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electric_blue68

(22,472 posts)
Thu Jul 10, 2025, 07:11 PM Jul 10

What Hobbies did you have as a kid? What did you keep on doing? New ones started later on?

Hopefully this'll bring back fun memories.👍

Probably coloring books with Crayola Crayons might have been my first. 🖍 😄
Then drawing at home after we did it in school.
Definitely a reader for life!
Acrylic painting in my teens through early 20's. May try some again.

In my early-mid teens I started doing bead-weaving on a hand made shoe box loom.
Got somewhat fancy w it.

Some years later changing over to bead stringing with glass, brass, semi-precious stones, sometimes sterling silver beads, and later water pearls! I made this one gorgeous bracelet in my 40's with fancy SS beads, labradorite, and ?glass beads. Lost it years later. : (

But in my 30's the bead stringing got too expensive for what I wanted.
I invented my own often unique wire jewelry w, w/o beads. Used brass, and sterling silver.
Still making this stuff like 37 yrs later! Though bc of low income changed to plated sterting silver. Rings, ear cuffs, pendants, bangles! 🥰😄
I made some very pretty, and unique necklaces, too!

I learned some of the non-loom bead weaving, but didn't do too much. Might have to try it for a few pieces again bc I still have some seed beads, and these gorgeous "peacock" colored ?bugel beads (tubes).

Finally, in my late 40's I finally learned to knit after 2 previous failed 😄🙄😄attempts! I got inspired by these women at the Green Market in Brooklyn who sold their yarn, finished pieces, and kits. Oh, they had such lovely colorways! I bought their sampler card just to have them.
.Then in my early 50's I learned to crochet inspired by the Crochet Reef Project.

I still do those, but always been on the slower side. Afraid to go too fast, and mess my hand up for drawing. I don't have the patience for big projects. Once I made a 10" x 5 ft solid knit scarf early on in the excitement of learning.

The one medium big project I would like to do again having had to throw away the original is big Cowl! About 19" high, and 30" inches around using 3 strands of chunky yarn together. It was a Lion Brand project. It was very cool! 😄🧡
I truly salute anyone doing sweaters, tops, afghans, blankets!

.Actually, the newest thing is doing digital art first on my tablet 6+ yrs ago, but even better a fantastic phone app! I got a stylus from a cousin just recently. Doing this steadily for over 2 years.
.
So - what fun have you had? Even your "tribulations" in learning.
Wood working? Yarn craft? Pottery? Sewing? Furniture making? Weaving? Cooking? Drawing & painting? Jeweling making?
Etc!

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wcmagumba

(4,404 posts)
1. I collected insects, cruel but I didn't know..planned to be an entomologist. I had a friend who colored rocks...
Thu Jul 10, 2025, 07:17 PM
Jul 10

Weird things that kids do...loved those days, we rode our bikes everywhere and no one cared...freedom was fun...

electric_blue68

(22,472 posts)
2. TY. Well, at least it made sense w your plans to be qman entomologist...
Thu Jul 10, 2025, 07:22 PM
Jul 10

As kids we'd catch fireflies in a jar at my suburban cousin's yard.
We'd look at them, then let them go.

Skittles

(166,147 posts)
3. I'm fascinated by insects
Thu Jul 10, 2025, 07:38 PM
Jul 10

last night I rescued a cicada from a pool and it sat on my finger cleaning itself before it sailed off

ProfessorGAC

(73,663 posts)
4. Playing Piano
Thu Jul 10, 2025, 07:43 PM
Jul 10

I still do that, plus guitar.
The other things, like rock & coin collecting ended 55 years ago or more.

electric_blue68

(22,472 posts)
8. I love music! Good on you!
Thu Jul 10, 2025, 08:13 PM
Jul 10

Good for physical, and mental, emotional reasons.

Wasn't really good on the piano so my parents dropped the lessons. Also we didn't have a piano.

Got a acoustic guitar at 16? Eh, not too good at it! 😄 I really wanted an electric guitar! Which decades later I bought! Not very good at it either! 😄 But I loved it. Still have. Need one string restrung. However I inherited a big cassette tape, and CD player from my mom that I could plug my guitar into. 🥰
But it finally went kaput.

Keep enjoying your music making!
👍 🎼🎵🎶

ProfessorGAC

(73,663 posts)
9. I Don't Perform Anymore
Thu Jul 10, 2025, 08:23 PM
Jul 10

I played in bands for over 30 years, but stopped about 18 years ago. I couldn't manage the band schedule & the international travel for my real job. But, I've done over 2,000 gigs in my time.
But, I still play both instruments every day. 15 minutes at a time, 4 or 5 times a day.
I recorded some stuff a few years ago. If you're interested, here is a link. I play & sing everything on these songs.

https://m.soundcloud.com/user-134084288/popular-tracks

LoisB

(11,118 posts)
5. Reading, crossword and jigsaw puzzles. Learned to crochet about age 8, dropped it until
Thu Jul 10, 2025, 07:54 PM
Jul 10

my 30s, then picked it up again. Now approaching 80, I still do them all. I do regret not continuing with piano lessons. New hobby: gardening.

electric_blue68

(22,472 posts)
6. TY. My mom did crosswords, and jig saw puzzles....
Thu Jul 10, 2025, 08:03 PM
Jul 10

I'd sometimes help with the puzzles.

When we played Scrabble, even though I had a better vocabulary (and she was a smart woman), those crosswords heleped her "see" opportunities for words I didn't have. She won about 2/3rds of the time! 😄

Sorry about the piano. I didn't last long on those.
Good u still do them, and now adding gardening. Green is good! 🧡 🌱 🧡

LogDog75

(653 posts)
10. I collected coins and still do
Thu Jul 10, 2025, 11:11 PM
Jul 10

I collected coins and I would sometimes take my allowance to the bank and buy a couple rolls of pennies. This was back in the 60s and I'd go through them looking for the dates and mint marks I needed. I still have all those coins today and probably $30 in wrapped pennies. I also save silver nickles, dimes, quarters, half dollars, and silver dollars. In my teen, I go to a local coin dealer and search for any coins of interests. He had a bowl with a number of pennies from around 1815 - 1840 which would sell for about $2 each and guarantee there were some coins in the bowl worth $5 or more. I remember looking through them and had to decide which of two coins to buy. One was an older date but something told me coin condition was more important so I went with my hunch. Turned out the coin was worth $5. Whenever I get change from a purchase, I do a quick look at the coins to see if they are any interesting coins.

I might pull out my collection and go through them and look up their values online just to see what they're worth.

electric_blue68

(22,472 posts)
11. Oh, pennies that old? Cool.
Thu Jul 10, 2025, 11:22 PM
Jul 10

You might as well take a look at some point. There's an app for identifying coins above their initial value.

As an early teen our apt was robbed. Among the things they took were the few silver coins from ?late 1800's from our grandma, and the then fairly new Kennedy dollar coin.

I always l like the ?Mercury image on the older dime.
In Europe it was fun to see different coins

LogDog75

(653 posts)
12. Some coins are works of art
Fri Jul 11, 2025, 02:57 PM
Jul 11

I love the look of the Walking Liberty Half Dollar.



The Morgan Silver Dollar.

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There's something about the feel of a silver dollar or silver half dollar.

electric_blue68

(22,472 posts)
13. Quite wonderful...
Fri Jul 11, 2025, 05:03 PM
Jul 11

The draping of her clothes, flag flutter, the flowers.

The Morgan - eagle's wings, the long curling hair on the person.

Aristus

(70,426 posts)
15. Mine has always ever been just reading.
Fri Jul 11, 2025, 05:52 PM
Jul 11

I don't like to build things, I'm terrible at drawing, I lost my enthusiasm for video games when Atari 2600 was still the big thing, I don't care for collecting things; it's just "stuff" (with the exception being books; I don't "collect" books; for their value, as display items, or for any reason other than to read them.)

The less said about my enthusiasm or aptitude for sports, the better.

Just give me a good book, a comfortable armchair, a cup of hot coffee or chocolate, and a cold, rainy day to stay inside from and read.

electric_blue68

(22,472 posts)
16. 👍 I love getting immersed in a good fiction book, or learning new things in a well write non fiction book.
Fri Jul 11, 2025, 05:57 PM
Jul 11

Aristus

(70,426 posts)
17. I find my taste for fiction has waned significantly as I have gotten older.
Fri Jul 11, 2025, 06:26 PM
Jul 11

I read "Project Hail Mary" last year, and it was the first piece of fiction I had read in ages. (Bonus: It was wonderful! Can't wait for the movie!) I mostly read non-fiction. On just about any subject I can find. History and biography are my favorites, but I love reading about science, art, politics, you name it.

electric_blue68

(22,472 posts)
18. A good+ Science Fiction book is my main Fiction "diet"...
Fri Jul 11, 2025, 06:56 PM
Jul 11

I'm thinking maaaaaybe some Historical Fiction might appeal to me...during the pandemic I read the 2nd book of Connie Willis's WW2 London duology. Time traveling historians embed themselves there back then.
It maybe bc I'm rewatching parts of "Timeless" on Tubi.

Then there's Alt History. Maaaaybe "The Man in The High Castle. I think Hilter defeats the USA, etc. I'd certainly hate that(!!!); but how eventually are they (Nazis) defeated would interest me.

I hope "Hail Mary Project" turns out to be a classic! 👍 Rocky!

I do highly recommend David Brin's Galactic+ sprawling billions of years old civilizations Uplift Universe series.
Various humans, genetics uplifted dolphins & chimps, a plethora of fabulously imagined "aliens", mysterious Ancients.... Imho he excelently writes both interpersonal actions, and the immensities of eons old civilizations, and the vastness of Space.

As far as non-fiction, not much recently - Astronomy, Cosmology, some Archeology, some Oceanography.
Architecture - I prefer magazine articles with lots of photos!

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