During my practical training I have seen what after-school offers children. Large groups of children and little staff, often results in that the children had to play freely until they go home. Few activities are offered to the children and the staff is busy looking after the children and ensures that they are not fighting.
The purpose of this study is to find out how children feel about their leisure activities and if they think they are being offered a meaningful leisure. The main research questions were:
The methods to collect data in the study are observations and interviews. The study was done in an after-school in Stockholm with children between 7-9 years old.
The children in the after-school think that they spend too much time outdoor, that they have too few excursions, too little time indoors and too few activities. Most children experience that it is the teachers who decide at leisure-time and that there are teachers who determines what, when and where children can play. The kids want to get a chance to decide about their leisure and what they want to use it for. What the children in the study wants to do and what they are allowed to do, isn´t really the same, and therefore from a children's perspective, they hasn´t been offered a meaningful leisure.