title. I am looking for some hobbies that one can pursue really deeply, but at the same time a newcomer can enjoy together. Preferrably not too physical or sporty, but any suggestion would be very appreciated.
Edit: Thank you all for awesome ideas. I really needed something to do it together for my aging parents and a depressed friend. I will definitely pick up on a few. Really appreciate it.
Second the woodworking. You don't have to be a master to get true enjoyment out of it. I'm a prime example!
Swing by a thrift store and pick up a small end table or dresser and start refinishing it. You can learn so many new skills.
Including carving the table or turning it into a mosaic
Seconding ceramics…
You can hand build or throw. The chemistry of the glaze is fun. You see all age ranges and genders. There is always something to improve on too… new techniques to try. See if your city has classes, but 100% would recommend.
Feel free to checkout /r/ceramics
Second ceramics! Just warning, it gets addictive really fast and you end up with your house and garden looking like a ceramics shop
Woodworking is huge. You can literally start with a few 2x4s and build a bunch with a handsaw and some screws. Then add in tools as you find projects to build. To make a wild generalization, the entry tools tend to be on the safer end with some forethought. Example, jigsaw you would have to be doing something wildly uncomfortable and unwise to hurt yourself. Add a circular saw, it’s a bit more dangerous, but still difficult to hurt yourself with basic precautions.
So the learning curve tends to lend itself well to the safety requirements, at least in my experience. The most dangerous cheap tools are probably the crappy cheapest table saw you can buy, and a handheld router. READ UP ON THOSE TOOLS BEFORE YOU USE IT!!
and before anyone brings up countless counter arguments, I know…I’m generalizing to a pretty big degree. I’m talking about my experience and how I approached it.
Jumping in on woodworking. If I can learn to build a decorative box and a birdhouse in 7th grade shop class, then most anyone can learn enough to create something cool. There’s often no shortage of scrap wood floating around the world, so it also gives a chance to recycle things that would otherwise not be used. And you can get WAY into it, or not. Simple projects all the way to complex furniture, lathe work, bowls, salt and pepper grinders, the list goes on.
how does one get into stained glass and block printing? I never would’ve imagined them being beginner friendly
I bought a good book and started doing stained glass that way. There are classes around though.
Starting with fused glass may be an easy way to experiment. At least in my city, there are multiple places that offer short and longer-term workshops where you can create a project and learn about the materials.
came here to say ceramics! newbies can make a bowl or a mug, experts can do full on complex artwork
Probably a basic example but writing. We all can write the question is just how much can we improve. It’s a skill that also can be useful in other areas in life.
Microscopy. Easy to get into. Lots of youtube channels on the subject. Microbe hunter is my favorite. Buy a decent microscope, you can get a good used one. collect water samples from puddles and ponds and see all the little interesting creatures. Hours of entertainment exploring the little drop. Buy a phone attachment for the eye piece and Record them on your phone.I have amassed a large digital library of 5 second videos of about a hundred individual organisms. Learn all about them and after time become somewhat of an expert on microorganisms. There are facebook groups you can join on the hobby and share and discuss your interests and discoveries with others. Lots of fun.
You should do a TikTok! I’ve seen lots of pages that have tons of views. People love recommending what they should look at next!
thank you for this idea :)
Microscopes are so neat, granted I was in microbiology this semester but still seeing things like trichamonas, a tapeworm, liver flukes etc was really cool. I’m also going into med lab anyway so it somewhat pushed me into cytology or being a micro tech. Our techs get a lot of cool stuff at work on the slides.
This is a cool idea!
what microscopic did you buy? I want one that is decent, not too pricey.
I love this. My biology teacher dad got my kid a good microscope and i have been commandeering it. Loved looking at snowflakes. We also have a dissection scope, a telescope, and good binoculars😂.
That's a great idea! I have a microscope gathering dust in the basement plus a shitload of slides and cover slips, I should haul those out next weekend
Make something. Out of what ever medium you can find wether it is clay or sticks , metal or wood , functional or not . Just make something
Crochet, knitting, Lego, cross stitch, model building, diamond dots
I know you said nothing too physical, but maybe Geocaching. All you need is your phone and a pen, and you can find some as easy as in a parking lot or as difficult as on a mountain top. It can be addicting and push you to want to find harder ones, there is also the other side of it where you can create geocaches for others to find, which can be as simple as a sturdy Tupperware or pill bottle or as fancy and complicated as you like. There is such a low threshold to entry, you can create an account and start right now without any further purchase or skill.
I’m sure there must be apps and/or websites to help one get started with this - you have any faves/recommendations?
Geocaching.com has everything you need on it. There are more, but that’s the main one. Start there.
Thank you!
Yes Geocaching.com and there is a mobile app!
Started doing geocaching with my boyfriend, found out I actually love being out in nature & have now gotten into hiking. If you just want to give it a try you don't need much-a small backpack, some comfy pants or shorts, a good pair of shoes, sunscreen, & bug spray. I've never been an outdoorsy person at all, but now it's like an addiction. If I'm stuck in my house for too long I get irritable, & want to be outside in the woods
Great suggestion! My dad discovered geocaching when I was in middle school. It was a great bonding experience! We would go to different parks and hike around looking for the "hidden treasures." We would also make random detours while on road trips to visit family and such. We saw lots of cool places we wouldn't have known existed otherwise. Highly recommend geocaching!
Bowling! 95% of people suck at it and nobody cares if you do. Join a bowling meetup group. They are fun!
I second this. Serious “leagues” are sanctioned by ABC and have fees & season-long commitments. But casual drop-in events are the way to go for novice bowlers. My husband has mild cognitive impairment but loves to bowl. We drop in to bowl Tuesday mornings with other senior citizen men for a scotch doubles event. It was advertised at the bowling lanes.
Collage
Chess! Preferably in person.
I read this as "cheese" upvote for both!
I’ve actually heard pretty interesting things about cheese making! I love watching soap making videos on YouTube, maybe OP would dig it!
The restaurant we go to lists who is on shift so people know who specifically made the mozzarella that evening. Cheese making is serious lol
Blessed are the cheesemakers...
"And spotteth twice they the camels before the third hour, and so, the Midianites went forth to Ram Gilead in Kadesh Bilgemath, by Shor Ethra Regalion, to the house of Gash-Bil-Bethuel-Bazda, he who brought the butter dish to Balshazar and the tent peg to the house of Rashomon, and there slew they the goats, yea, and placed they the bits in little pots."
Crochet. I could only make rectangular things for years. I've sort of conquered circles (hats) and am now on triangles (shawls). Sometimes projects come out super wonky, sometimes they're gorgeous. There are all sorts of knit/crochet groups and they are usually very welcoming. It's also a diverse group.
I am one of those that enjoys making rectangles! Blankets and scarves for everyone!
Exactly! I spend a lot of the summer crocheting scarves to donate to the homeless shelters once it gets cold. Now that I'm getting better at circles I'm starting hats too
I haven’t progressed past dish cloths. 😆. I really should join a group so I could get some mentoring.
There are beginner kits for small plushies like woobles. My daughter doesn’t care if they are not perfect
Cooking/baking/mixology/coffee/etc. - everyone eats & drinks, cuisine can include cultural knowledge, & there is no lack of recipes & techniques to learn
My mom is really good at bread making and I saw someone else mention cheese… combine the two and you have a good time!
drawing ! just start off with a sketchpad and some pencils and start trying to draw things you see around you. That’s the beginners level.
It’s a lifetime worth of diving into it if you’re interested! “Drawing on the right side of the brain“ is a really good resource to learn how to draw better.
Rockhounding and Fossiking
oh yeah, rockhounding is one of the best, also artifacts (Indian specifically is exhilarating)
Warning- in the US it is illegal to take arrowheads and artifacts from public land unless you have a permit. It can be legal on private property but make sure you know the law before you start.
I think upcycling / altering clothes can be really simple and easy but has lots of scope for what it could involve. And there's practically nothing you absolutely need to know to do it.
Sounds like you might be looking for a couch hobby. My go tos are origami, crochet, needlepoint/ embroidery/ cross stitch, and sudoku. All require very little cost to get into and you can learn the basics in an afternoon.
Disc Golf
Pinball
Jigsaw puzzles! They vary in difficulty with variables like piece count, piece size, and image. I currently do 300 large piece puzzles - it’s what I enjoy. However I know that if this ever becomes too easy for me, there are 500pc, 750 pc, 1000pc, 2000pc and so on, as well as very tricky pictures that have the same color/pattern in several areas of the puzzle! I enjoy it being a hobby that you can build on as you get better. r/jigsawpuzzles
reading; picture book, manga, novels, classical lit, ref and textbooks etc.
Game design/development!
There's a TON of skills and areas to dive deep into, and lots of stuff the community has already made, some of it's free! There's lots of tutorials, and you can enjoy the process of making your own game at YOUR pace. I'm having a blast learning Unreal Engine, 3D modeling, animation, and even sound creation!
Pickleball
Chainmaille. It can be everything from a bracelet kit you finish in under an hour to armour that uses tens of thousands of rings and takes a couple of years to make
To add to this: I would start by buying your rings. Don’t do what I did and try making your own rings from the start. It’s fun once you’ve got a little experience though!
Ukulele. Much easier to pick up than the guitar and yet you could spend a lifetime perfecting it. Start out strumming a few chords, then start to learn more chords, then a little music theory, then start working on finger picking, a little more theory, a few more chords and scales, get into banjoleles and Formby fan strumming, and on and on.
Make tiny shadow boxes with things lying around your house!
Drawing. It has a lead in to every other kind of art pretty much, and on top of that, there are so many ways to go about it that you dont necessarily need to be skilled to draw up some really good looking stuff. I started with mandalas and geometric patterns, which take a long time but are fun to draw, and it taught me what kind of art i think is the most fun to DO rather than the art i like to SEE others do.
Plants.. anything to do with gardening or plants cuz sometimes you not only get to have the fun hobby but you get the reward of eating it too..
or smelling, don't forget the smelling
Genealogy
Geocaching. It's basically a scavenger hunt using gps coordinates. Each one has a description and terrain/difficulty rating, so you can pick and choose which ones are right for you. It gets you outside, gives you a goal and a challenge, and makes you think. They can involve finding a tiny container in the city, hiking out to find a mystery box in the middle of the woods, solving cyphers & puzzles, or answering questions about historical/geological sites. There's something for everyone. The basic game is free, just download the app. If you get really into it, you can subscribe to premium and find the really hard ones, or hide your own.
Guitar. Some of the best guitar players I’ve ever heard were completely self taught. Get a used beater of an acoustic at a yard sale or pawn shop. Watch some tutorial videos or learn to play some simple nursery rhyme songs. Once you realize all those “Rock God” guitarists were once snot nosed neck beards spending HOURS in their rooms alone with their guitars, it all starts to seem quite attainable! 🤘🏼
Sorry, I dont agree. I'm a guitarist, and it's probably one of the most fruatrating hobbies you could choose. At the beginning, its confusing, its difficult to get your fingers into position, and your fingers hurt really bad. If you dedicate a month to fighting through the pain, youll probably know a handful of chords, ut not how to move from one to the other, and still cant play a single song. It will be a hard year before you can do anything competently, and even then you'll still suck.
Later, in order to improve, youll need tonstudy music theory, which is every bit as difficult as algebra or calculus, and is useless in any other part of your life (nobody outside the music world is ever going to ask you the notes in a 9th chord, or the number of sharps in the key of E).
It's a really hard instrument to get bad at, and almost impossible to get good at. That's why everybody wishes they could play guitar, but very very few ever do it. It takes an extremely strong commitment to being a terrible player for a long time, to become even halfway decent.
I am a painter (I’m a tattoo artist professionally) and I feel like you could write something very similar about oil painting. It is very complex, you need a working knowledge of many other artistic skills and concepts, it’s extremely slow paced and often frustrating, and you will spend a lifetime learning and still never be “good” at it. I have been painting in oil for years and I am still a beginner. However, I don’t think that’s a good reason to discourage anyone from learning. Maybe you take it very seriously, but it doesn’t mean that others have to as well.
I totally understand what you are saying, but the question was about a hobby that is easy for a beginner to do, and I wouldn't say that includes oil painting any more than guitar. Neither one of them is for the beginner who is looking for something to get good at fast. They both take tons of hard work, just to reach a level of basic incompetence.
BTW, I have the utmost respect for painters. I get music very well, and I'm good at understanding it, and passable at playing it (after a lifetime of playing), but painting, especially oil painting, is so impossible for me, that it seems almost miraculous. How people can place paint on canvas and create an entire world is astonishing and incomprehensible. That's why I love art museums so much. I can see the greatest accomplishments by incredible artists, who are capable of artistic miracles. Whenever I travel for work (often) and hit a new city, I try to get to their art museum, even if its only for a couple of hours.
I like to write as well, and Im pretty good at it, but I long ago decided that I wouldn't try to learn to paint or draw, just so that it could remain the one art form that I can continue to feel a sense of wonder toward.
I’m with u/warningextensuon00 on this one. I was expecting it to be a slog and a struggle like you’re saying but I started playing guitar a couple months ago and I was surprised to find it was fun from the very beginning. I had to start off playing just a few minutes at a time of course, but it was only a week or two until I could play for longer stretches, and I was playing simple songs very quickly. Not well, of course, but it was so exciting it didn’t care. I’m still terrible but every time I play a song and can hear that hint of what it’s supposed to be I get a rush
The gym
Probably go
Lego. I have a Pinterest board for ideas and people do some amazing builds. Yet, the instructions for sets are visual only and easy to follow. There are many sets that give you multiple choices of things to make with the same bricks so you get a sense of different approaches.
Drawing, painting, gardening, playing MTG or other card games, playing RPG, cooking.
I have found bookbinding to b deeply rewarding.
painting!! you can start off just copying easy designs off pinterest and then grow from there if you wanna
(Miniature) painting
Kendama
Mixed media art.
Solo Board games. There are solo board games that are simple like Grove or Friday and can be more complex like Nemo’s War or Gloomhaven. Can be a great side hobby if you enjoy playing. Board games with others. Lots of options!
Embroidery. Buy a kit with everything included. If you don’t like it, it’s one and done with minimal investment. But if you like it you can slowly add more to your supplies and advance your skills.
Gardening. You can just start with some herbs in some pots on the front porch or a balcony. Once they're growing, and you can clip off some fresh herbs for whatever youre cooking, you'll be hooked.
They look great, and you can eat them. What's not to love!
Photography
drawing
oil pastel
gardening
crafts/jewelry making
Reading and book annotation
pet-keeping small animals such as hamsters. Their enclosures can be quite elaborate if you have the will and resources to invest in creating them.
I crochet because it's like stabbing something thousands of time on repeat.
Seriously though it occupies my brain and keeps me in the present and I don't need a screen to do it. Even if you're working something moderately complex, once you know the pattern you don't need an external point of reference.
Fishing. Most of it's luck. Plenty of freshwater fish are not heavy.
10/10. Plant ID, wild foraging, Magic the Gathering, board games, chess, hula hooping!
Pyrography! 🔥
Solo Board games. There are solo board games that are simple like Grove or Friday and can be more complex like Nemo’s War or Gloomhaven. Can be a great side hobby if you enjoy playing. Board games with others. Lots of options!
Soap crafting with Melt&Pour… all you need is some fragrance or essential oil,a silicone mold and coloring if you want, liquid or micas..melt it down in microwave or double boiler and add scent and coloring and pour in mold,let harden and you have soap.. you can get as extravagant as you want or just keep it simple..
Gaming
Baking bread, baking sourdough, and using up discard in crackers, cakes and brownies and so many great things.
Spinning wool into yarn. You start with a drop spindle and work your way up to a spinning wheel and a thousand different types of yarn.
Needle felting!!!
Drawing and painting. Contrary to popular belief, both are skills that anyone can learn.
Crochet. It’s got a super low barrier to entry, you can start the whole hobby for less than $20. All you need is yarn, a hook, and instructions available free online.
You can also expand into really complex stuff too though, if you want. Tapestry crochet, lace making, really fancy expensive yarn, high tech electronic hooks. You can make clothes, or amigurumi, or home decor, or just about anything. You can really get as shallow or as deep as you want.
As a retired Wood-Shop Teacher, how about Woodworking?
Drawing. As long as you're having fun you're doing it right and you'll never stop learning.
Kite flying... with optional addon of kite building.
The building part takes a little bit of skill development--there are plans, but getting a GOOD sewing machine that can do the correct stitches, and learning how do do those stitches in the SUPER pain in the ass material kites are often made out of, is a hurdle. It's not a huge hurdle, but it's there.
But flying kites is an open door. Start with single lines, or decorative kites on sleds (so, big sled kite, and then other kites that can fly on their own, but inflate, go up after it does).
But there's two string kites--ones you fly and control. They're stunt kites. Start with a parafoil type (no sticks to break), and move to one with sticks. There's 4 string kites, called 'power kites'--and you can fly them in parafoil, or stick type too. The 4 strings get big enough for you to learn kite boarding (land or water).
But kites get EVERYONE interested, and most people are not snobs at all about kites, because they're too damned cool.
Disc golf
I have a boatload of discs and only one three hole course nearby. 😭😭 moved from a place where that was my exercise. I love disc golf.
Low barrier to entry, but can take years to really get hone the craft. Low cost. Lots of fun once you start getting halfway decent.
Gardening
Antiquing. I love history and learning about historical times. It's neat to find items that were really used so long ago, and are still working to this day. I personally love the Real Photo Postcards and old photos. They give me a real-life glimpse into what life was like back then, especially with fashion and transportation. Now I'm looking into antique journals and diaries, so I can read firsthand what life was like. I also love the cookbooks and etiquette books from the late 1800's and early 1900's. I spend a lot of time dating photos and doing research from that time period.
sketching, any type of carving
Reading
Knitting!! Its very easy (and satisfying) to make a scarf/blanket/other square shaped thing, but if you want to dive deeper you can make all kinds of garments!
Crochet as well!
Scrapbooking, DIY crafts, cardmaking
Cross stitch. Found it super easy and affordable to get started, not to mention it’s a portable and relatively tidy hobby. Now I can get more complex with it by using less grid-like fabric and more elaborate designs. There’s also embroidery to build up to since it’s similar materials and the other perks.
Sewing! I’m in a bunch of sewing groups!
Knitting. From potholders, to Estonian wedding veils, there's a range
Video games like stardew valley 🙌 and scrap booking. 🙌
I picked up piano, we got a used keyboard for our kid, he wasn't seriously interested, so I started using it, got a basic book of songs for kids and stickers for the keys and then a slight more advanced song book, I won't play at Carnegie Hall but I can play a bunch of Star Wars songs 🙃 if you get more serious you can do lessons and advance that way too.
Gardening
Abstract painting
Painting!!!
Improv!
Numismatics
DnD
Came to say this. Ttrpgs can go so deep but many places will let you just show up with a pencil and give it a go. Check your local game store for open dnd or ask your nerd friends if they play.
Wax bracelets. Love it and fun to wear
Bourbon drinking
Sudoku
Play pool. If you want to do it socially, join a social league like the APA. Hang out, make some new friends. There's a handicap system and people will help you if you want to improve.
If you find you enjoy it, you can put infinite time into it. It's a game that can be played and practiced alone or with friends, and even the most devoted person would have to put in thousands of hours to reach anything close to their personal skill cap.
You can do it as much or as little as you want. You can work on it alone or be out socializing with other humans. You can do it solo, or be part of a team.
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
Card tricks
Solo Board games. There are solo board games that are simple like Grove or Friday and can be more complex like Nemo’s War or Gloomhaven. Can be a great side hobby if you enjoy playing. Board games with others. Lots of options!
Painting and crochet are two of my favorites.
Crochet and sewing! Sewing is my main hobby and I started with zipper pouches, now I make my kids entire wardrobes. I also just started crocheting 3 or so weeks ago! Making little stuffed animals for my kids 🥰
guitar playing
Hobby grade RC Cars. Can be pricey but man it’s fun and addictive.
Genealogy. It's my favorite hobby but not for everyone as it's a pretty niche nerdy pursuit. Lol
Gardening
Comics, art books, drawings if you a little talented
Improv.
Being a Gym-Bro
Maybe some people wouldn’t consider this beginner friendly, but in my opinion it really can be if you join the right gym. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ). Try it out, it’ll change your life.
Sewing
Wine collecting and testing
As others have said crochet is pretty easy once you figure out how to hold the yarn and hook and get the basics down.
Diamond painting is also a great hobby imo. There's So many diamond paintings out there that there's something for everyone.
I make chainmaille: https://www.mailleartisans.org/articles/articledisplay.php?key=19 and you can make/create all kinds of things: https://www.mailleartisans.org/gallery/ using different weaves: https://www.mailleartisans.org/weaves/
I get my wire from Tractor Supply on 1/4 mile rolls. Costs about $40.00 You can often get a 350 foot rolls (for Fido shockers) at feed stores. The mandrels I bought at the hardware store and I made the frame from scrap lumber I had. The pliers and drill motor came from Harbor Freight.
I use 17 gauge anodized aluminum electric fence wire and wind it on either a 3/16, 1/4, or 5/16 mandrel. Unlike pictured in the first link, I turn my mandrels using a 3/8 variable speed drill motor.
After I cut the coils into rings I tumble them using one of these: https://www.harborfreight.com/dual-drum-rotary-rock-tumbler-67632.html with soap (Dawn) and water for 12 hours to de-burr them. After a good rinse I tumble them again in soap and water for another 2 hours.
Of course you could skip all the winding and cutting and just order rings from: https://theringlord.com/
They also have a lot of tutorials here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheRingLordcom/videos
Here are some more pages:
https://www.pinterest.com/mcosgrave/chain-maille-clothing/
http://ltgoatroper.deviantart.com/art/Chainmail-Cocktail-Dress-1-271800168
http://laron79.deviantart.com/favourites/56543594/chainmaille-dress
http://chainedoombaby.deviantart.com/favourites/48338292/Chain-Maille-Clothing
https://www.etsy.com/search/clothing?q=chainmail
http://www.mailleartisans.org/gallery/gallerylist.php?tags=Womens
Fossil collecting. Sometimes all you need are a pair of eyes
Crochet or knitting. It can be as easy or as hard as you want.
Juggling
Disc golf
Quilting, watercolors, weaving
Write music! Beginners can have an awesome time, and you can really get deep into it. It can also be very social if you want to enjoy w a newcomer
Programming
Seriously, one of the best hobbies out there that is easy to join and enjoy at all levels with plenty of room to dive deep.
At starter levels, small games and tools and apps for the web or for low level robotics or even just cool visualizers. I'm sure almost everyone here on Reddit has some working device capable of computing. You can program on your phone on the go (not the easiest, but possible) and code is free, it doesn't cost materials to write. That's honestly how I got started, I came from a childhood where paper and paint and other craft materials weren't always available, but I did have access to a computer and Internet, and the learning and programming took no materials, I could write as much code as I wanted. Now it's a career of mine, but will always be a hobby first.
Drawing and learning to tie different knots and how to use them
If you can throw a little bit of money into it (like maybe $50-75) epoxy resin crafts are fun and you can learn to do it via YouTube tutorials. I did jewelry, bookmarks, bookends / little statures, dominoes sets, combs, all sorts of stuff. Easy to mess up if you mix the two liquids wrong, and it takes time (and read up on safety stuff) but it was a lot of fun!
Puzzles, LEGO building, paper crafts, cooking/baking.
Pickleball
Robotics, lots of room for improvement
Locksport. Some cheap picks and locks can get you started and you can dip into some of the locksmithing part like making your own pins or just taking locks apart to see how they work. You can stick with the easy locks (white to green belt level locks) or even just follow lock development.
Rockhounding. You just need a patch of gravel.
fermenting, gardening, bird watching, cheese making, meat smoking/curing, beer making, wood working, are some
Cooking
gardening
Kumihimo
Rock climbing (indoor, with ropes) is physical but very accessible. You can be pretty out of shape and still enjoy climbing, takes a couple months to build the hands up from 0 but anyone can start and work up from the easiest routes.
Photography. Or if that sounds too intimidating than just call it taking pictures. It’s got the satisfaction of instant gratification but it’s actually productive and there’s no end to what you can learn.
Also archery. The foundations are easy and after that it’s just getting infinitely better
Juggling!! I love juggling and just wish I had more time for it. 3 decent balls and Amazon is cheap and can provide months and years of fun.
Knitting. Or any needlework for that matter.
Guitar. Start with 3 chord songs, and if you stick with it, you may surprise yourself.
Pickleball, everyone who plays thinks they’re good because it’s so easy but there’s levels of skill you’ll realize
Beading. Start with just stringing beads, then work up to more complex stitches or learn wire wrapping
Collecting and propagating plant clippings.
Bird watching, train spotting
Calligraphy
Environmental hobbies eg raise monarch butterflies source https://www.zerosmart.co.uk/post/top-ten-sustainable-hobbies
Model rockets 🚀 they are fun to blast off in a field and you get to build them too.
Take beginner bridge lessons - Playing Bridge can be a fun social activity and can help keep the brain sharp
Jewelry
Climbing
Watercolor painting
Needlepoint. I started by finishing a piece my grandmother hadn't finished. Had a fiber arts class in middle school. Learned fancy stitches (but rarely use them... at least until I bought a vintage kit on Ebay). Just know that while mass market kits are pretty inexpensive, hand painted canvases are not. Any counted cross stitch pattern without half or quarter stitches can be adapted to counted thread needlepoint.
Animation. I started with rotating objects and melting them into puddles. It was easy and took ten minutes. My last project before giving up took two weeks.
Lockpicking
Amateur radio. All skill levels and scalable price points.
Clay! I do oven dry clay, but there are all levels of skill, from simple little mushrooms to intricate faces.
Genealogy
Disc. Golf.
Astronomy is easy. The first telescope is an outlay, but after that it’s all enjoyment. Join an astronomy club and there’s a social aspect as well.
A cheap one would be learning guitar or piano.
I bought a piano for like $80 and a guitar/amp for $120 and spend most of my free time making sounds like the cultured caveman I was born to be.
Pyrography
Horticulture is the key to a peaceful and fulfilling life IMO
Quilting! You can start very basic and get more extreme/crafty/creative as you go. You can even take the quilt tops to quilting stores to have them quilt the pieces together if it’s too taxing on your body. It’s a bit pricy depending on the size but looks really nice! (Never done it myself tho lol)
Birding. 100%.
Just go look at a few birds in a park. OR, dive deep and buy a guide book and get the apps and the greatest scavenger hunt ever made begins.
These hobbies, like cooking, painting, or board games, offer opportunities for both beginners and enthusiasts to enjoy together.
Pickleball
Jewelry making. You can string beads, or you can get a torch to join metal, and/or you can find and polish your own turquoise, or you can learn to cut diamonds.
Rock climbing!
D&D
Mushrooms 🍄
Puzzles.
Start with 300-500 pieces which is just challenging enough to not be boring. Move up to larger puzzles with more pieces as you advance.
ceramics, painting, stained glass, glass fusing, welding, metals casting, block printing, wood working,