A contestant prepares at the backstage before the Miss Transqueen India 2018 transgender beauty pageant in Mumbai, India on October 7, 2018. (Photo by Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters)

Miss India Manushi Chhilar (C) reacts as she wins the 67 th Miss World contest final next to France Aurore Andrée Raphaëlle Kichenin (R) and Miss Kenya Magline Jeruto (L) in Sanya, on the tropical Chinese island of Hainan on November 18, 2017. (Photo by Nicolas Asfouri/AFP Photo)

Japan's Kaori Sakamoto performs during the Gala Exhibition at the World Figure Skating Championships in Saitama, Japan on March 26, 2023. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)

Vincent Yu is a multiple award winner who won Honorable Mention in the 2013 Photographer of the Year category for Pictures of the Year International. Photo: A statue of Hotei Buddha sits in the debris in the tsunami-destroyed town of Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan Friday, April 1, 2011. (Photo by Vincent Yu/AP Photo)

A woman guards stand at the gate of a cosmetic factory during a government organised visit for foreign reporters ahead of 70th anniversary of North Korea's foundation in Pyongyang, North Korea on September 8, 2018. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)

Arctic treasure by Sergey Gorshkov (Russia). An arctic fox carries its egg trophy from a raid on a snow goose nest and heads for a suitable burial spot. Finalist 2017, Animal Portraits. (Photo by Sergey Gorshkov/2017 Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

A man wearing a mask walks past the “Christmas Cab” sculpture displayed along Fifth Avenue on December 02, 2020 in New York City. The annual Holiday Sculptures display is organized by the Fifth Avenue Association and consist of 10 sculptures that runs from 50th Street to 59th Street. (Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/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)