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)

On August 31, 2012, a long filament of solar material that had been hovering in the sun's atmosphere, the corona, erupted out into space at 4:36 p.m. EDT. The coronal mass ejection, or CME, traveled at over 900 miles per second. The CME did not travel directly toward Earth, but did connect with Earth's magnetic environment, or magnetosphere, causing aurora to appear on the night of Monday, September 3. (Photo by NASA/GSFC/SDO via The Atlantic)

A woman takes a selfie in front a damaged Turkish military APC that was attacked by protesters near the Turkish military headquarters in Ankara, Turkey, Saturday, July 16, 2016. (Photo by Hussein Malla/AP Photo)

Firefighting teams try to extinguish an oil fire November 27, 2016 as smoke billows from one of the remaining oil wells set ablaze by ISIL in their retreat from Qayyarah at the start of the Mosul offensive which began more than a month prior. (Photo by Byron Smith/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A young anoa, also known as midget buffalo, named Tycoon runs around at the Zoo in Berlin, Germany, on November 9, 2012. (Photo by Maurizio Gambarini/EPA)

Tokyo DisneySea at Urayasu, Chiba prefecture, is holding Christmas festivities each night until December 25, 2012. At neighboring Tokyo Disneyland, the Christmas Fantasy parade is held twice daily at the theme park. (Photo by Disneyland)

Girls practice sit-ups during gymnastics lessons at the Shanghai Yangpu Youth Amateur Athletic School in Shanghai, China, on May 4, 2016. China's sports system has been enormously successful since the country returned to the Olympic fold in 1980, culminating with the host nation topping the medals' table at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. And yet, with the Rio de Janeiro Games less than three months away, the system is beginning to break down due to the shifting demographics of a more prosperous nation. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)