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)

A rescuer saves a resident from a flooded area in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, July 2, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

A couple who did not give their names walk in downtown Havana, February 2, 2015. (Photo by Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters)

An Afghan man prepares tea for customers at a roadside tea shop on the outskirts of Jalalabad February 2, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Parwiz)

Four-year-old Eve Hill enjoys the wet weather in York, northeast England on August 2, 2023. (Photo by James Glossop/The Times)

A pedestrian walks with an umbrella along a street during rainfall in Bengaluru on June 2, 2024. (Photo by Idrees Mohammed/AFP Photo)

Fishermen carry a tuna fish to the market in Mogadishu, Somalia, April 2, 2025. (Photo by Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP Photo)

English singer and songwriter Becky Hill arrives for the BRIT Awards at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, on March 2, 2024. (Photo by Maja Smiejkowska/Reuters)