In our previous article, 8 unusual hobbies you might not have tried, we came up with a list of unique pastimes to consider if you’re looking for something new to get stuck into. And after seeing how many of our members enjoyed the ideas on offer, we decided to pull together ten more.
So, whether you’re looking for a hobby that’s creative, educational, will get you out into nature or help you keep fit, we hope this list has something to spark everyone’s interest…
1. Weaving
At its most basic level, weaving involves interlacing threads of yarn to form a fabric. It’s one of the oldest and longest-surviving crafts in human history.
In fact, there’s evidence that humans wove textiles as early as the Paleolithic era, some 20,000-28,000 years ago. And nowadays, it’s still used to make all kinds of things, from clothes and towels to jewellery and decorative wall hangings.
Though, weaving is more than just a means to an end. It’s also a fun and creative way for people to express themselves. And while you may have an image of a giant loom weaving hundreds of strings of fibre together in your mind, it’s actually quite accessible.
All you need to get started is some yarn, a tapestry needle, a shed stick, a weaving comb, and a loom (which you can make at home using cardboard and tape – this video will show you how).
Weaving can also be incredibly rewarding, as your creations will make beautiful additions to your home, or can be given to your loved ones as gifts. Plus, meditative, mindful crafts like this – which involve repeating calm and deliberate actions – can be helpful for reducing feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression.
So, if you’d like to get involved with this fun and creative pastime, why not read this beginner’s guide to weaving from Masterclass? Or you can watch the video below…
2. Climbing
Thanks to the ever-increasing availability of artificial climbing walls, its inclusion in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and the release of inspiring documentaries like Free Solo and The Dawn Wall, climbing has exploded in popularity in recent years.
As well as being fun and giving you an effective cardiovascular workout, climbing can also help to improve strength, balance, flexibility, and coordination.
Plus, climbing can be beneficial for our mental health too. As an activity that requires you to focus intently on each movement, it’s great for helping us to stay in the present moment and reducing feelings of stress and anxiety. Research also shows that climbing may be beneficial for improving symptoms of depression and our ability to regulate our emotions.
As with most sports, accidents can happen in climbing, but it’s actually much safer than you might think. This study found that climbing sports resulted in fewer injuries than other popular sports like basketball, sailing, and football – with indoor climbing in particular being the most injury-free out of all the activities studied.
If you’d like to get involved in this exhilarating hobby, the best way is to enrol in a class at your local climbing facility; preferably an indoor one, as it’s generally considered to be a safer and easier learning environment for beginners.
Taking a lesson with an experienced instructor will help you get acquainted with the basic techniques and safety practices. Plus, you’ll be able to rent all the equipment you need (shoes, harness, etc).
After you’ve completed your first lesson or two, you can choose to continue taking lessons or develop your skills on your own. Then, once you feel confident, you can even look into climbing outdoors, which is a great activity to pair with a weekend away!
And remember, it’s never too late to start climbing. Just check out Maria Kittl in the video below, she’s an 89-year-old rock climber from Austria who swears that rock climbing has helped her to stay fit and healthy in later life.
3. Element collecting
Shoes, magazines, stamps, toys, postcards, perfume, comic books, trading cards – people love to collect all sorts of things. And having a collection-based hobby is not only fun and satisfying, but it can help us explore subjects we’re interested in.
Plus, thanks to the internet, nowadays it’s never been easier to get in touch with other collectors, which makes starting a collection a chance to become part of a sociable, like-minded community.
If you’d like to start a collection but you don’t know exactly what you’d like to collect, why not give element collecting a go?
From sodium and hydrogen to berkelium and promethium, elements are the basic building blocks of the universe and they make up everything from the device you’re reading this on to the cup of tea in your hand.
Collecting samples of these elements and assembling them in a collection can be both rewarding and educational. It’s also a nice hobby to share with any children in your life who’re curious about science and the universe.
To find out a little more about this unique hobby and how you might go about getting started, why not check out this blog post from Luciteria? Or, to get an idea of what the element collecting community is like, you can visit the element collecting section of the online forum, Reddit.
4. Archery
Archery is an underrated hobby because it’s not only fun and sociable, but it has a range of health and wellbeing benefits too.
For example, you might be how effective a workout an archery session is. In fact, during the 2012 London Olympic Games, The Economist found that archers burn more calories than their teammates running in the 100 and 1500-metre races.
Practising archery regularly can also improve your focus, hand-eye coordination, strength, balance, and posture. Plus, it’s a low-impact sport, which means you won’t have to worry about putting unwanted strain on your joints. Once you’ve honed your skills, you might even find you want to get involved in competitions.
As with all the hobbies on this list, it’s never too late to get involved. But if you need some convincing, check out this 2018 interview with Aleksander Kiskonen. The 79-year-old Estonian learnt archery for the first time in his mid-50s and hasn’t looked back since.
Twenty-four years later, he was still competing – even travelling to Switzerland to participate in the 2018 World Archery Masters Championships.
If you like the sound of getting stuck into archery, the best thing to do is to sign yourself up for a beginner’s course at a club. Not only will all the equipment be provided for you, but your instructor can walk you through all the basics – including the correct shooting technique, archery etiquette, and all the safety information.
You can use the handy search engine below from Start Archery to find a club near you and begin your archery journey!
5. Stained glass art
The art of staining glass has a rich history; from the ancient Egyptians who used coloured glass to make beads for necklaces, to the intricately designed windows of British cathedrals in the middle ages.
While we often associate the practice with times gone by, stained glass is still incorporated into modern architecture, and there are lots of people who stain glass at home to make a whole host of dazzling objects.
Like weaving, staining glass can be a satisfying and rewarding pastime. It’s a mindful activity that’ll help you to stay in the present moment, and maybe even relieve some stress and anxiety. Plus, it’s a unique way to express yourself, and at the end of each project, you’ll have something beautiful to add to your home or give away as a gift.
There are loads of things that you can make from stained glass, depending on your skill level. Some popular projects include coasters, sun catchers, and wall hangings. Who knows, once you’re good enough, you could even make your very own window for your home. Check out this list of stained glass projects from DIY & Crafts for some inspiration.
Because making stained glass art is a complex process and generally involves a fair bit of equipment, it can be helpful to attend a workshop at a glass studio near you. This way, you can make your first project and see if you like it before investing in any equipment, all while getting instruction from an expert.
6. Genealogy (tracing your family tree)
‘Where do I come from?’ It’s a question we all ask ourselves at some point in our lives. Some of us may already know a little about who we descended from or where your ancestors originated, while others might have absolutely no idea.
Either way, tracing our family trees can help us learn a little (or a lot) more about ourselves and our place in the world. Plus, putting on your detective cap and doing some digging can be fun! So, if you’re looking for a new pastime, why not consider tracing your family tree?
With the help of tools like the internet, it’s never been easier to trace your family tree. Through various paid-for and free-to-use services, you can search public records to find things like birth certificates, marriage certificates, and wills, to help you plot your ancestors’ lives and journeys.
But, tracing your family tree doesn’t have to be strictly limited to the internet. Your research could also involve searching through your loft, speaking to distant relatives, or scanning gravestones in a cemetery for an epitaph bearing your ancestor’s name. You never know, it could even take you to another country entirely!
It’s worth bearing in mind that tracing your family tree isn’t something you can get done in an afternoon. If you’re wanting to follow it back a few centuries or so, it’ll often take time and dedication. That being said, it’s also a flexible hobby, so you can pick it up and put it down whenever you like (though it can get pretty addictive!).
To find out more about how to trace your family tree, you might like to have a read of our articles; 8 reasons to start exploring your family tree and 10 ways to help trace your family tree.
You might also be interested in Rest Less Events’ Introduction to forensic genetic genealogy event coming up this July.
7. Foraging
Foraging involves searching for, identifying, and collecting food in the wild. This could include anything from plants and herbs to mushrooms and berries.
There are a multitude of reasons to consider taking up foraging. A key one is that exploring our natural spaces in search of food is an effective way to connect with nature, which research shows is beneficial for our wellbeing.
Wild foods are also thought to be more nutritious than shop-bought alternatives, so eating things you’ve foraged for can have plenty of health benefits – and is a fun way to get creative in the kitchen too.
Foraging in local areas is also thought to be beneficial for the wellbeing of our planet too because, among other things, it decreases our ‘food miles’ (the distance, resources, and fuel used to transport our food).
To find out more about foraging and how to get started, why not check out the beginner’s guides from National Geographic and BBC Good Food beginner guides? The Woodland Trust also has some excellent guides on responsible foraging, popular foraging recipes, and what to look out for each month.
Note: There are a number of species of plants and fungi in the UK that are toxic to humans, and excessive harvesting can do damage to our precious ecosystems. For this reason, foraging should always be done sensibly and responsibly in order to protect ourselves and the environment.
It’s worth doing plenty of research before you set off into the woods in search of tasty ingredients. Why not check out these tips for being a safe and responsible forager from Much Better Adventures?
8. Roller skating
Fast, funky, and fun, roller skating is another unique pastime that’s recently reemerged as a way for people of all ages to keep fit and have a good time.
It’s an excellent low-impact, cardiovascular exercise that incorporates every muscle in our bodies. Just by rollerskating a few times a week, you can burn calories and improve strength and balance, all while being gentle on your joints.
Whether it’s gliding along the path in your local park or busting some moves at a roller disco, roller skating is also a relatively cheap, flexible, and accessible hobby. All you need is a pair of skates and some safety equipment, like a helmet, pads, and some wrist protectors or gloves.
Roller skating is relatively easy to get the hang of, and once you do, there’s no end to the potential progress you can make. The internet is full of tutorials to help you along on your journey; from taking your first few glides, all the way to more complex moves like the grapevine and crazy legs.
Learning by yourself or with a friend through internet tutorials is a good way to get involved with roller skating at your own pace. All you need to do is find a smooth, relatively empty space, like a cycle path, driveway, or carpark. Or, if you’d like some extra help, you could even think about investing in some lessons at your local rink.
It’s never too late to get involved with this funky hobby – just ask Edna Davoll who’s in her 80s and still hits the roller rink twice a week!
9. Making and/or painting miniatures
Do you want to get lost in a world of your own making? Creating and painting miniatures is a unique hobby that offers complete freedom to design and build your very own universe from the ground up.
Whether you’re into fashion, fantasy, trains, or architecture, the sky’s the limit with this crafty activity.
The first thing to consider is what kind of project you’d like to take on. If you like the idea of starting from the absolute beginning, making your own miniatures from scratch might be your best bet. The web has plenty of tutorials on how to make a variety of tiny things, so why not check out these how-tos from The Mini Time Machine, or head on over to YouTube?
Another way to go is to paint ready-made models. This still gives you a wide creative scope as how you paint each individual model can bring it to life in an infinite number of ways. It can also save you time and money because all you’ll need to buy are the miniatures themselves, plus an acrylic paint set – which is ideal if you’d just like to dip your toe in the water.
Amazon has a good selection of both paint sets and blank models (for example, cars and people). And, for some tips on how to paint models using acrylic paint, why not take a look at this article from The Spruce Crafts?
Next, you’ll need to decide what you’d like your miniature world to look like. Maybe you’d simply like to make individual models, or perhaps you’re interested in designing a sprawling diorama? Things like train yards, aircraft hangers, doll houses, and battlefields are popular among miniature enthusiasts.
To get some inspiration for your first miniature project, take a look at these ideas on Pinterest. And for more information on miniatures in general, check out this beginner’s guide from The Spruce Crafts.
10. Flower arranging
Humans have been arranging flowers for millennia. In fact, the ancient Egyptians are believed to have arranged flowers for special occasions like burials and processions over 4000 years ago.
While flowers for events like weddings, funerals, and birthdays, and those used to decorate spaces like restaurants and hotels are typically arranged by florists nowadays, flower arranging is also a satisfying and creative hobby.
Flower arranging is incredibly accessible, especially in the spring and summer months when the availability of local fresh-cut flowers is high. You can buy flowers, grow them yourself, or even find wildflowers to arrange into a beautiful bouquet. This article from Reader’s Digest will give you some tips on foraging for wildflowers.
Not only is flower arranging a fun and creative way to reconnect with nature but, like climbing and weaving, it’s a mindful activity that can give our mental health a boost. Even better, studies show that simply having flowers around us is good for our physiological and psychological wellbeing.
Plus, your creations will undoubtedly bring some colour and cheer to your home, or even make thoughtful gifts for your loved ones.
So, if you’ve got an eye for colour, a passion for being creative, and an appreciation of the beauty of the natural world, why not give flower arranging a try? Our article, 17 of the most popular and classic flower arranging styles, is a good place to start. Or, we have plenty of floristry courses available on our website.
Final thoughts…
From climbing and archery to element collecting and flower arranging, we hope this list of unusual hobbies has something to pique everyone’s interest.
For more hobby-related inspiration, why not check out the hobbies and activities section of our website? Here you’ll find everything from 10 different sports and activities to try to 22 fun activities to do with kids.