8 Hobbies for Teens That Are Fun, Motivating and Productive

When raising teenagers, it is always a good idea to get something for them to do during their free time. A hobby is a great option as it offers an outlet for stress and helps teens work on goals while focusing their energy on something positive. It can also be a great way of meeting friends, discovering new interests and developing non-academic skills they can use their whole lives. Below, we will take a look at examples of hobbies that are fun, productive and motivating for teens.

Playing a Sport

Playing a sport helps teenagers improve their emotional and physical health, and it is a great way to reduce stress and make new friends in the process. While solo sports like tennis or boxing help teach commitment, self-discipline, and responsibility, team sports help teens learn about teamwork and sportsmanship.

Team sports gives teenagers a sense of belonging – something that many teens struggle with. Team sports create an automatic social circle that teens belong to as soon as they join. Considering how important social connections and acceptance are to teens, joining a team that gives them both can be incredibly beneficial. 

Solving Puzzles

Puzzles are a great option for teens who love challenges and who have a lot of time on their hands. Whether they are solving simple puzzles on their phones or real jigsaw puzzles on a table, solving them can help keep their brains busy. Puzzles also help teens develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills that will come in handy in their futures. The problem-solving and critical thinking skills puzzles help them develop help teens see problems from different perspectives while forcing them to find solutions to near-impossible problems.

By coming up with solutions and solving puzzles, teens also get to develop self-confidence and learn how to motivate themselves to conquer any issues they may face in the future.

Baking

There is no denying that baking is fun and can be a great way to spend time with your kids. However, baking can become more than that. It can be a tool that parents use to teach their kids about fractions, measurements, recipes and temperatures. Baking can also help teach teens how to follow instructions and why doing so is important. We all follow instructions in our daily lives and jobs and knowing how to do it is a critical skill.

Lastly, baking can teach teens that paying attention, reading correctly and doing things the right way often enables them to get the results they want. Once teens conquer simple recipes, they can move onto more challenging ones to stay motivated as well as advance their hobby and skills.

Playing an Instrument

One thing parents have to contend with when their teens start piano lessons in Australia or are learning to play an instrument or even when they graduate to making their own music is noise. After assessing their suitability for the lessons, they may realize how noisy it could become. If you are tired of the noise or would like to use your garage space for something else, you can book music practice rooms for your teens. These music practice rooms allow your teens to be as expressive as possible and play as loud as they would like without disturbing the neighbors. The music practice rooms provided by Pirate.com, for example, are acoustically treated and have all the equipment they would need as you look for music practice rooms. Pirate has music practice rooms with everything a teen would want, whether they play alone or decide to bring a few of their mates over for a session.

Photography

The art of photography has been somehow lost due to smartphone cameras. However, the intentional shots you can take on a camera are very different from the photos we take on our phones every day. Great photography teaches patience and can be a great way for teens to express themselves through the types of photographs they take. 

The photographs they take can be used to decorate walls or even displayed so they can be shown off later. Photography can be used to teach teens the importance of developing a skill, improving it, and creating something valuable that others will find impressive and interesting.

Fishing

Fishing can sometimes be seen as an expensive hobby, but it does not have to be. Fishing is an incredible hobby as it teaches patience and helps teens respect nature and wildlife. Fishing also teaches teens how to be one with their thoughts and to enjoy the moment. It is also the perfect way to reduce stress while also teaching the value of working for something and enjoying it later on.

Playing Chess

While chess is seen by many as a puzzle, it is a lot more than that. Chess is enjoyable and teaches so many skills that are useful in the future. The good thing is that you no longer need a board or even someone else to play with; chess is available on mobile devices as well as on all computer operating systems. Chess is also available to play online so teens can enjoy the game and battle against other players through the internet, on their computer, or phone.

Because there are so many strategies to learn and ways to play the game, chess is a great way to give teen brains a workout. Chess is also about learning from your mistakes and taking the lessons learned and using them to improve.

Programming

There is no doubt that computers are the future and programming is a huge part of that future. Programming can be seen as a hobby and as a way to gain skills that will be incredibly useful in the future.

Learning to program is a great way for teens to learn about computers as well as explore a path that could lead to successful, high-paying careers. There are tons of learning materials online, all of them geared towards teens and kids of different ages.

While hobbies can be a great way to keep teens stimulated and engaged, they can also be a useful way to help them gain skills that will become useful in the future. Parents can start by introducing a few hobbies to see what their teens like and go from there.