Young dancers practice by the Kenya – Uganda railway line, prior to the start of a Christmas ballet event in Kibera, the Kenyan capital's largest slum, Friday, December 15, 2023. The ballet project is run by Project Elimu, a community-driven nonprofit that offers after-school arts education and a safe space to children in Kibera. (Photo by Brian Inganga/AP Photo)

A man reacts inside the projection mapping and interactive installation known as “Illusion Road” at the multi-dimensional media art gallery Immersify KL in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 04 March 2025. Immersify KL attracts visitors with interactive installations, high-definition visuals, and 3D spatial sound, creating breathtaking zones, including the country's first 360-degree, 12-meter-high projection space inside a 30,000-square-foot area with 11 sections of different immersive zones. (Photo by Fazry Ismail/EPA)

“The Sunsetter”. An EF-4 tornado rips through the open space of farmland near Rozel, Kansas. This tornado moves slowly but powerful towards the setting sun an gets its beautiful color right before sunset. Storm Chasers are spotting on the left side. Photo location: Rozel, Kansas. (Photo and caption by Dennis Oswald/National Geographic Photo Contest)

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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 combination photo shows the faces of various attendees of New York Comic Con in Manhattan, New York, October 8, 2015. The event draws thousands of costumed fans, panels of pop culture luminaries and features a sprawling floor of vendors in a space equivalent to more than three football fields at the Jacob Javits Convention Center on Manhattan's West side. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

“People and Space”. Winner: Wanderer in Patagonia by Yuri Zvezdny (Russia) A lone stargazer stares up at the stars of our galaxy, the Milky Way, as they stretch across the night sky over the glacier “White Stones” (Piedras Blancas) in the Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina. El Chaltén, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, 27 September 2016 iOptron Sky-Tracker mount, Sony A7S camera, 18 mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 5000, 30-second exposure Wanderer in Patagonia. (Photo by Yuri Zvezdny/Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2017)

In this January 11, 2018 photo, a skater jumps a ramp during the inauguration of a new recreational space for skateboarders, created in an abandoned gym at the Educational complex Ciudad Libertad, a former military barracks that the late Fidel Castro turned into a school complex after the revolution in Havana, Cuba. Foreign skateboard enthusiasts supply their Cuban counterparts with boards and other equipment. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo)

Britain's Queen Elizabeth, second left, sits next to fashion editor Anna Wintour, third left, and Caroline Rush, chief executive of the British Fashion Council (BFC) as they view Richard Quinn's runway show before presenting him with the inaugural Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design, as she visits London Fashion Week's BFC Show Space in central London, Tuesday, February 20, 2018. (Photo by Yui Mok/Pool photo via AP Photo)