9 Hobbies You Can Pick Up While Stuck at Home

If you've been spending more time at home recently and are slowly running out of movies and shows to watch on Netflix, why not use your free time to pick up a new hobby? Whether you want to brew your own beer, grow your own herbal tea leaves, or start learning a new language, there's a way you can do it without having to leave the house. Check out some of our favorite at-home hobbies you can start right now.

1. Learn a New Language

While thinking about studying a new language may drum up unpleasant memories of vocabulary worksheets, flash cards, and pop-quizzes, that's not how Rosetta Stone teaches. Instead, this virtual language service lets you learn on your own schedule by offering shorter lessons that emphasize real-world communication scenarios, rather than typical classroom exercises. The program has more than 30 languages available, and with a subscription you'll get classes, a phrasebook, a dictionary, and more. The subscriptions are available for three months, one year, two years, or for a lifetime (the best value), and you can find more details and pricing options here.

2. Start Crocheting

Crocheting isn’t something that will come to you overnight, but with patience and practice, it could be a rewarding skill for years to come. To start, you'll need a beginner’s guide like A to Z of Crochet: The Ultimate Guide for the Beginner to Advanced Crocheter ($17), along with a starter’s kit ($22) and some yarn ($25). While you can also get beginner’s tips on YouTube, there are platforms like Skillshare that provide deeper how-to classes so you can get started on the right foot. The instructional book and online classes will help build a foundation of crocheting knowledge, which will eventually pay off when you can complete a blanket ($16), a hat ($7), or even a kid’s toy ($13).

3. Learn Needle Felting

If you’re looking for a relaxing activity that will result in a cute soft animal, try picking up needle felting. If you go with a Wool Queen set, you’ll have a choice of kits for an adorable unicorn ($13) with a rainbow horn, a guinea pig ($12), a polar bear ($13), or a teddy bear ($15). Each kit contains the wool, two needles, and instructions, and it takes just under three hours to complete one. You can browse more needle felting kits here.

4. Make Your Own Candles

If you're a candle obsessive who can't get out to your favorite store at the moment, or you just have a creative itch you need to satisfy, try your hand at making your own candles at home with this kit from Amazon ($60). There are four different colors (red, orange, purple, and forest green) to pick from, along with four scents (clean cotton, lavender, coconut lime, and cinnamon vanilla) that you can mix and match with. The kit also comes with a melting pitcher, tins to pour the wax into, wicks, and more.

5. Dive Into an Adult Coloring Book

There’s a reason why coloring is a go-to activity for grade-school kids everywhere—it’s infinitely relaxing, sparks a bit of creativity, and allows your brain to wander in the good kind of way. While it took long enough, someone finally realized adults still want all those things, too, and ever since, adult coloring books have been a mainstay hobby that's easy to pick up and easier on the wallet. And there’s no shortage of subjects to choose from: You’ve got books based on blockbuster properties like Harry Potter ($11), Marvel ($15), and Star Wars ($15); TV shows like Golden Girls ($13) and The Great British Bake Off ($11); and quirkier books like serial killers ($11) and animals drinking martinis ($8). All you’ll need is a dependable pack of colored pencils ($18) or markers ($27) and a few creative ideas for making each page your own.

6. Brew Your Own Beer

With this beer-making kit ($100), you can brew four gallons of a Belgian-inspired saison without the need for those giant brewery kettles or having to search out all those exotic ingredients. Everything you need is right in this kit from Brewferm, including the hop and malt extracts, the brewing bucket, and the cleaning solution. The hardest part will be waiting the two months as your beer ferments, but it'll all pay off once that first pint is poured. And if you're looking to brew other varieties, like a stout or a pilsner, the company has a whole line of choices you can browse on Amazon.

7. Brew Your Own Kombucha

It’s the slightly fizzy, kind of tart, kind of sweet health drink that’s touted as a top-notch digestion aid, and now, you can easily brew your own kombucha right in your home. This kit from Craft a Brew ($60) comes with everything you need to make a gallon of this good-for-the-gut beverage, including, most importantly, a claim code for the SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast), which is the ingredient responsible for the fermentation. Since the SCOBY arrives in an iced pouch, you'll just have to use the claim code in the box to get your batch delivered to you separately, free of charge. In the kit, you'll also find a jar to ferment the kombucha in, cane sugar, black tea, a step-by-step guide that will allow you to have a successful brew, and more.

8. Learn Origami

Turn paper into art with a how-to guide on origami. If you're looking for the basics, Japanese Origami for Beginners ($14) has a 4.6-star rating on Amazon, with reviewers praising it as a great activity for students or as a solo hobby. The book features 20 different projects, 72 sheets of folding paper, and a 100-minute DVD for more instruction. If you want something a little more suited to your tastes, there are origami books that range in difficulty based on Harry Potter ($7) and Star Wars ($9).

9. Grow Your Own Herbal Tea Leaves

Personalize your tea experience with this indoor herbal tea garden ($30) from Garden Republic. In this pack, you'll get everything you need to grow your own herbal tea leaves, like seeds, pots, soil discs, shears, and infusers. You'll have your choice of lavender, lemon balm, peppermint, and chamomile leaves, and all you'll really need to have is a balcony or windowsill to sit the kit on.

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