An image taken with a drone shows beach umbrellas and deck chairs as beachgoers enjoy the hot weather in Scheveningen, the Netherlands, 24 July 2019. The Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute has issued an official warning due to high temperatures affecting the country as well as Western Europe. (Photo by Sem van der Wal/EPA/EFE)

A puffadder snake is guided to safety as firefighters battle a wildfire near Pringle Bay, as firefighters remain on high alert amid dry, hot, and windy weather in Western Cape, South Africa on January 30, 2024. (Photo by Esa Alexander/Reuters)

Two sloth bear cubs save their paws from the hot ground during a search for food in the Daroji Bear Sanctuary in Karnataka, India in the second decade of January 2025. (Photo by Baiju Patil/Solent News)

Paul, 9, dumps a bucket of water over his head at a fountain near government buildings during hot weather on July 1, 2015 in Berlin, Germany. Temperatures across northern Europe are rising and in Germany a high of 36 degrees is forecast for the weekend. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

American model Emily Ratajkowski, 30, appeared in perfect shape from the front and back in a teeny hot pink bikini and high heels in Los Angeles on September 4, 2021. The beauty was in LA for a fashion show organised by singer Rihanna. (Photo by Backgrid USA)

American actress Sydney Sweeney and a pal have a “little london getaway” while doing facemasks in a hot tub on December 10, 2025. (Photo by sydneysweeney/instagram)

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)

Tourists fly in hot air balloons over the west bank of the Nile River on January 9, 2025 in Luxor, Egypt. Luxor, which contains the historical city of Thebes, capital of ancient Egypt's pharaohs at the height of their power, is full of pharaonic monuments and other antiquities. (Photo by Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images)