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)

Gold medallist Suzanne Schulting of Team Netherlands celebrates with Bronze medallist Hanne Desmet of Team Belgium after the Women's 1000m Final A on day seven of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at Capital Indoor Stadium on February 11, 2022 in Beijing, China. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

A face mask discarded in a forest in the Taunus region near Frankfurt, Germany, Sunday, October 18, 2020. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

Choo Gaeun of South Korea reacts during competition with Jin Jongoh of South Korea during the mixed 10m air pistol team qualification during Tokyo 2020 Olympics at Asaka Shooting Range in Tokyo, Japan on July 27, 2021. (Photo by Ann Wang/Reuters)

Canada Women's Eight throw coxwain Kristen Kit into the water after winning gold in the Women's Eight final at the Sea Forest Waterway during the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan on July 30, 2021. (Photo by Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters)

Pietro Sighel of Italy crashes during his heat of the men's 1,000-meter during the short track speedskating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Saturday, February 5, 2022, in Beijing. (Photo by David J. Phillip/AP Photo)

A handout photo made available by the NASA shows the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket launches NASA's Parker Solar Probe to touch the Sun, from Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, USA, 12 August 2018. Parker Solar Probe is humanity’s first-ever mission into a part of the Sun’s atmosphere called the corona. Here it will directly explore solar processes that are key to understanding and forecasting space weather events that can impact life on Earth. (Photo by Bill Ingalls/EPA-EFE/NASA)

A Russian police officer detains a teenager during rally protesting retirement age hikes in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, September 9, 2018. A government plan to increase the age for collecting state pensions brought protests across Russia's 11 time zones on Sunday even though the opposition leader who called them was in jail. Nearly 300 people were reported arrested. (Photo by Roman Pimenov/Interpress photo via AP Photo)