A Syrian boy sells balloons as the sun sets over the Mediterranean waterfront promenade in Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, August 23, 2025. (Photo by Bilal Hussein/AP Photo)

Spectators in colourful attire cheer as the pack of riders (peloton) cycles by during the 14th stage of the 111th edition of the Tour de France cycling race, 151,9 km between Pau and Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d'Adet, in the Pyrenees mountains in southwestern France, on July 13, 2024. (Photo by Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP Photo)

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)

Artist Joe Hill poses on his 3D artwork, from the “Joe and Max” project as part of an advertising campaign, during its presentation at a park in Moscow, Russia, July 4, 2015. (Photo by Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)

Indian artist Sudarsan Pattnaik works on a sand sculpture depicting drowned Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi at Puri beach, some 65 kilometers away from Bhubaneswar, on September 4, 2015. Charities helping refugees saw a surge in donations on September 4 across Europe as people shocked by the heart-rending images of a drowned Syrian boy on a Turkish beach dug deep to help out. The photos of the lifeless body of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, lying on a beach in Bodrum, Turkey, have triggered a wave of emotion across the continent, despite deep divisions among European governments on how to deal with the crisis. (Photo by Asit Kumar/AFP Photo)

Woman on phone in hotel room. (Photo by DreamPictures/Getty Images)

Tibetan men get ready to perform a traditional dance during a special prayer ceremony on the third day of the Tibetan New Year celebrations in Kathmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, March 1, 2017. Tibetans follow this ritual called “sangtsol” to ask for good luck in the new year. (Photo by Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo)

Tourists play on the “Big” piano inside of the toy store FAO Schwarz on the last day that the store will be open in New York, July 15, 2015. FAO Schwarz will officially close the doors of its flagship Fifth Avenue toy store in New York City on Wednesday night, to the dismay of shoppers charmed by the iconic destination for childhood fun. (Photo by Lucas Jackson/Reuters)