‘Playing makes it fun’ in out-of-school activities: Children’s organised leisure

2020/06/03 by Satu Lehto, Kristiina Eskelinen
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Motivation and Self-Concept in Sports #Recreation, Leisure, Wilderness Management #Youth Development and Social Support

paper · pdf · doi:10.1177/0907568220923142

openalex publication_date 2020/06/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25

Abstract

The aim of this article is to focus on how children perceive their time spent in organised out-of-school activities in Finland and establish whether these activities provide an arena for children’s leisure. The article is based on two empirical studies, one on after-school activities and another on school sports clubs at the elementary school level. The most meaningful features for children were found to be time to play freely with friends and taking part in designing activities. Out-of-school activities are supervised and controlled because of various societal and educational requirements. The tension between children’s views and institutional requirements is discussed.

Citations

• The qualitative content analysis process
• Spatiality and the New Social Studies of Childhood
• ‘Do you know what we do when we want to play?’ Children’s hidden politics of resistance and struggle for play in a Swedish asylum centre

Related

• Meaningful leisure time in school-age educare: the value of friends and collective strategies
• Do children have a right to do nothing? Exploring the place of passive leisure in Australian school age care
• Play and leisure in Australian School Age Care: Reconceptualizing children’s waiting as a site of play and labour
• Playing outdoors in Dutch cities: how children perceive and value the public space as a place to play
• Preschool Children’s Social Play and Involvement in the Outdoor Environment