Leisure and Extracurricular Activities: Keystones to Student Development

Besides providing opportunities to socialize, extracurricular activities and unstructured play alike promote intellectual and personal development in students of all ages. Leisure time provides students with an opportunity to learn on their own and see lessons they learn in classes applied in the real world.

The classroom is only one facet of the learning experience. Parents should encourage their children to play and join extracurricular activities to broaden their intellectual horizons and promote their personal and mental development. Free play and extracurricular activities in academic settings can provide them with the opportunity to find community outside of the classroom and get acquainted with their new surroundings.

International students especially should be encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities even as they adjust to the culture and systems in a new country. In major cities like Manila, international senior high schools often provide a host of intellectual, athletic, and artistic activities for students to participate in, which can allay feelings of isolation and help students adjust to their new environs.

Free Play

Regardless of their age, children and young people should be allowed to engage in some form of leisurely diversion. Play is a crucial aspect of the learning process for a child across any age.

At the earliest stages of neurocognitive development, play encourages and builds vital skills such as problem-solving, experimentation, and social skills. Play is heavily connected to the development of language skills and the formation of ideas. Many forms of play, including those involving blocks and other construction toys, can promote creativity and language skills.

In addition, play is an excellent adjunct to academic learning as children grow older. Studies have found that children focus on their studies better when given ample and frequent unstructured (“free”) play time between lessons. Although both have their benefits, free play is not the same as physical education classes. Physical exercise on its own yields both physical and mental benefits to a person’s wellbeing, but due to its more rigorous structure does not lend the same effects toward attention and skill development as free play.

Extracurricular Activities

Although not as freeform as unstructured play, extracurricular school activities (clubs, teams, and the like) are a terrific opportunity for children and adolescents. They get the chance to not only diversify their skill interests beyond academic requirements but also find friends and peers who share similar interests. Entertaining extracurricular activities provides young people with plenty of opportunities to explore new interests and develop various skill sets outside of a classroom environment. Many school clubs and organizations also give students their first taste of the organization encountered by adults in professional fields; students can witness how some of the lessons they learn in the classroom apply to real life.  

An ideal extracurricular program should cover a broad array of intellectual, creative, and athletic activities for a young person to indulge in. This will allow young people to select which school organizations represent their interests and encourage them to try new things. An excellent program can also include community outreach, which can imbue students with a sense of responsibility for the community.

An extracurricular activity is most effective when students enjoy what they are doing. Students should be allowed to choose their extracurricular activities on their own pace yet encouraged to try out new activities whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Advantages and Lessons

In much the same way as playtime encourages the development of social skills, extracurricular activities promote cooperation and rapport based on common goals and interests.  They also provide students with a constructive outlet for pent-up energies and a way to blow off steam from academic stress. 

Extracurricular activities also require a sense of commitment and can teach students the value of duty and responsibility toward others in a community setting. Moreover, having extracurricular activities teaches young people the importance of effective time management. This introduction to the need to balance responsibilities trains children and adolescents to be careful with how they allot their time for their individual responsibilities.