Hobby

A **hobby** is a leisure activity that people do for fun or recreation. People do it because they like it.

## Arts and crafts

Some people do arts and crafts. They make clothing or decorations with their hands. Some popular arts and crafts that involve textiles or fabrics include crocheting, sewing (making clothing), embroidery, knitting, and quilting.

Some people like to do hobbies that involve making images on paper, such as scrapbooking, painting, and drawing. Some people like to make three-dimensional decorations using clay or wood, in the hobbies of pottery, sculpture, wood carving, and woodworking.

Some other arts include movie-making, photography, and musical hobbies such as singing, playing musical instruments, and writing songs.

## Games and puzzles

Some people enjoy hobbies such as playing games or solving puzzles. Games include board games such as chess, card games, and newer games such as wargaming and role-playing games. Popular puzzles include jigsaw puzzles and crossword puzzles.

## Reading and learning

Some people enjoy spending their time reading books, magazines, and newspapers, or writing stories or in a diary. Other people enjoy learning foreign languages by taking classes, or doing research, such as genealogy.

In the 2000s, many people have Internet-based hobbies, such as editing Wikipedia, writing their own blogs, or having online discussions in Newsgroups or online forums.
Some people enjoy computer activities, such as computer programming, learning about open source software, or playing computer games. Some people enjoy learning about electronics such as doing amateur radio broadcasts or building robots.

Many students enjoy reading and learning as a hobby. But even outside of school, these hobbies are popular because they are cheap and help keep the mind sharp.

## Hobbies in the home

Some people enjoy working on their home and learning how to repair their home by themselves, without hiring repair people or plumbers. Some people enjoy learning how to repair motor vehicles, such as antique cars. Some people even build and repair sailboats in their backyard.

Many people have hobbies that they do in the kitchen, such as cooking for their guests and family, and making their own beer. Many people also have hobbies in their home that involve animals, such as keeping a pet animal, such as a dog, a cat, or tropical fish.  Some people even learn about dog breeding.

## Collecting

Collecting is a popular hobby in North America and in Europe. People enjoy finding interesting examples of different items and learning about them. Some of the well-known types of collecting include stamp collecting, coin collecting such as baseball cards. People also collect toys, books, comic books, and old records. Some people collect antiques and artwork, but these hobbies are more rare, because antiques and artwork are usually expensive.

A type of hobby that is related to collecting is model building. People who do model-building as a hobby collect small models which they build, paint, and then display. Some common types of model-building hobbies include model airplanes, model rockets, model ships, model cars, and model railways.

## Outdoor activities and sports

Outdoor hobbies include bird feeding, birdwatching, canoeing, gardening, hiking, walking, cycling, and sports such as baseball, bowling, cycling, fishing, hunting, and sailing.

## Other hobbies

Many people spend a lot of time in leisure activities that are not necessarily called hobbies.

## Related pages

- List of hobbies

## Other websites

- Hobby (Citizendium)