Flow Into Summer With a Hobby – or Five

Cartoon mouse regaled with items from many a hobby

Finding it difficult to prise your child off a device these days if they’re not doing homework or at school? What if you could entice them with a hobby or five?

The immediate benefits of a hobby (and they came back into vogue recently with a vengeance!) are that hobbies

  • keep your child in the flow, totally involved for the duration, and
  • remove all other thoughts (including anxious ones) and give their brain a huge slice of relief.

However, it’s got to be a suggestion that appeals to them; otherwise

  • it causes you to have to nag them to do it, and
  • leads to you buying all sorts of expensive nonsense to entice them along the hobby way (think all those collectables in shops, which simply sit on their bedroom shelf untouched!).

So – what's a real, worthwhile, ongoing hobby?

All that fluffy or mechanical junk? No, a real hobby for your child is one that’s

  • affordable
  • self-perpetuating
  • exercises their brains in an area they’re already interested in or one they're keen to try
  • keeps them feeling creative and engaged
  • helps with motivation and feelings of achievement
  • makes them proud of themselves
  • gives them something valuable to talk about and explain to others – as a mini expert, if you like. Nothing quite like it for a self-esteem boost!

So here are five suggestions. I don't know your resources or situation – just let these inspire you as you think about your child.

And if your child has a hobby already, how about helping them add another? Something to be involved in when the other hobby can’t be pursued for any reason. Maybe a hobby in a different arena.

1 JIGSAWS as a hobby

Are jigsaws a hobby? They can be if you think in terms of getting another... and another! It takes a little while to do one, so you don't need to find another every day. And they come round again over time.

But the reason I put it here, first, is that they occupy some calm, downtime. And if your child can get hooked on doing ones they like and then moving up the piece count, it’s a hobby, so long as you can afford it (see later).

The key to helping them move up the word count is to show them how to find a way to DO a jigsaw! It might start with you putting it together with them. And not being too clever! – in other words, letting them lead the way a bit as they learn the process.

But make sure the topic and size are what they like and can reasonably manage. Other factors to watch out for at first when choosing are:

  • larger areas of one colour rather than shading
  • specific delineations of areas to help them see where things might go
  • a border that can be joined easily
  • decent-quality pieces (flimsy is a killer – you find this out gradually!)

And the cost of this hobby? Don’t forget that charity shops check and label jigsaws as to whether they’re complete or not. Only choose complete ones. But any jigsaw at a charity shop will be cheaper. That's economy and recycling all in one! Your child will enjoy going on an expedition with you to find the next one.

Usborne tips on the benefit of jigsaws!

2 COOKING OR BAKING as a hobby

Even if times are hard financially, meals have to be cooked. If you can interest your child in what you all eat and how it’s done, you can set them up as the hobby “cook”. 

Help them get started by learning some basic tasks such as

  • boiling an egg
  • doing toast
  • making sandwiches
  • chopping tomatos
  • peeling a carrot or a cooking apple
  • cooking porridge, whether instant or in a pan
  • making an instant coffee or brewing a cuppa…

The list could be endless and it depends on the age your child is – both for safety and grabbing their interest. But two things are important here:

1 You make it fun by helping them start a cookery book of their own, listing and showing the things they can competently do. Remember, seeing their competence documented increases their resilience and how they cope with life's anxieties.

2 You make certain the family uses your child's talents – children grow inches when they see their efforts are useful to others! It grows self-esteem. And self-esteem is an antidote to anxiety!

As soon as possible, add in larger cookery tasks that help the family, like

  • bread from a packet mix
  • banana bread/cake
  • rice pudding
  • apple crumble
  • fresh veg in a microwave bowl
  • frozen basa fish in a microwave container…

Gradually these separate tasks grow until your child can take care of a meal! And their pride grows.

But as a hobby, let them make creative decisions as well, so they take a greater interest in the outcomes. You don’t want to be monitoring every move long-term, except keeping an eye on safety and practicality. A creative decision might be deciding to plait the bread, or make long and thin rolls, or adding a heart shape on top. That sort of thing.

Unlock Food's cooking with kids.

3 FLOWER PRESSING as a hobby

I was wondering if it was still OK to pick flowers (wild ones) but then the council people came along and strimmed them all down on the flowered verges, so it must still be legal!

Why would a child be interested in flower pressing? Because they like collections and there's always new flowers and leaves to collect.

Plus – a bonus here – there are many ways to do something with them when they’re pressed.

So - how to go about it? This hobby means all of you taking an interest in flowers you see around, anywhere. If you notice the patterns, shapes and colours and sometimes look them up in a book, your child will become aware of nature.

“I wish I had time to press some and make a collection,” you say with a sigh. “Would you help me get started?” You can be sure they'll take over gradually, if you make it interesting!

Gather what you need as a joint activity. That would be:

  • An old book to press them in if you have one
  • Some parchment and blotting paper or tissue to absorb moisture
  • Some heavy books or weights to apply weight to dry them out.

It can take up to 4 weeks. But if you do it routinely, there's always some flowers or leaves ready to deal with.

How might you and your child make a collection?

My own preference would be to have loose-leaf pages to attach them onto. The reason is that you can then arrange your pages in a folder anyhow you fancy: colour, kind, alphabetical etc.

And by the way, you could buy a cheap and cheerful book to identify them – or else help your child know how research on line to find the names to label them. (Google image search? )

I tend to prefer a book because they’re arranged in colour groups and your child can learn to compare leaves, shapes, petals etc until they find a match.

Your child can also make a greetings card with the samples. Anything goes!

A Hobbycraft flower press.

4 KNITTING SQUARES as a hobby

It may sound old fashioned, but many mums and dads took up knitting in lockdown and found it to be calming, soothing, useful and something to do while doing something else – like watching the news!! Chiefly, something to pick up and put down whenever.

What’s not to like?

For a hobby, I’m only suggesting your  child learns to knit squares initially (though they may turn into champion all-round knitters one day!). The reason is that for a square 

  • you can get balls of spare wool cheaply from a charity shop,
  • you only need one pair of knitting needles, and
  • the end is in sight pretty quickly: 15x15cm is not a huge task!

What do you do with the squares?

Well, your child can take their pick. It’s their hobby, after all: 

1 Choose an animal charity or a humanitarian charity to send them to. One they feel they’d like to help. These charities stitch them into blankets of the required size for the purpose.

2 Or, if they have younger siblings, sew the squares together as they finish them to make doll blankets etc for them.

3 Or, they could even make a shawl/blanket for themselves for bedtime – no one need know they still like a favourite blanket to cuddle!

You’ll need to show them how to do an ordinary knitting stitch (“knit one” but not “pearl one”!) and help them cast on and cast off.

After a while, however, they'll know the routine and can pick their square up as and when and add a row or two – maybe while they calm down from an exhausting school day. They can also choose colours for the squares.

You may have to pick up a few dropped stitches at first!! But it’s worth it to see your child’s confidence grow.

Charities who want knitted squares.

5 STAMP COLLECTING as a hobby

No, don’t look askance! Stamp collecting has been making a comeback, and children report it’s a great break from tech devices. There are clubs to belong to and all they need is 

  • an album
  • a large packet of stamps to start off with
  • a magnifying glass
  • stamp hinges

Sorting and sticking is one of those activities that are calming – they calm the fight/flight response and regulate the nervous system back to balance.

A bonus is that learning about all the different countries and images on the stamps is a great way to become world-aware. What’s not to like since we live in a global village?

Ideas and sources for stamp collecting.

Have I inspired you with an even better hobby idea for your child?

In fact, the best person to choose their hobby is your child – with your help, as you'll be involved at first. As a counter weight to the current levels of child anxiety, nothing beats a hobby for taking their mind away from everything but what they're focusing on. Give it a go?

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