Much of your time is likely spent working and keeping up with the rigors of everyday life. After meeting obligations, it’s normal to want to spend your free time binging TV, watching videos, or scrolling through social media. However, you can rest and engage your brain outside of work with a great hobby. Digging into something that engages your mind or body can be a fun way to explore your own interests and the world around you.
Whether it’s a relaxing hobby like reading or quilting or an exciting hobby filled with mental challenges and physical activity, hobbies offer a way to be active outside of the bounds of work obligations. And the best part is that you don’t have to commit to an expensive hobby to get all the benefits. Your new pursuit can be fairly cheap or completely free.
Best hobby ideas
- Learning an instrument
- Writing music
- Designing graphics
- Journaling
- Learning a new language
- Making jewelry
- Playing board games
- Making candles
- Dancing
- Roller skating
- Cooking
- Reading
- Hiking
- Flying kites
- Doing nail art
- Playing trivia or word games
- Playing sports
- Woodworking
- Bicycling
- Taking photos
- Screen printing
- Bird-watching
- Homebrewing
- Sewing
- Volunteering
- Filmmaking
Coming up with hobby ideas can be difficult, but the best thing to do is to follow your interests. What’s something you’ve always wanted to try? Or if you like challenging yourself, what’s a skill you’d like to master? Here are some interesting hobbies to get you started:
Learning an instrument
Playing music can be a fun activity, whether you’re playing alone or with friends. Picking the right instrument will depend on your own music taste, budget, and space restraints. For example, if you live in a studio apartment, you might lean toward a keyboard instead of a drum set.
Writing music
Whether you already play an instrument or you’re new to it, writing music is a fun, creative activity anyone can try. Experiment with writing lyrics to sing while you strum your guitar or verses to accompany hip-hop beats you craft with music software.
Designing graphics
If you lean more toward the visual arts, graphic design is more accessible than ever, with widely available software and plenty of online courses and how-to videos. It can also help you develop a useful skill if you run your own business or frequently need graphics for your other projects.
Journaling
Journaling is a great way to reflect on your life and the world around you. Whether you take up a daily journal or just start writing down what’s happening around you when you feel the urge, journaling can help you unleash creative ideas.
Like regular journaling, bullet journaling can be a way to connect with your own life. Combining to-do lists, tasks, future plans, and present notes, a bullet journal can keep your mind fresh and help you stay organized.
Learning a new language
There are more than three billion bilingual people in the world, and you could be one of them. Language learning can improve brain function and act as a window into different cultures. It can also be a way to discover new ideas or forge connections with family members who grew up speaking another language. And if you already speak more than one language, why not go for a third or a fourth?
Making jewelry
If you’re looking for a hobby that lets you keep the products of your labor, jewelry-making can be a fun and engaging practice. Find relatively inexpensive beginner kits online or enroll in a workshop, like the one hosted by Brittany Hopkins, the founder of Anice Jewellery. As Brittany says in an interview with Shopify Masters, people discover their own creativity when they engage with a hobby like jewelry-making and leave with a sense of accomplishment.
Playing board games
You don’t need a dedicated game room to get into the highly social hobby of board games. In the past few years board games have become more popular, with engaging games for adults emerging as a staple activity of many friend groups. Gather your friends to play a card game, a dice-based game, or your own game, or find entire communities built around specific board games online.
Making candles
Like jewelry-making or quilting, candle-making is a hobby that results in an object you can use. Have fun getting creative and experimenting with the shapes, sizes, and scents of the candles you make. If you find you like it, you can pursue your own candle business.
Dancing
If you like to move your body, hip-hop, ballet, flamenco, or ballroom dancing can be a great way to engage with new music. Whether it’s the tango or waltz, dancing can also build self-confidence, provide an opportunity to exercise, and be a way to learn a new skill in an active group setting.
Roller skating
Have you ever dreamed of gliding across the skating rink? Roller skating is an accessible hobby, since you can rent skates at first to see if you like it. If you do, you can stick with the basics or challenge yourself with advanced techniques.
Cooking
You don’t need to be a culinary pro to get into cooking. Learning simple recipes can help you hone your tastes, discover how ingredients enhance different dishes, and make a great dinner in the process.
Reading
A library card is the ticket to all the world’s knowledge. And the best part: It’s free. If you haven’t picked up a book since school, reading can be a great way to imagine other worlds and get your brain working, while relaxing at the same time. Consider setting an annual goal for yourself. On average, an American adult reads five books each year from start to finish. Aim for that number or go even higher.
Hiking
Among the many outdoor hobbies, hiking is great because it requires nothing more than your presence and maybe a pair of boots. Hiking can be a great way to clear your mind, move your body, and get some fresh air.
Flying kites
Though many of us haven’t flown a kite since childhood, kites are common in cultures all over the world and can be a fun, easy way to spend time outside. For a hands-on approach, consider making your own kite from scratch. You’ll appreciate it all the more when it takes its first flight.
Doing nail art
If you like showing off the results of your hobby, nail art can channel your attention to something others will surely notice. Painting your nails with small-scale patterns is challenging but also a great way to focus and practice your hand-eye coordination. In the end, you get to wear your art.
Playing trivia or word games
Whether it’s a trivia night at a local bar or practicing with a board game or video game at home, trivia can be a good way to engage with pop culture, keep up with important events, and put your memory to work. There are many benefits to puzzles and word games. Problem-solving is a great way to keep your mind sharp.
Playing sports
Baseball has been an enjoyable pastime for almost 200 years, a sport that demands strategy, physical strength, and speed. And if you play with the right people, it can also be a blast.
Alternatively, many parks have pickup basketball games for anybody who wants to join. Playing basketball with strangers or neighbors can be a fun way to widen your social circle and stay active in the process.
Woodworking
Whether you’re making your own canoe or building a jewelry box for a loved one, woodworking helps you work on your precision and attention to detail.
Bicycling
This hobby is as easy as riding a bike. Depending on where you live, you can pedal a mountain bike on a single track or cover a serious distance on a road bike. If your goal is to eventually become competitive, consider signing up for a race, either as a solo rider or part of a team.
Taking photos
Photography can be a window into new social scenes or a way to connect with the natural world. It can also give you an excuse to go places you otherwise wouldn’t. Whether you want to learn film photography or digital photography, it’s worth researching classes in your area. Alternatively, you could contact a local photographer and ask to shadow or assist them during a shoot or project.
Screen printing
Like many creative pursuits, screen printing can result in some cool things to take home. Using specialty inks and silk screens to mark paper and fabrics, screen printing is a fun process to learn, and since it’s a complicated system it can engage your problem-solving skills. However, finding all the supplies can be difficult and expensive.
Bird-watching
Bird-watching can give you a great excuse to get outside and pay attention to the world around you. Start by identifying the birds in your neighborhood and consider joining a local group if you enjoy it.
Homebrewing
If you’re a beer lover and want to learn a new skill, you can start making your own beer at home. There are many specialty stores that can help get you set up, and honing your perfect brew can be a fun process.
Sewing
Some hobbies can also help you save money. Sewing can mean turning new ideas for clothing into reality or simply fixing the things you already have. Ask the employees at your local fabric or crafts store if they know of upcoming classes or workshops for beginners.
Volunteering
Give back to your community and make new friends by picking up a volunteer shift. From environmental cleanup efforts to serving food to the hungry, volunteering can be a fun and noble way to spend your free time.
Filmmaking
For the first hundred years of cinema, filmmaking was an expensive undertaking. But now that many of us have professional-quality video cameras in our pockets, it’s never been easier to get started making films. Filmmaking can be a unique hobby that channels your inner artist and lets you express yourself in creative ways.
Hobby ideas FAQ
How can I find a hobby I like?
The best way to find a hobby is to follow your interests while taking your budget and resources into account. Whether you enjoy writing, reading, playing sports, or making visual art, there are many ways to experiment inexpensively.
What are the most common hobbies?
Popular hobbies include team sports, handicrafts, board games, and music.
What are the benefits of having a hobby?
Having hobbies helps you connect with friends, challenge or express yourself, and engage with the world around you. There are few things more enjoyable in life than pursuing your interests on your own terms.
