No, his fun took quite another form.

He was fond of what you call "playing the fool," singing comic songs, learning to play tunes on every odd musical instrument he could find, and delighting his brothers by "taking off" people of their acquaintance.

B.-P., you must know, is a first-rate actor, and in his boyhood it was one of his chief delights to write plays for himself and his brothers to act.
Some of these plays were moderately clever, but all of them contained a screamingly funny part for the low comedian of the company--our friend Ste himself.
Another of his amusements at this time was sketching.

He got into the habit of holding his pencil or paint-brush in the left hand, and his watchful mother was troubled in her mind as to the wisdom of allowing a possible Botticelli to play pranks with his art.

One day Ruskin called when this doubt was in her mind, and to him the question was propounded.