Girls' hobbies cost an average of £472.65 each every year compared with £418.35 for boys.

What boys want

Football - 65% Swimming - 50.9% Cycling - 33.5% Skating or skateboarding - 19.2% Art - 17.1%

Children aged between five and 16 spend an average of six-and-a-half hours every week on their hobbies, the Abbey National survey indicates.

Almost one out of every four are regularly involved in at least five hobbies, it suggests.

And 43% stick with a hobby for more than two years.

Ballet is one of the most expensive, pastime for girls, with lessons, new slippers and tutus setting parents back around £200 a year.

Swimming lessons cost an average of £94, while drama lessons add up to £80 a year and singing ones cost £51.

One the most expensive hobbies for boys is football, with new tops and boots costing £149 a year, while swimming costs £98 and cycling sets parents back £69.

The most expensive hobby for kids is motor-cross, which will cost parents around £382 a year.

It is followed by skiing at £352 and horse riding, which costs about £341 a year.

And the hobbies not only cost money, but time.

What girls want

Swimming - 49.1% Singing - 29.6% Ballet - 27.5% Art - 24.6% Drama - 20.1%

One out of six parents spend between two and three hours every week ferrying their offspring to various activities .

Just one out of every six of the 659 parents questioned said they had help from grandparents.

Almost one out of every 10 parents also admitted to spending more than seven hours a week cheering on their children and keeping their kits clean.

Janet Connor, of Abbey National, said the findings fly directly in the face of criticisms that today's children are a generation of computer-obsessed couch potatoes.