How many extracurricular activities should 4-6 year olds be doing?

[WomenAndVulvas]

My DC have just turned 4 and 6. They both go swimming once a week, it's the first extracurricular activity they enjoy. Other children their age do at least two activities a week, some even do four! I have had some weird looks when I say they go swimming, and only because it's a necessary skill, not because I think that they need to be doing stuff outside preschool at their age (we're not in the UK, children start school at 7). They hated everything else they tried and I was sick of dragging them to do stuff they didn't enjoy.

Am I missing something? Do children really need to start all these activities at 4 years old?

[mindutopia]

No, they really don't need to start any activities at that age, unless they really enjoy something and/or you are going out of your mind and need something to fill the time.

My eldest is now 7, but she's only ever done one activity (horse riding) and it wasn't necessarily every week, more like 2-3 times a month. Honestly, it was bit of a pain in the bum, a 30 minute drive away, and hard to plan around my work as I work full time. At the moment, she does absolutely nothing because nothing is on due to COVID or not worth the risk as I need her in school so I can work more than she needs lots of afterschool activities. I do know people who do loads of activities all week, but most of them are because they have lots of free afternoons and time to kill, whereas we are always busy enough as it is.