Model and Kate Moss lookalike, Denise Ohnona debuts a bespoke duvet-inspired dress designed by Travelodge, which they have dubbed “The 24-hour dress”, in London in the second decade of September 2024. (Photo by David Parry/PA Media Assignments)

A girl carries a toddler through a flooded street after the passage of Hurricane Rafel in Batabano, Mayabeque province, Cuba, on November 7, 2024. (Photo by Yamil Lage/AFP Photo)

Performers prepare for the start of the 98th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City on November 28, 2024. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

British actress Millie Bobby Brown in the last decade of February 2025 shows off a very 90s denim look. (Photo by miliebobbybrown/Instagram)

Relatives mourn over the shrouded body of Mohammad Abed, who is killed in an Israeli airstrike on a shelter in Gaza City, during his funeral in Gaza City, on April 19, 2025. (Photo by Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

This spiky tenrec was spotted in Madagascar’s Mantadia National Park in the last decade of September 2025. Mostly nocturnal and rarely seen, it puffs out its spines when threatened. Spiky tenrecs are excellent swimmers — unlike most spiny mammals, some species of tenrec can forage in streams and rivers, using their spines for protection while hunting aquatic insects and small prey. (Photo by Dale Morris/Solent News & Photo Agency)

British-Irish model Stella Maxwell poses backstage prior to the Elie Saab Womenswear Spring/Summer 2026 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on October 04, 2025 in Paris, France. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)

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)