With Rousseau the romantic idea of the leisure of childhood was established. This notion is associated with childhood as an isolated space for children`s play. Ideologically, after school programs build on this freedom, at the same time we see an increasing institutionalization of childhood with political decisions pointing towards instrumentalisation. Thus, children often meet prearranged programs structured by pedagogues with educational aims for institutional activity. As such, children`s leisure time might be as confining as school and work (cf. Kleiber 1999). There seems to be an expectation that the content of after school programs should be useful for development of formal knowledge in school. We suggest that a ”hurry sickness” (cf. Elkind 1984) steer pedagogues in a certain direction focusing on an academical and theoretical knowledge grounded in developmental psychology. This might reduce children`s opportunities to get varied experiences in their play and leisure. The aim of our study is to explore the possibilities everyday life in after school programs and children’s opportunity to creatively express themselves in other ways than in school and maybe transgress institutional educational aims and intentions. what kind of experience do they get? Theoretically, we are inspired by philosophers as Gadamer, Bakhtin and Arendt in an attempt to move beyond the emphasis on humans as cognitive and intellectual beings. We are also inspired by new institutional theory as a tool for reflection. This will give as an opportunity to highlight the culture in after school programs (Brunsson & Olsen, 1990; Johansson, 2002). To answer our research questions we will conduct three case studies (cf. Yin 2003), one in each country. Data is gathered through shadowing, observations, interviews, and documents. The study is expected to generate knowledge about on the way pedagogues in after school programs relate to cultural and institutional grounds, and to what degree they open for children’s transgressing activity. We hope this study will give us deepened understanding of what kind of experience after school programs in the three countries offer children and in what way pedagogues relate to what might be a transcending institution, how do they relate to cultural and institutional contexts.