A survey of children's activities in the 12 months to April 2000 found that 29% of children aged 5-14 years (777,700 children) were involved in at least one of four selected organised cultural activities outside of school hours. Girls were twice as likely as boys (40% compared with 20%) to participate in at least one of these activities (table 12.22).
During the year, 10% of girls were involved in more than one of the selected organised cultural activities outside of school hours, compared with 3% of boys. The rate of children's participation in at least one of the organised cultural activities ranged from 22% in the Northern Territory to 34% in the Australian Capital Territory.
Playing a musical instrument was the most popular of the selected cultural activities (18%), followed by dancing (10%), singing (5%) and drama (5%). The activity with the highest ratio of girls to boys was dancing, with 11 times more girls participating than boys.
12.22 CHILDREN INVOLVED IN CULTURAL ACTIVITIES(a), Participation rate - 2000
|
| | Age (years) | |
| |
| |
| | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | All children |
| | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % |
|
Males | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Playing a musical instrument | *4.0 | 9.8 | 11.0 | 16.5 | 17.0 | 20.4 | 20.2 | 20.8 | 19.7 | 18.1 | 15.8 |
| Singing | **1.1 | **0.6 | *2.1 | *3.2 | *3.8 | *4.1 | *3.0 | *4.4 | *3.6 | *2.8 | 2.9 |
| Dancing | **1.2 | *2.2 | *2.1 | **0.8 | *1.5 | *1.6 | **0.5 | *2.8 | *2.7 | *1.7 | 1.7 |
| Drama | **0.1 | *1.3 | *3.6 | *3.5 | *2.8 | *4.7 | *2.4 | *4.3 | *4.2 | *4.8 | *3.2 |
| All | 6.2 | 12.6 | 15.2 | 20.5 | 20.5 | 25.2 | 23.5 | 24.6 | 24.4 | 24.0 | 19.7 |
Females | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Playing a musical instrument | 5.4 | 8.2 | 15.6 | 23.7 | 24.1 | 27.3 | 29.4 | 23.0 | 23.7 | 20.0 | 20.2 |
| Singing | **1.1 | *3.5 | *4.1 | 7.5 | 7.7 | 10.3 | 7.7 | 8.8 | 7.6 | 7.7 | 6.7 |
| Dancing | 23.3 | 25.0 | 22.0 | 21.0 | 21.4 | 19.5 | 20.4 | 15.2 | 15.7 | 11.6 | 19.5 |
| Drama | **0.7 | *2.6 | *5.1 | 5.8 | 5.7 | 7.8 | 7.2 | 10.5 | 8.4 | 7.0 | 6.1 |
| All | 27.9 | 32.8 | 37.1 | 41.8 | 44.8 | 45.0 | 48.0 | 42.1 | 41.5 | 34.6 | 39.7 |
Persons | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Playing a musical instrument | 4.7 | 9.1 | 13.2 | 20.1 | 20.5 | 23.7 | 24.5 | 22.0 | 21.7 | 19.0 | 17.9 |
| Singing | *1.1 | *1.9 | 3.0 | 5.3 | 5.8 | 7.0 | 5.2 | 6.7 | 5.6 | 5.1 | 4.7 |
| Dancing | 12.1 | 12.9 | 11.7 | 10.8 | 11.3 | 10.1 | 9.9 | 9.3 | 9.1 | 6.5 | 10.4 |
| Drama | **0.4 | *1.9 | 4.3 | 4.6 | 4.2 | 6.2 | 4.7 | 7.5 | 6.3 | 5.8 | 4.6 |
| All | 16.9 | 22.0 | 25.8 | 31.1 | 32.5 | 34.6 | 35.1 | 33.8 | 32.8 | 29.1 | 29.4 |
|
(a) Outside of school hours during the 12 months prior to interview in April 2000. |
Source: Children's Participation in Cultural and Leisure Activities, Australia, April 2000 (4901.0). |
Participation in dancing was highest for children aged 6 years (13%) and lowest for children aged 14 years (7%). Participation in the other three activities peaked between 10 and 12 years of age. During the 12-month period, 93% of those children who were involved in dancing had dancing lessons. Some 75% had lessons in playing a musical instrument, 69% participated in drama lessons and 57% in singing lessons.
In the two school weeks prior to interview in April 2000, 44% of children (34% of boys and 55% of girls) undertook art and craft activities. This compares with 97% of children who watched television or videos and 69% who played electronic or computer games.
Further details about children's participation in organised sports and other leisure activities are outlined in the section Children's participation in sports and leisure activities.