An aurora is seen in the sky in Pajala, Sweden on February 10, 2022. (Photo by Alexander Kuznetsov/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)

The space shuttle Endeavour is transported to the California Science Center in Exposition Park from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian)

“Woman with Umbrella in Rain” by Raimund von Stillfried. Artist: Kusakabe Kimbei (Japanese, 1841–1934), 1870s. Commercial photography studios in Meiji-era Japan were renowned for the subtlety and refinement of their coloring techniques. This hand-tinted image of a young woman caught in a heavy rainstorm achieved its naturalistic effect by knitting together multiple strands of artifice: the greenery in the foreground was a studio prop; the flaps of the kimono were suspended by thin wires to create the impression of a strong wind; and long, diagonal marks were made on the negative to suggest streaks of rain. (Photo courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Mel Harris shouts whilst a pick up truck belches smoke on the final night of the Deni Ute Muster in Deniliquin, New South Wales, Australia, October 1, 2016. In the small rural town of Deniliquin, on the edge of Australia's vast outback, around 20,000 “ute” lovers gathered in the mud to champion a national treasure deemed surplus to requirements by the big car manufacturers. (Photo by Jason Reed/Reuters)

Flames burn in a field in Capaci, near Palermo, in Sicily, southern Italy, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. On the island of Sicily, two people were found dead Tuesday in a home burned by a wildfire that temporarily shut down Palermo's international airport, according to Italian news reports. Regional officials said 55 fires were active on Sicily, amid temperatures in the 40s Celsius. (Photo by Alberto Lo Bianco/LaPresse via AP Photo)

Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, shine over the plane wreck of a US Navy airplane – a Douglas Super DC-3 – on the Black Beach in Solheimasandur, south Iceland on January 18, 2018. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images)

A woman jumps with balloons while she poses for a picture at a park in Kiev, Ukraine May 6, 2018. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)