Types of Co Curricular Activities

You must have come across the term co-curricular in your school as well as in college. This term means activities or subjects beyond the curriculum. These activities include those subjects that are not a part of your academic curriculum but are important to ensure the holistic development of an individual. Be it co-curricular activities in school or at the university level, they play a key role in maintaining the physical as well as mental health of a student. In this blog, we will be exploring the different types of co curricular activities and how they create a positive impact in our lives.

What are Curricular and Co-curricular activities?

Sticking to a strict academic curriculum can lead to stunted growth of an individual. There has been a lot of emphasis on co-curricular activities in order to ensure the holistic development of an individual. These activities aid in a student’s personality development, giving him/her a chance to thrive beyond the subjects prescribed in the syllabus. Let’s first understand the meaning of curricular and co-curricular activities:

Curricular activities are those types of activities that are strictly prescribed under the curriculum. According to the Dictionary of Education,

Co-Curricular Activities can be defined as:
“Activities that are recognized by a school or university, that fall beyond the domain of academic curriculum but is an essential part of a student’s life at an educational institute. Co curricular activities include sports, school bands, student newspaper etc. They may also be classified as ‘Extracurricular’ i.e. activities that are carried out beyond the regular course of study or operate as extra class activities.”

Importance of Co-Curricular Activities

As schools are increasingly focusing on extra-curricular and co-curricular activities, children are now involved in more engaging learning environments to help them interactively learn and gain knowledge. Here are the key benefits of Co-Curricular Activities:

• Co-curricular activities enhance the learning process for the students by helping them understand the practicality of things they are learning as well as making the process more fun and engaging.
• Co-curricular activities boost the creativity and innate talents of children by helping them improve their speaking skills, listening skills, innovation and imagination.
• Co-curricular activities also foster social skills, moral skills and holistic personality development amongst children.
• Co-curricular activities bring a sense of belongingness amongst students and help them learn about the importance of being in a community and working towards the upliftment of the underprivileged too.
• Co-curricular activities also keep children physically active and impart them with team leadership skills, collaboration, co-operation and healthy competition.

Types of Co-Curricular Activities

Co curricular activities can be divided into various categories depending on the motive or the skill that an activity aims to enhance in an individual. Here are some major types of co curricular activities that you might have come across during your school or college curriculum:

Types of Co-Curricular Activities for Physical Development

• Yoga
• Aerobics
• Zumba
• Dance
• Sports
• NCC, etc

Types of Co-Curricular Activities for Psychomotor Development

• Knitting
• Gardening
• Bookbinding
• Tailoring, etc. 

Types of Co-Curricular Activities for Cultural Development

• Drawing and Painting
• Dance and Music,
• Theatre Plays,
• Annual Day, etc. 

Types of Co-Curricular Activities for Intellectual Development

• Quizzes
• Debates
• Essay Writing
• Poem Recitals
• Story Writing
• Spelling Bees
• Book Clubs

Types of Co-Curricular Activities for Social Development

• Volunteering
• Conducting Festivals or Competitions
• Social Work [Independent/in Groups]

Leisure-Related Co-Curricular Activities

• Picnics
• Educational Tours
• Museum Visits
• Industrial Visits
• Seminars

Physical Development

Physical development consists of activities that are usually related to sports and involve physical and outdoor exercises, they focus on ensuring that students are actively participating in sports or other physical activities. Here is a list of types of co curricular activities that are part of physical development:

• Sports
• Physical Education
• NCC 
• Athletics
• Yoga

Various scholarship programs are also offered to students excelling in physical activities. Moreover, several colleges in and outside India have a separate sports quota for offering admission to those students who have performed exceptionally in these physical activities.

Psychomotor Development

Activities that come under this category usually focus on analyzing the way your mind functions during various activities. These activities need concentration and focus along with a creative bent of mind. Psychomotor activities look at how your brain is affected by certain physical movements. The idea behind these activities is to relax the brain and support psychological development as well as improve the concentration skills of an individual. The activities under this category are:

• Knitting
• Gardening
• Bookbinding
• Tailoring
• Painting

Academics Related Co-curricular Activities

Are there no extracurricular activities for bookworms? Just like sports or dance can be a hobby for someone, there are a set of students who really enjoy gathering knowledge. Given below are the things they can be a part of during their school or college years: 

• Book clubs
• Organizing exhibitions
• Poetry recitation
• Debates
• Story-writing
• Preparing charts
• School magazine editor

Cultural Development

Offering students with an opportunity to take part in dance competitions or music shows, these types of co-curricular activities are frequently organised in schools and colleges. Taking part in such cultural activities, you can showcase your inner artist, be it through dance forms or fashion shows. Some of the prominent cultural development activities include:

• Folk Art
• Drawing and Painting
• Dance
• Music
• Fancy dress competitions
• Theatre
• Annual day programmes

Intellectual Development

As the name itself suggests, intellectual development focuses on improving the reasoning, thinking, relating and judging abilities of an individual. The activities are important to develop a practical understanding of what is going around you and to gain experience and perceive things on your own. The key activities included in this category are:

• Debating
• Seminars
• Essay Writing
• Quizzes   

Social Development

These activities focus on the social as well as cultural development of an individual. We come across several social and cultural situations where we are expected to act in a certain way. These activities are important for improving the social skills of an individual. The activities that come under the category of social development are:

• Social Work
• Volunteering
• Scouting
• Conducting Festivals

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Why You Should Include Co-Curricular Activities in Your Resume?

Whether you are creating a resume to apply for internships or for jobs, adding co curricular activities is a great way to round out your application. Most importantly, mentioning your participation in extracurricular and co-curricular activities can be extremely beneficial in making up for the lack of professional experiences. A resume with the inclusion of these shows that the individual has gained a varied skillset and frequently enjoys leadership roles and participating in different activities. But the key to putting these activities is to add the right ones which can furnish your candidature.

Types of Co-Curricular Activities that Should be Included in Your CV/Resume

• Volunteering
• Dance, Sports & Athletics Events
• Organising cultural events at school or college level
• Participation in debates, quizzes, olympiads, seminars, etc.
• Taking up electives such as a foreign language

To know more, check out our detailed guide on Co-curricular Activities List for Resume

Objectives of Co-Curricular Activities

When different types of co-curricular activities are included at the school or college level, their main goal is to contribute towards an all round development of the student. The following pointers elucidate the chief objectives of co curricular activities:

• Physical activities play an imperative role in helping students understand the importance of fitness and keeps them energetic.
• To impart students with the importance of teamwork.
• To provide children with plentiful opportunities to imbibe a varied skillset, from furnishing their social and communication skills to imbibing them with leadership and decision-making abilities.
• To facilitate motivation for learning
• To assist them in developing the spirit for healthy competition
• Work as incredible avenue of socialization and teaches students about the essentials of planning, management, co-operation and co-ordination.
• To promote psychological, ethical, civic, social, disciplinary, cultural and recreational values.

By getting involved in various types of co curricular activities, you can relax, rejuvenate and boost your creativity and thinking skills. If you have been active in co-curricular activities and are searching for scholarships in the same, Leverage Edu experts can help you find an ideal scholarship to support your dream and ambition of pursuing higher education abroad.