Nearly 40 percent of children in Taiwan spend less than an hour a day playing, while 40 percent of children aged nine to 12 spend their free time playing online games, a survey released on Monday last week by the Child Welfare League Foundation showed.
Although the Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF recommends that every child have at least one hour of play time every day to promote healthy development, 37.7 percent of children aged six to nine in Taiwan have less than an hour of free play every day and 40 percent of children aged nine to 12 play for no more than one hour per day, the foundation said.
The survey also showed that 43.7 percent of elementary-school students have less than one hour of play time during weekdays and usually only play on weekends.
As children grow, they generally spend more time at school, doing homework and taking part in extracurricular activities, leaving little time for leisure activities, the foundation said.
The survey also showed that 40 percent of children aged nine to 12 often play online games and 80 percent of parents consider such games to fall within the scope of “free play.”
Children playing video games passively receive a large amount of audio-visual information, but they seldom have opportunities for active participation or creative play, the foundation said.
The survey also showed that more than 40 percent of parents spend at least five days a week playing with their children, while 15.3 percent seldom or never play with their children.
In addition, only 54.3 percent of children regularly go to outdoor areas, such as parks, while 38 percent regularly visit indoor places, such as supermarkets, shopping centers, department stores or convenience stores.
The survey was conducted by the foundation from Dec. 24 last year to Jan. 22, using online questionnaires sent to parents of children aged one to 12. A total of 707 valid samples were collected.
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