So much of this depends on the family’s circumstances and geography.
My kids did nothing extra curricular until HS. Well meaning friends were appalled (“how are they going to get into college?”), but I worked full time, spouse traveled close to full time, driving around town at 4 pm for sports or piano lessons or whatnot was just not feasible. The kids had MANY interests- became avid readers, were the kids playing in the backyard even when the other kids in the neighborhood were off at karate. We had a couple of incredible childcare/babysitters who made up games, did crafts with them, and others who were kind and loving and responsible but were focused on putting dinner on the table and feeding the kids. I was happy with kind and loving and responsible.
Some people live in neighborhoods where a 7th grader can walk to the public library and others don’t. Some people live in a neighborhood where an 8th grader can walk to a corner store for ice cream after school and then play in a park for an hour before heading home- and others don’t.
I see the mania for expensive EC’s for little kids and I can’t relate- it wasn’t part of our childrearing, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. Wouldn’t have worked for us- I wasn’t prepared to sacrifice my own career so I could leave work at 3 pm every day to take a 7 year old to a private tennis coach. I have co-workers who did- sometimes it was a good thing (talented kid who loved tennis) and sometimes it was a terrible thing (kid hated tennis, parent’s career stalled just when they really needed more money, kid ends up in therapy as a teenager to find out why nobody ever listens to what HE wants).
Like everything else- YMMV. I do not regret the life’s choices that made being full pay possible, and thankfully my kids ended up being interesting and engaged and talented adults despite not having been on a soccer team.