us what being a child and an adult means. By identifying the different conceptions of childhood and drawing conclusions on the childhood of adults and their way of looking at children, this work points to the need for further discussion of childhood in the target institution and to aspects that could contribute to further consideration of the practices adopted by adults who deal with Child Education.