Netball is the country's most popular school sport. (File photo.) Photo: Photosport
A new report from the Ministry for Culture and Heritage has found sport is the most popular extracurricular activity for New Zealand children.
The report - released on Children's Day 2024 - came from the University of Auckland's Growing Up in New Zealand longitudinal research study, and used data from more than 4500 12 year olds.
The ministry's project was designed to better understand the types and extent of youth cultural participation in New Zealand and found that almost all - 97 percent - participated in some form of extracurricular (outside of school) activity, including sport, dance and drama, community clubs and groups, arts, craft, and technology, and music.
Children in homes with extended family had higher rates, and participation also varied according to ethnicity, with Asian, Pacific, and MELAA (Middle Eastern / Latin American / African) youths doing more than those of European heritage.
Sport was the activity with the highest levels of participation, with 88 percent of those surveyed saying they did sport regularly.
Listening to music was the most frequent activity - some 52 percent said they did this every day or more.
And the highest reported activity done individually was painting or drawing, at 39 percent.
The results showed, however, that there were barriers to participation in activities outside of school.
Disability and poverty within households or specific areas were associated with lower participation in some free-time activities, although "the pattern of results was more complex", the report said.
Almost a third of those surveyed said there was something they wanted to do but missed out on, the top two being running or cross-country and Asian dance.
The most common reason they gave for missing out - at 37 percent - was not having enough time.
Ministry spokesperson Emily Fabling said the findings showed that 12 year olds in New Zealand were "highly engaged in arts, culture, and recreation activities".
"But most children still find time to do their homework (72 percent) and chores (89 percent) once a week or more, in amongst all their other after-school activities.
"It is a privilege to be able to make this report available on Children's Day 2024 to acknowledge the importance of tamariki and rangatahi as New Zealand's future artists, performers, mātanga, creatives and athletes."
Fabling said three key barriers were mentioned by respondents.
"They just don't have enough time, they might be doing other household chores or they might be in travel between school and home. The other barrier is actually led by a fear of not being able to be good at it, or it's not available in their neighbourhood."
Those living with extended family had higher participation rates in extracurricular activities, possibly because of an inter-generational passing on of skills, Fabling said.
Growing Up in New Zealand research fellow Rebecca Evans said the project had provided a more in-depth understanding of how young people were spending their time outside of school.
"The report sheds light on some of the things that we've anecdotally known about Kiwi kids for some time," Dr Evans said.
"We were also able to consider what characteristics (whether that be of the child, household, or neighbourhood) could enable children to have greater access, and what barriers for participation exist. Hopefully this report will encourage more young people to be able to participate in arts, culture, and recreation activities."
