While organized activities, like soccer for instance, promote a sense of teamwork and offer the opportunity to interact with new kids, children, like adults, need time to relax. Organized activities are rewarding for children, but they need a break from the structure of the school day. They also need a break from adults telling them what to do. Free time allows children to set their own agenda, whether that involves spraying hoses on each other or playing checkers with you. Though parents may find this notion counterintuitive, a regular amount of spontaneous, unstructured play time is just as important to a child's development as organized extracurricular activity.
Free time gives children a chance to indulge their imaginations.
Take little boys who play with plastic army men, for example. Regardless of any perceived violent overtones to that kind of play, children benefit from acting out their fantasies. Even if you take all the toy guns away from your children, their creative energy will seek an outlet. In the end, the key to any activity schedule is balance. Children require a manageable mix of structured and unstructured fun.