With the warmer weather and beautiful sunshine of spring, everyone has more energy, especially kids. If you’re looking for ways to keep them occupied while building life skills, consider learning practical hobbies together. Here are six practical hobbies to learn this spring with your kids.
Outdoor Hobbies: Gardening and Hiking
Spring is the perfect time to get out in nature, whether that’s planting a garden or going on a hike. Gardening is a great life skill to have, whether you’re planting flowers or food, and it creates an opportunity to learn more about the Earth and food production.
It can also help your kids develop confidence since they’ll be proud that their flowers are on display in the window or that you served their carrots with dinner.
Hiking is a great activity for kids’ bodies and brains. Inclines and declines help them get exercise, and navigating obstacles, such as rocks and tree roots, helps with balance and agility.
Being emersed in nature can also boost endorphins and help with memory and emotional processing. You can also add other hobbies to hiking, such as biking part of the trail, collecting rocks along the way, or taking nature pictures.
Artistic Hobbies: Crocheting and Cooking
When the pollen count gets too high or the rain is too strong to enjoy being outside, try some of these indoor artistic hobbies. Crocheting allows kids to be creative and develop their fine motor skills by holding different-sized crochet hooks and yarn.
Crafting skills even roll over into school skills, helping children do better at math, reading, and problem-solving. Learning to crochet is also a great life skill to have since they’ll eventually make useful items, such as clothes, blankets, and potholders.
Cooking is another great life skill since, eventually, your kids will live on their own and need to provide for themselves. Even if you don’t enjoy cooking, find some simple recipes that you know you’ll like to eat and make them together.
Being involved in the kitchen can help make kids less picky and develop their analytical skills. You may even be able to squeeze in a quick math lesson with measuring spoons and cups.
Spiritual Hobbies: Yoga and Reflection
As the Earth blooms and grows, you and your children can do the same with spiritual hobbies. Yoga can help teach you and your child discipline, mindfulness, body awareness, and concentration while improving flexibility and decreasing anxiety.
The breathing exercises also help with emotional regulation and relaxation, which is something energetic kids and stressed parents both need.
You can take time to reflect during your yoga practice, but it’s best to separate the two so that you and your child can talk easier. Depending on the age of your child, you can do an easier reflection on the day and their feelings by having them list the highs and lows or roses and thorns of the day.
Older children may prefer to reflect in different ways, such as through journals that they share or choosing a song that describes their day and emotions.
Gardening, hiking, crocheting, cooking, yoga, and reflection are six practical hobbies to learn this spring with your kids, but they all have great benefits. With these hobbies, your child can build skills that will help them navigate our complicated world in safe, mindful ways.
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