Arctic treasure by Sergey Gorshkov (Russia). An arctic fox carries its egg trophy from a raid on a snow goose nest and heads for a suitable burial spot. Finalist 2017, Animal Portraits. (Photo by Sergey Gorshkov/2017 Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

A man wearing a mask walks past the “Christmas Cab” sculpture displayed along Fifth Avenue on December 02, 2020 in New York City. The annual Holiday Sculptures display is organized by the Fifth Avenue Association and consist of 10 sculptures that runs from 50th Street to 59th Street. (Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

Iraqi boys swim with a herd of buffaloes in the Diyala River in the Faziliah district, east of Baghdad on August 2, 2021, amid extreme summer temperatures. As Iraq bakes under a blistering summer heat wave, its hard-scrabble farmers and herders are battling severe water shortages that are killing their animals, fields and way of life. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)

Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez, right, and Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach wait for the announcer to name the new Miss Universe at the Miss Universe pageant on Sunday, December 20, 2015, in Las Vegas. Gutierrez was incorrectly crowned before Wurtzbach was named Miss Universe. (Photo by John Locher/AP Photo)

People await the arrival of former U.S. President Donald Trump during a rally for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) at the Miami-Dade Country Fair and Exposition on November 6, 2022 in Miami, Florida. Rubio faces U.S. Rep. Val Demings (D-FL) in his reelection bid in Tuesday's general election. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Highly commended, mammals: Gelada after the storm – Marco Gaiotti (Italy). “Gelada baboons are the only monkey species in the world that feed on grasses. They are native to the tableland of Ethiopia. Every morning large family groups wander from their sleeping places in the steep rock face, up to 1,000 metres high, to the feeding grounds at the tablelands. This image clearly depicts their feeding strategy: they pull out bunches of grass, sort the stalks and then lift them to their mouth. This shot was taken towards the end of the rainy season after a heavy storm”. (Photo by Marco Gaiotti/2019 GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

In a simpler time all a child or an adult needed to enjoy the outdoors was a ball and a stick. Or maybe an old tire tied to a high branch to fashion a swing. And the only instruction given to children was to “be home before dark”. Now there are iPads and computers and television screens and shrinking safe public spaces. But despite the distractions and limitations of space, these images show the charm of kicking a ball or skipping rope endures. Sometimes with modifications as a nod to changing times. Here: in this Saturday, June 20, 2015 photo, a boy runs while playing with a motorcycle wheel in Samugari, Ayacucho, Peru. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

A cat sits in front of a retro car owned by retired mechanic Mikhail Krasinets at an open-air museum of Soviet-era vehicles in the village of Chernousovo, Tula region, Russia on September 27, 2018. In the remote village of Chernousovo, retired mechanic Mikhail Krasinets tends to more than 300 ramshackle, Soviet-era cars, remnants of a once vibrant auto industry that crumbled with the fall of the Soviet Union. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)