Beyond the Busy Schedule: What Should Parents Really Look for in an Extracurricular Activity?

Extracurricular activities for kids should offer more than just filling an afternoon. Scouts NSW shares what parents should really look for when choosing the right fit for their child. Between sport, dance, music, Scouts, drama, art and the seemingly endless list of activities available to children, choosing what to fit into an already busy week can sometimes feel like another parenting decision we need to get right.

Will they enjoy it? Will they make friends? Will it build their confidence? Will they learn something useful? Is it worth the time and money? And, increasingly, will it give them a genuine opportunity to put down the screen, connect with other young people and experience something beyond the classroom?

For many families, extracurricular activities are no longer simply about filling an afternoon or adding another achievement to a future resume. Parents are looking for experiences that support the whole child: their confidence, independence, resilience, social connections and ability to navigate the world around them.

We spoke with Bel Howell, Chief Commissioner of Scouts NSW, about what parents are looking for now, how extracurricular activities can contribute to a child’s development and why modern Scouting may look rather different from the version many parents remember.

Looking Beyond Academics: What Extracurricular Activities for Kids Really Teach

Academic achievement will always matter, but it is only one part of raising a child who feels capable of navigating the world independently.

Confidence, resilience, leadership, compassion, problem-solving and social skills aren’t necessarily things children can learn from a textbook. Often, they develop through experience: trying something unfamiliar, getting it wrong, working with other people, taking responsibility and eventually discovering they are capable of more than they realised.

As families navigate concerns around young people’s mental health, social connection and the amount of time children spend online, these opportunities can feel increasingly valuable.

There is also a growing focus on activities children genuinely want to participate in rather than simply those adults believe will look impressive later. The extracurricular activity that ultimately has the greatest impact may not necessarily be the one that produces the most trophies, certificates or achievements. It may be the one that gives a child the confidence to speak up, make a new friend, take responsibility or keep trying when something doesn’t go according to plan.

Scouting is one example of an environment where those experiences happen outside traditional academic or sporting measures of success. Young people can set personal goals, work towards an award, learn practical skills, participate in adventures and take on leadership roles amongst their peers.

As Howell explains, confidence does not always come from being the top student or the most accomplished athlete. It can come from successfully cooking a meal for your Scout Group, navigating a new environment, speaking up with an idea, helping someone else solve a problem or teaching a peer how to do something new.

These might look like relatively small moments from the outside. For the child experiencing them, they can represent something much bigger: I did that. I worked it out. I can do this.

Scouts may not look like parents remember

Mention Scouts and many parents will immediately picture camping, bushwalking, knots and campfires. Those things haven’t disappeared, but modern Scouting extends considerably further.

Young people can experience everything from caving, abseiling and canoeing to STEM, dramatic arts and design. They can participate in community projects, explore sustainability and develop practical skills they can carry into everyday life.

There has also been a shift towards activities being increasingly youth-led and adult-supported.

Rather than adults determining everything children will do, young people have opportunities to help shape activities around their interests while trained adults provide the structure, guidance and support around them.

That distinction is important. Independence doesn’t mean leaving children to figure everything out alone. It means giving them appropriate opportunities to make decisions, contribute ideas, take responsibility and experience the consequences of those decisions within an environment where support is still available.

For parents accustomed to organising much of their children’s lives, extracurricular activities can provide something surprisingly valuable: a place where someone else isn’t immediately stepping in to do everything for them.

What does modern Scouting actually look like?

For parents who haven’t experienced Scouts themselves, one of the simplest questions is often the most useful: what will my child actually do?

There isn’t one typical Scout meeting.

Depending on their age, interests and program, young people might learn a practical skill, work together to solve a problem, cook a meal, take part in an outdoor activity, explore creative arts, work towards an award or help plan an upcoming adventure.

Camps and outdoor experiences can take that independence further. Young people may help prepare meals, set up and pack down campsites, manage their own belongings and hygiene, navigate unfamiliar environments and work together when plans change.

On paper, they may be camping or cooking dinner. Underneath that activity, however, they can also be learning teamwork, negotiation, budgeting, first aid, empathy, decision-making and problem-solving.

Perhaps one of the most useful things about experiential learning is that children don’t necessarily realise they are being taught.

There is no worksheet titled “resilience”. Instead, something doesn’t go according to plan and they have to work out what to do next.

Why belonging matters too

Skills are only part of what children can gain from an extracurricular activity.

For many children, these activities provide another social world beyond home and school. They meet young people with different backgrounds, interests, abilities and experiences, while friendships develop around doing something together rather than simply being placed in the same classroom.

Howell says that sense of belonging can be particularly powerful. Within Scouts, young people work towards shared goals, encourage their peers and celebrate achievements, while adults guide, teach, mentor and support them.

It creates another place where a child can potentially feel known and valued.

That matters in an increasingly connected world that can, paradoxically, sometimes feel isolating. Having somewhere to physically turn up, participate, contribute and belong can offer something that digital connection doesn’t always replicate.

Combine that with fresh air, physical activity and genuine time away from screens, and the value can extend well beyond simply giving children something to do after school.

Does an extracurricular activity have to lead somewhere?

There can be enormous pressure around children’s activities. Representative teams, exams, competitions, performances, grading, awards and pathways can all become part of the equation.

Achievement can be wonderful, particularly when a child is passionate about what they are doing. But not every extracurricular activity has to become another arena in which children are measured.

Sometimes the outcome is the experience itself.

A child may never become an elite athlete, professional musician or expert outdoorsperson. They might instead learn to lose gracefully, perform despite feeling nervous, advocate for themselves, work with people they wouldn’t ordinarily choose as friends, take responsibility for their equipment or realise that getting something wrong doesn’t mean they should stop trying.

Those skills can be much harder to quantify, but they can also stay with children long after the activity itself has ended.

So, what should parents actually look for?

Ultimately, there is no single extracurricular activity that will be right for every child. The better question for parents may be whether the activity gives their child something they genuinely value beyond simply filling another afternoon in the family calendar.

Whether it is Scouts, sport, dance, music, drama, coding, art or something completely different, look at what your child is getting from the experience as much as what they are doing while they are there.

Are they building confidence? Making decisions and solving problems? Developing independence? Forming friendships outside their usual circles? Learning to contribute to a group? Discovering how to recover when something doesn’t go to plan? Are they being challenged without feeling constantly overwhelmed? And, perhaps most importantly, do they actually want to go?

It is worth listening to the child in front of you. An activity can tick every developmental box on paper, but if they dread attending each week, it may simply not be the right fit. Equally, something that looks like “just fun” to an adult may quietly be teaching them how to negotiate friendships, take risks, speak up, recover from mistakes or become more independent.

That is perhaps the bigger shift in how we should think about extracurricular activities. They don’t have to produce a trophy, certificate or line on a future resume to be worthwhile.

Sometimes the value is harder to measure: a child who walks in a little more confidently, tries something they would once have avoided, finds their people, learns they can do hard things or comes home excited to tell you what they did.

And those may ultimately be some of the most valuable things our children can take with them.

This article was produced by Parenthood360 with expert insights from Bel Howell, Chief Commissioner of Scouts NSW.