What do children do after a 3.15 school pick-up until bedtime?

After school clubs until 5 pm 4 days a week (art, coding, judo and one just general play). Once a week an out of school hobby. Just time for homework and dinner!

I think for many children that age they have at least one hobby that they are very involved in so it takes up a lot of their time - for my 8 year old it's dance, which involves various lessons/practices/comps but also means she has of friends with this shared interest so there are often arrangements to meet up. When she has free time she still plays with toys a lot (sylvanian family mainly at the minute, but it varies!).

Sport or piano after school then home for rest, Mario kart, dinner, shower etc

Mine had a variety of activities 25-30 years ago. However they also had each other and as three sisters close in age (20 months between 1 and 2 and the same between 2 and 3) they entertained themselves.

@Thoseyummyspicycheesethings when mine were that age if they weren’t at clubs (so just 2 school evenings) i’d deliberately leave the car at home and walk the 20 minutes to school to collect them. Their activity for the evening was walking home! It always took 2 hours on the way back, after they climbed every wall they saw, visited the park and helped me to choose dinner in our local M&S. I have really fond memories of those long walks home.

They’d be knackered by 5.30 - 6. So we’re happy with then just homework, TV, dinner, bath, story and bed.

@Thoseyummyspicycheesethings is walking home from school an option for you?

Mine is 9.

TV
Tablet
Rollerskating
Park
Playing out with friends (most likely)
Drawing
Asking for snacks!

No clubs on Monday so usually home 345 have a snack ( something unhealthy like crisps mostly) then a mixture of tv/ tablets/ switch and when its dry they'll play in the garden we have a climbing frame with swings, monkey bars and a slide, a trampoline, goals, basketball and a dartboard out there. We have a pool table in the kitchen so they'll play that too. Dinner is at 530ish. The eldest will often play in the street with some other local boys on their bikes.
Tuesday the eldest has cubs, he tends to stay on his tablet or switch before. The youngest is much more likely to play with toys or go outside.
Wednesday the eldest has an after school sports club and then the youngest has beavers so not much time for playing at home
Thursday no clubs, we sometimes go straight to the park after-school and stay at least an hour, the eldest plays out with his friends and the youngest does a mixture of toys outside play and screens. The 4 of us do a 5k walk most Thursday evenings as its the only week evening none of us have a regular commitment.
Friday is swimming for the youngest and cricket for the eldest
They only have reading and spellings so we do those either as soon as they get in or just before they go up to bed.
I also do a couple of play dates each term

I think everyone's different. Some people - adults and children - like to be out and about, socialising, doing hobbies, exercising.

As an adult, I would get bored pottering round in the garden on my own/watching TV/reading every single day between 3:15 and 8pm. Some adults would love it and consider it vital downtime.

There's also a huge middle ground between hours every day entertaining yourself and being scheduled for every moment

I would add a couple of activities but also some things like going to the library to choose different books into the after school routine. It will still leave plenty of time

I agree, I never told my parents I was bored. There is always a boring job to do.
My children liked the free time, now they are adults I wish we had done less.

After school clubs or activities I take them to, talking to me about their day, decompressing, homework, playing outside or walking the dog, bit of tv, a few chores, dinner, bath/shower, bit of reading.

OMG some of those sound genius.

OP - 6yo usually park after school so not home until 4. Then dinner, reading, lego, crafts, playing with brother. TV one or two days. Library or groceries one day if the weather is good. Often wants me to play for an hour or so or wants to bake something.

Starting bed at 8 for a 7 year old seems quite late, what time does she actually go down to bed? Mine go up 7.15 latest, washed, changed, read to me, I read to them, lights out at 8. So I'd look party at if she's going to bed too late.

Does she / you want to do another week day activity? We have an afterschool club one day til 4 and Beavers one night 6-7. Home usually by 4 tho so three hours to fill Inc dinner. They'll play, read, chat to me whilst I do dinner, they are slow eaters too, watch telly, sometimes a computer game, crafts etc.

We read - all of us sit in the lounge with relaxing music on and read our books together. My kids English work at school has improved massively since I started doing this.

They then either help me with dinner, or they go and play with their toys.

Sometimes we watch something on TV together and have a cup of tea.

We do some gardening.

They do music practice.

We play on the trampoline.

I told them a bored person is a boring person, so my kids are never bored.

I have a 7 year old.
If the weather is nice, sometimes park after school.
At some point between 3:15 and bedtime, the following has to happen (unless she did it before school - usually we get one done in the morning):
Music practice unless it has been done before school.
Reading
At least one of spelling/times tables practice

Other than that she gets to choose what she does (but no more than half an hour TV time). She likes to play on the trampoline, draw pictures, tell imaginary stories with her toys, go on her rollerskates. Sometimes she might want to play a board game or do a jigsaw.

One evening she has a swimming lesson and one day a week she has violin, but other hobbies are at the weekend at the moment. One day of being in a school club which extends the day till 4:15.

I have a DS who is 5.5. Pick up is at 3.20; as long as it’s dry we go to either the school playground (available to the kids til 4pm) or the park over the road from school. Then walk home and arrive 4.30pm ish. I think it’s good to give a bit of decompression time then so CBeebies goes on or DS can draw, play with Lego etc while I sort dinner. Early dinner at 5.30, bath around 6.45pm, a bit more drawing/Lego/board games then bed.

DD doesn't tell me she's bored. She comes up with very elaborate games that I have to be involved with. I feel guilty but I hate it so much and try and find various ways to get out of it or wait for the perfect moment to slink away and she'll carry on by herself. Sometimes I enjoy it and get involved, but sometimes I desperately don't want to do fucking imaginative play

This. Parents feel like they need to fill every moment of their kids times with clubs and activities. They really don't. If my kids ever tell me they're bored i tell them some chores to do they soon shut up and start entertaining themselves.

Wow I feel terrible, I work full time so by the time I’m finished and the youngest is dropped or collected it’s gone 6 and we’re eating and winding down for bath and bed 😅 Hats off to those who get their kids to clubs every night!

Grandparents x3 times per week (due to work), clubs (x3 afternoons for DC1 and DC2 - different clubs and days, DC3 only does 1 club)

The one day we are "free" from 3.30pm we go to the park this time of year for a few hours. Many children from school go most days in nicer weather so there's a ready made pool of friends for both my primary age kids. The secondary aged one has a few hours of downtime on a Friday as he won't be seen dead in a park with his siblings now.

When mine were that age, we would walk home, sometimes stop at the cafe or the park on the way back from school, get home for a snack, do homework, play in the garden or in the living room (All the toys would come out, they loved pretend play), watch some tv, do some drawing/hama beads/craft or occasionally bake with me. If one had ballet/gymnastics or swimming I'd take the other one to the soft play or we would sit and wait for the sibling reading books and doing homework. They did a dance lesson/gymnastics once a week to begin with, plus swimming (in the week to begin with, then on a saturday). We also tried piano for a bit. Dancing then became the main hobby and I am now at the dance studio every evening and I drive them around to various dance things at week ends - Careful what you wish for!

Does she read? Mine always loved reading and still would rather sit with a book than watch tv. At 7, all the Roald Dahl, HP, Worst Witch, Magic Kittens, Isadora Moon series...

For craft they loved drawing with sand, hama beads, painting, making slime, playdoh and kinetic sand...

DD is 7 and I have the weekdays scheduled to avoid too much time milling around at home, though I factor in some time at home so she has time to play, be bored and get creative etc. there are a few neighbours kids she plays with too. she doesn't have homework yet. We're members at a gym with kids activities so I have a two week rotation like this:

Monday: swimming lesson every other Monday
Tuesday: wraparound at school (some friends go and she enjoys it. I finish work at 2 so use this time for gym)
Weds: club at the gym
Thurs: performing arts club
Fri: free. Might do library visit, shops if we need anything, dog walk, swimming or play at home

Mon: club at gym
Tues: wrap around
Weds free
Thurs performing arts
Fri free, library, dog etc.

She joins juniors next year and they have a larger variety of clubs so this will likely change

The post school 3-6 sort of time is a slog. Mine like playing in the garden but it’s interspersed with a lot of wailing and shouting. I’m hoping as dd gets older I can move swimming lessons from the weekend to the evening but it’s too late for her as it is; we’d have a danger nap and I’m not losing my evening!

Football 2 nights a week.

Homework, then out to play the rest.

Mine is six and gets off school at half one. Usual routine is park/ playground, she plays with her friends, I often have a cup of tea and chat with other mums. Then walk home, snack and tv for a while. Then homework, then maybe a board or card game or do some crafts.After that I have to make dinner and tidy up so she’s left to her own devices and will play an imaginary game or draw or kinetic sand or go out the back yard with her ball/ skates etc. Then dinner, then she gets her tablet for a while. Then get ready for bed.

French lessons, Gymnastics, Karate, Maths Tutor, Art Club.

If they are not doing clubs or lessons - baking, homework, tv, drawing, friends over, listening to music, reading, lolling about on the furniture....