7 Fun and affordable hobbies to try with your kids

As a parent, you might struggle to decide on a hobby you can try with your kids. Not only does it have to be enjoyable for both, but the hobby must also benefit your children in some way – be it physical activity, mental stimulation, or building teamwork skills. Most importantly, however, it should help develop a strong bond between you and your kids.

Well, there are several affordable hobbies that can guarantee plenty of fun. While some have been around forever, some grew popular only in recent years. This article sheds light on 7 of your best options.

1. Hiking

If you’re looking for outdoor hobbies to try with your kids, consider taking them on hiking trips. It allows you to spend quality time with them, and hiking offers plenty of exercises. Ultimately, it’s a healthy hobby that will help your kids grow physically fit and capable from a young age.

Unless there are absolutely no hiking trails near you, it doesn’t have to be an expensive activity either. You can take your kids on small trails that aren’t too challenging for beginners and eventually proceed to longer trails.

2. Gel blasting

Gel blasting, also known as gel ball shooting or gelsoft, is a recreational activity similar to airsoft, but much safer. Participants use gel blasters, which are toy guns that shoot small, water-absorbent gel balls or beads, also known as gel balls, water balls, or hydro balls.

According to Tavish Archer, a recreational gamer and author on ThrilloGaming, gel blasting is an uprising thrilling sport that can be enjoyed by both adults and kids with all skill levels. It is often played in outdoor settings and can be organized as a competitive game or a casual activity.

Gel balls are easy to clean up and are far less likely to cause injuries. Gel blasters are also much more realistic and available in the designs of various guns – pistols, AK-47s, MP5s, sniper rifles, etc. The only major drawback is that gel beads do not mark the target with paint after impact, unlike paintball pellets.

3. Low Impact Paintballing 

If you’ve ever been to a paintball game or watched one, you might know how fun paintballing is. Shooting away at each other with paintballs in an arena – it’s much like playing multiplayer shooter games in real life. A paintball gun is simply a toy gun that uses pressurized gas to send out paintball pellets that break upon impact and mark the target with dye.

Paintball games are usually played in dedicated paintball arenas, but you may also buy paintball guns to play at home. However, you may have to clean up the place once you’re done playing since the paintballs splatter dye everywhere.

Especially if you feel your children spend too much time playing video games, introducing them to low impact paintball is a good way to redirect their interest to something different. Not only will your kids enjoy experiencing shooter games in real life, but this recreational sport will also give them more physical activity.

4. Laser tagging

This is yet another recreational sport inspired by shooting games, except it doesn’t involve firing actual projectiles. Laser tag involves shooting at each other with guns that fire harmless infrared light beams. The players wear special jackets with IR receptors to detect successful hits.

Both paintballing and gel blasting are safe as long as everyone wears protective gear and follows the guidelines. However, if you don’t feel comfortable shooting high-speed projectiles, laser tag is the way to go.

The main challenge in taking up laser tag as a hobby is that if you plan to play it at home, you’ll need to buy additional gear besides the guns. In this regard, paintball guns and gel blasters are more convenient choices. However, if you have a laser tag arena in your vicinity, it won’t be much of a problem.

5. Gardening

Gardening is more than just a hobby – it also doubles as a therapeutic activity. Working with plants from a young age will teach your child to love the environment and be a responsible person. Gardening also helps with sensory development in kids. Like cooking and baking, it’s a hobby that can potentially open up a new career path for them.

Another reason to try gardening is affordability. As long as you’re creative and don’t mind putting in some extra effort, it can even be almost free of cost. Even if you don’t have any outdoor space for the purpose, indoor plants are just fine.

6. Cooking and Baking

It’s always good to have hobbies that help develop important life skills, and cooking and baking are prime examples. Besides, who knows? Maybe your kids will develop a knack for cooking and even choose it as a career path in the future. Especially if your children are curious about the kitchen and eager to help, it’s an excellent opportunity to teach them how to cook and bake.

It might not be the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of working in the kitchen, but this hobby gives you plenty of amazing memories to cherish. Your kids will one day be thankful for the cooking and baking skills you helped them develop – as long as they enjoy it, of course.

7. Origami

If your children have a knack for art and craft, origami is one of the best hobbies you can try with them. This Japanese art form involves folding paper to create a variety of beautiful objects of varying complexity.

Fun, enjoyable, and highly affordable, origami helps develop a number of useful skills in children. Besides boosting their creative capabilities, it can also help develop their motor and critical thinking skills.

Origami is easy to learn, thanks to the numerous video tutorials on YouTube. Beginners can always start with very simple designs and work their way up to more complex projects.

Here is nice tutorial to Origami:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvmXVeem2lI

As you might notice, some of these hobbies are very different from each other. Practically speaking, it’s impossible to compare them against one another. While the different shooting games offer a great deal of recreation and help build sportsmanship and team spirit, cooking is a skill everyone should possess.

It all depends on what your kids enjoy the most. The best way to go about this is to have multiple hobbies. Your kids can practice gardening daily and still visit a paintball arena on the weekends. Feel free to explore different hobbies with them to see which ones work the best.