Average Day of a 5-7 Year-Old

Combining available data about the daily habits of 5- to 7-year olds with information about younger school-aged children more generally provides insight into several features of an average day for a child in this age group. While many basic elements of a typical day are similar globally, the details of each feature can vary widely by country.

In other posts, we have provided high-level overview reports on the following topics which you may find useful;

• Seven Popular Television Shows for Children Between the Ages Three to Seven
• Resources Designed to Help Children Recognize the Importance of Dental Hygiene
• Resources Designed to Help Children Recognize the Importance of Personal Care
• Best Practices That Will Increase the Effectiveness of the Learning Process For 3-5 & 5-7 Year Olds
• Popular Trending Books, TV, YouTube Channels, Toys, Video Games and Apps for Ages 3-5 & 5-7

Wake-up Time

• A study from 2012 tracking approximately 14,000 English children born in 1991 and 1992 reports that the 6- and 7-year olds typically woke up around 7 a.m.
• Posts in an Australian online forum describe 5-year-olds waking up between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m.

Homework

• The amount of time students spend doing homework varies significantly by country.
• The National Education Association and the National Parent Teacher Association in the United States recommend no more than 10 minutes of homework a day for each grade (i.e. 10 minutes for first graders, 20 minutes for second graders, etc.). Some California districts have already implemented this “10-minute rule” in kindergarten.
• A survey in 2013 found that teachers in the United States typically gave their students approximately 3 hours of homework per week from kindergarten to fifth grade.

Offline Extracurricular Activities

• Free time for children has reduced by 12 hours per week over the last twenty years, and play time has dropped by three hours a week.
• A survey of 50 English families with grade-school aged children found that 88% of the children participated in extracurricular activities four or five days a week, and 58% had more than one activity per day.
• The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reports that among OECD countries in 2017, children aged 6 to 11 in Croatia spent the most hours per week (approx. 17 hours) in before and/or after school activities hosted either by the school or youth centers. Children in the United Kingdom spent approximately 6 hours per week in such activities.

Screen Time

• Around 98% of children 8 years or younger in the United States live in a home with at least one internet-connected device. Children between the ages of 5 and 8 spend around 3 hours a day on screens. Similar statistics apply to Canadian children.
• Although most American children spend more time on screens than recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, 75% of parents surveyed said that they believed their child spends the right amount or not enough time with screen media.
• The government of Taiwan passed a law in 2015 creating fines for parents who let their children spend an excessive amount of time on screen media. The law did not define how much time was too much, however.

Bedtime

• A study tracking the growth and development of 14,000 children born in the United States in 2001 found that when the children were kindergartners (typical age 5-6) their median bedtime was 8:30 pm. The earliest bedtime was 8 p.m., and 10% of the sample went to bed later than 9:30 p.m.
• The 2012 study of English children born in 1991 and 1992 reports that the average bedtime for 6- and 7-year olds was around 8 p.m.
• Children seem to be sleeping less overall over time although this varies by country.