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)

Israeli designer HIlla Shamia has found a way to mix “oil and water” or aluminum and wood – two materials I’ve never seen fused together. The product designer has created a novel way to meld both poured aluminum with irregular wood chunks to create modern tables and benches with a warm industrial feel. Old world and new world in one.

A woman touches a robot at the 2018 World Robot Conference in Beijing on August 15, 2018. The conference will be held from 15 to 19 August and will include a conference on robotics, an exhibition and a robot competition with the participation of robotics enterprises to showcase their robot products. (Photo by Wang Zhao/AFP Photo)

Job seekers carry a woman who fainted at the Indonesia Spectacular Job Fair 2015 at Gelora Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta August 12, 2015. Indonesia's gross domestic product grew at 4.67 percent in the second quarter, its slowest pace in six years. Since he took office last October, Widodo's government has passed a raft of measures aimed at boosting industry and consumption that have been criticized by investors as protectionist. (Photo by Reuters/Beawiharta)

A store staff walks past other staffs dressed up as Stormtrooper and Death Star Gunner (R) from the film “Star Wars” before launching the film's new toys at Loft Variety Store in Shibuya shopping district in Tokyo, September 3, 2015. New “Star Wars” toys and other merchandise were released in stores across Japan just after midnight local time during a global rollout of the popular products. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters)

This undated photo provided by the Ford Motor Co. shows the 1948 Lincoln Continental Cabriolet V12. Thirteen years after the last Continental rolled off a Michigan assembly line, Ford Motor Co. is debuting the new Continental in concept form at the New York Auto Show on Monday, March 30, 2015.The production version goes on sale next year. (Photo by AP Photo/Ford Motor Co.)

A life-size robot named “Mark 1”, built by product and graphic designer Ricky Ma, 42, is seen in Hong Kong, China March 31, 2016. Ma, a robot enthusiast, spent a year-and-a half and more than HK$400,000 ($51,000) to create the humanoid robot, which is modelled after a Hollywood star, to fulfil his childhood dream. The eyes of the robot include face and color tracking functions. (Photo by Bobby Yip/Reuters)

Heather Larsen from Golden, Colorado, USA performs a split while walking the slackfline or highline across two towers in the Tower of David citadel complex overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem 02 May 2016. Larsen is one of the world's top female highliners, or slack liners and walked the lines as part of a Kickstarter campaign for an outdoor product. The tower at left was built by King King Herod some 2000 years ago. (Photo by Jim Hollander/EPA)