American singer and dancer JoJo Siwa performs with her dancers during the Chicago Pride Fest on June 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Barry Brecheisen/Getty Images)

Mother Nesrin Mehre, mourns near the body of Muhammad Mehre was killed in an Israeli attack on al-Nasr neighborhood in northwestern Gaza, on September 23, 2025. His body was taken from al-Shifa Hospital for burial. (Photo by Khames Alrefi/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Palestinian couples participate in a mass wedding ceremony in Hamad City in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, December 2, 2025. (Photo by Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo)

People dressed as zombies participate in a parade for World Zombie Day 2016 in London's West End, Britain on October 9, 2016. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

Residents of the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek are searched by police before taking part in a memorial gathering to honour the victims of the recent deadly Paris attacks, in Brussels, Belgium, November 18, 2015. (Photo by Yves Herman/Reuters)

People eat sushi off the body of a model at an opening event of a bar in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, August 22, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Newlyweds take wedding photos hanging from bridge, Yueyang, Hunan province, China on August 9, 2016. They held such a special wedding ceremony on China's Qixi Festival. (Photo by Top Photo Corporation/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

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)