Dana Friedman, a trial lawyer who has spent 6 months of each year growing out his beard for his annual appearance as Santa Claus since 2001, greets children outside wearing masks as a precautionary measure at the Bay Terrace Shopping Center in Queens as the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in New York City, U.S., December 6, 2020. (Photo by Caitlin Ochs/Reuters)

Metropolitan Police patrol as people party at the Soho district, as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions ease, in London, United Kingdom on April 16, 2021. Pubs and Restaurants are expecting good business tonight being the first Friday night after Coronavirus lockdown rules were relaxed to allow outside dining and drinking. (Photo by Henry Nicholls/Reuters)

A woman poses for a souvenir photo with a cat statue on display at the Shenzhen Bay commercial district, in Shenzhen, China's Guangdong province, Monday, September 15, 2025. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)

Entitled Feasting at Sunset, this photo of a Brandt’s cormorant among pilchards was the winner of the Birds in the Environment category in the 2025 Bird Photographer of the Year competition. (Photo by Franco Banfi/The Guardian)

Retired 90 year old Frank Foss of St. Petersburg, Florida, with his home made banjo, made from a frying pan, a length of wood and some strings. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images). 2nd July 1972

Volunteers carry an idol of the Hindu elephant god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, in a pond for its immersion during the ten-day-long Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India, September 18, 2015. During the festival, the idols will be taken through the streets in a procession accompanied by dancing and singing, and will be immersed in a river or the sea in accordance with the Hindu faith. (Photo by Shailesh Andrade/Reuters)

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)

Festival-goers wash on Shipyard Island, the venue of the 24th Sziget (Island) Festival in Northern Budapest, Hungary, 15 August 2016. The venue, one of the biggest cultural events of Europe, offers art exhibitions, theatrical and circus performances and above all music concerts from 10 to 17 August. (Photo by Szabó Gábor/Origo.hu)