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)

North Koreans who signed up to join the army train in the midst of political tension with South Korea, in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang August 23, 2015. Top aides to the leaders of North and South Korea resumed talks on Sunday after negotiating through the night in a bid to ease tensions involving an exchange of artillery fire that brought the peninsula to the brink of armed conflict. (Photo by Reuters/KCNA)

Looters scramble in Philipsburg, St. Maarten, Sunday September 10, 1995 for goods in the Ram's department store, which contained mostly food and liquor. No attempts are currently being made by Dutch troops on the island to stop the looting, since few relief supplies have arrived in St. Maarten, which was ravaged on Tuesday by Hurricane Luis. (Photo by John McConnico/AP Photo)

Andrea Rossato, Italy. Professional; Candid. Children enjoy the simple pleasures of a seaside holiday. (Photo by Andrea Rossato/Sony World Photography Awards)

A “Free Syrian Army” fighter in the Bustan Pasha neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, August 21, 2013. (Photo by James Lawler Duggan)

Lopez Cardona of Cuba and Oleksandr Khyzhniak of Ukraine appear inseparable in the 80kg semi-final on August 4, 2024, but it was Khyzhniak who progressed to the final. (Photo by Peter Cziborra/Reuters)

American model and media personality Kendall Jenner attends the Gucci women's Spring Summer 2024 collection presented in Milan, Italy, Friday, September 22, 2023. (Photo by Luca Bruno/AP Photo)

Philippine actor Soliman Cruz wearing a business suit stands inside an 8-foot transparent bubble while other activists wearing masks touch the bubble during an anti-pollution protest near a park in Manila on April 25, 2025. The protest is part of a climate advocates 350 campaign on Manila's air pollution crisis, due to traffic emissions, fossil fuel and unchecked industrial activity. (Photo by Ted Aljibe/AFP Photo)