Fluffy toy panda bears as part of the art installation “Panda mie” by Italian restaurant owner Giuseppe “Pino” Fichera sit over beers at his restaurant “Pino's” to raise awareness of the COVID-19 lockdown's business impact on gastronomy in Frankfurt, Germany, November 24, 2020. (Photo by Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)

A hot air balloon in the shape of children's comic Rupert Bear is seen tethered before a tethered flight at the Bristol International Balloon fiesta in south west England, Britain, August 10, 2018. (Photo by Adrian Sherratt/The Guardian)

A large teddy bear, used to enforce social distancing, is pictured sitting at a cafe in Pristina on July 23, 2020, as Kosovo authorities announce new measures to fight against the resurgence of the COVID-19, the novel coronavirus. (Photo by Armend Nimani/AFP Photo)

A woman takes a selfie in front of a sculpture of a rooster that local media say bears resemblance to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, outside a shopping mall in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, China December 30, 2016. (Photo by Jon Woo/Reuters)

A sea otter in the Great Bear Rainforest, off the Pacific coast of British Columbia, Canada in the second decade of December 2024, appeared to be enjoying a relaxing swim as it preened its fur, the densest of any mammal. (Photo by Max Waugh/Solent News & Photo Agency)

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)

In this photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, female impersonator Gary Marion, known as “Sushi”, sits in a large replica of a women's high-heel shoe while dangling above Duval Street, late Tuesday, December 31, 2019, in Key West, Fla. The Red Shoe Drop is one of six offbeat Key West warm-weather takeoffs on New York City's Times Square “ball drop” set to celebrate the beginning of 2020. (Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP Photo)

Partipants vie for the ball during the 11th Mud Olympics held at the North Sea coast in Brunsbuettel, Germany, July 11, 2015. Amateur athletes have competed in several disciplines at the Mud Olympics since 2004. (Photo by Axel Heimken/EPA)