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)

This photo taken on July 19, 2020 shows a security guard looking at his smartphone while water is released from the Three Gorges Dam, a gigantic hydropower project on the Yangtze river, to relieve flood pressure in Yichang, central China's Hubei province. Rising waters across central and eastern China have left over 140 people dead or missing, and floods have affected almost 24 million since the start of July, according to the ministry of emergency management. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)

A canine chase a target during a racing competition on the outskirts of Charsadda on January 14, 2024. (Photo by Abdul Majeed/AFP Photo)

Singer Katie Gavin of American indie pop band MUNA performs onstage at the 2023 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 14, 2023 in Indio, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Coachella)

Leipzig's David Raum, left, and Juventus' Nicolo Savona go for the ball during the UEFA Champions League opening phase soccer match between Leipzig and Juventus in Leipzig, Germany, Wednesday, October 2, 2024. (Photo by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)

Pigeons fly out from the mouth of a giant Buddha statue at Wat Nam Daeng Buddhist temple in Chachoengsao province, east of the Thai capital Bangkok, on October 11, 2020. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)

USA's Jourdan Elizabeth Delacruz reacts as she competes in the women's 49kg weightlifting competition during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Tokyo International Forum in Tokyo on July 24, 2021. (Photo by Edgard Garrido/Reuters)

Greek actress Xanthi Georgiou, playing the role of the High Priestess, lights up the torch during the flame lighting ceremony for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at the Ancient Olympia archeological site, birthplace of the ancient Olympics in southern Greece on October 18, 2021. The Olympic flame will once again be lit in an empty stadium on Ovtober 18, 2021, as it starts its truncated journey to Beijing for the Winter Games in February. Like the ceremony in March 2020 to light the flame for Tokyo, and like those Games, which were put back a year, Monday's ceremony is a victim of coronavirus restrictions. (Photo by Aris Messinis/AFP Photo)