Recess is a regular and frequently occurring, free-choice setting that provides the opportunity for very diverse patterns and levels of activity behaviour. With the increased interest in the physical activity of children, it is important that choices and activity patterns occurring at recess be better understood. The purpose of this study was to determine the activity choices made by children during recess and to compare those activities across gender and grade levels. The recess activities of 226 children enrolled in five elementary schools were examined. The 92 male and 134 female participants in this study were in grades one through four. The children reported the activities they in which they engaged via the completion of Activities Daily Living – Physical Play (ADL - PP) form, previously shown to provide valid and reliable recess activity information (Watkinson et al., 2001). Children completed the form immediately following recess periods on three separate occasions. Activities were examined in two broadly defined ways. Activities that were chosen by at least 30% of participants were classified as having social relevance for that group. Each participant’s skill repertoire was determined by calculating the mean number of skills performed. Results indicated that the number of activities reaching the criteria for being socially relevant varied from nine (grade one) to 14 (grade 4 boys). Relatively inactive options such as watching others play and walking/talking with friends were reported by over 85% of all groups. Running reflected similar levels of participation but was more universal among boys. Jumping was the third most frequent activity (about 65%) and reflected a greater rate of increase from grade to grade among boys than among girls. Playing on equipment was the fourth most socially relevant skill overall across genders (42-49%) with boys demonstrating more participation in grades three and four. Beyond the most frequent activities, gender and grade differences in socially relevant activity patterns emerged. Boys began to do more ball and game activities than girls, who did more small-group and social activities. This finding is consistent with previous literature suggesting that social relevance becomes more diverse with age. The skill repertoires of boys and girls were similar in grades two and three (boys=7.5-7.9, girls=8.2-8.4) but differences are seen in grade one (boys=8.7, girls=6.9) and again in grade four (boys=10.8, girls=6.5). It was apparent that what boys and girls choose to do during recess is a combination of what their recess-mates do as well as what is expected of them.