Belgian Wendy Adriaens, the founder of De Passiehoeve, an animal rescue farm where animals support people with autism, depression, anxiety, or drug problems, offers a hug to Blondie, a 6-year-old female ostrich at Passiehoeve farm, in Kalmthout, Belgium on March 8, 2024. (Photo by Yves Herman/Reuters)

Women pose for a photograph in traditional Ethiopian dress during the annual Timkat Epiphany celebration on January 19, 2017 in Gondar, Ethiopia. Timkat is the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian festival which celebrates the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan river. During the festival, Tabots, or models of the Ark of the Covenant, are taken from churches around Gondar and paraded through the streets to Fasilides Bath. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

Hundreds of colourful pumpkins and squash create an extraordinary rainbow scene at a vegetable wholesale market in Bangladesh on August 1, 2019. A seller sits among his vibrant wares which are produced by farmers from local villages. (Photo by Abdul Momin/Solent News)

Israeli soldiers of the Search and Rescue brigade take part in a training session in Ben Shemen forest, near the city of Modi'in May 23, 2016. (Photo by Amir Cohen/Reuters)

Indian Army Jawan (soldiers) of the “ASC Tornadoes” daredevil bike team perform during Independence Day celebrations in Bangalore, India, 15 August 2024. India celebrated its 78th Independence Day on 15 August. (Photo by Jagadeesh N.V./EPA)

Cheerleaders wait to perform before the New Year's Day parade in London, Britain January 1, 2017. (Photo by Neil Hall/Reuters)

A boy and a woman run across a railway track as a train approaches in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China, October 8, 2015. Many residents disregard sign prohibiting this kind of illegal crossing and choose to do so to save time, local media reported. (Photo by Hao Fei/Reuters/Western China Metropolis Daily)

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)