Scrubbyfish, you might try it once and see what you think.
How about 520 times? ;) When my kid was 4-6+ years old, we had other peoples' kids over several times a week. I dearly loved the kids, mine and everyone else's, but I didn't love the level of noise and boisterousness. When my kid is alone, he plays quietly -imagining, digging dirt, moving cars, inventing things- but when even one more kid is over, the noise and/or motion goes through the roof.
Ditto my partner's kids. When I have just one of them (and not my own), they are each quiet as beans. One gets absorbed in art, the other in equations. Once in a while they'll come to me, but so calmly and peacefully, and share a neat idea or discovery they've just had, then go back to their task.
Put any two of these together, or bring in any neighour's kid, and it's noise and shrieking and running. Don't get me wrong, all of these kids are truly well-behaved, sweet, considerate people. They just get so excited when they're together. Heck, I'm the same when my favourite people come by! (Well, I don't roughhouse with them, but man do we talk talk talk to the sheer agony of the kids.)
I just came from a kid birthday party held in about 200 sq feet. Only four kids, but ugh. When one went home, it was
significantly more peaceful.
I'm in about 400 sq ft, so puttering in the kitchen while they play in the livingroom puts us about four feet apart, with no wall between us.
A funny flipside of all of this is that kids will ask to come to my place solo, just so they can have a few hours of peace, do their own thing at their leisure, etc. So, it seems some kids like the same quiet reprieves that I do! One little 3 year old used to stop by several houses, gather up children at each until they were a big gang, then sneak away from the group to come to my house to enjoy a peaceful playtime, lol. His parents always knew where they could find their little introvert :)