These hours represent an opportunity to help children grow and acquire important social, emotional, cognitive, and physical skills and to help them develop lifelong interests. This time can also be used to provide support for the academic challenges faced by children each day in school. Examples of enrichment activities include group work on science projects, math games, and the study of plants and animals, and opportunities to create a newspaper, write a play, tackle homework, use computers, or participate in special interest groups or clubs. By tapping into the underutilized intelligences, such as musical intelligence, extracurricular activities can encourage the development of skills and interests not fully nurtured during the school day.
Extracurricular activities appear to provide leadership and social skills development.
Provision of extracurricular activities varies. For example, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Art Moves Us program uses the talents of more than 750 local youth, ages 7-23, to research, design, plan, and render public murals. The Virtual Y, a collaboration of the YMCA, schools, and the PTA, has brought the Y's traditional curriculum to New York City schools. Another way to challenge children and youth after school is to deepen their learning about themselves, their community, and the world beyond. Mentoring and service learning can provide youth with the opportunity to explore a variety of work environments.