SELECTED OTHER ACTIVITIES


SELECTED OTHER ACTIVITIES

Participation

Information on children's participation in a range of other selected activities in the previous two school weeks (outside of school hours) was collected. During that two week period:

• 97% (2.7 million) had watched television, DVDs or videos
• 83% (2.3 million) had spent time on other screen-based activities
• 82% (2.2 million) had done homework or other study
• 72% (2.0 million) had read for pleasure
• 60% (1.6 million) had been bike riding
• 49% (1.3 million) had been skateboarding, rollerblading or riding a scooter
• 48% (1.3 million) had spent time on art and craft activities. (Table 17)

While participation rates were similar for boys and girls for some leisure activities (watching television, DVDs and videos, and homework or other study) they varied for others. Boys were more likely to take part in other screen-based activities (87%) compared to 80% for girls, riding a bike (boys 66% compared with girls 54%) and skateboarding, rollerblading or riding a scooter (boys 56% compared with girls 42%). On the other hand, girls were more likely to participate in reading for pleasure (80%) and art and craft activities (60%) than boys (65% and 37% respectively). (Table 17)

Time spent

Children spent on average (outside of school hours) 17 hours watching television, DVDs and videos, and 11 hours doing other screen based activities in the two school weeks prior to interview. In comparison, children spent an average of 7 hours on reading for pleasure and homework, 6 hours riding skateboards, rollerblading or riding scooters, and 5 hours riding bikes and doing art and craft activities. (Table 18)