By Kayla Nguyen
It’s almost winter break! You have a whole two weeks to do anything you want. What will you do with so much time? The answer is to find a fun hobby to hyperfixate on. So, here are ten fun activities to do during your free time on winter break.
1. Sewing
Is your mom’s old sewing machine just laying around collecting dust? Make good use of it by learning to sew. If you have all the supplies, all you need to buy is fabric and you can start with small projects like learning to sew a scrunchie.
Not only will it be fun to learn how to sew, but it’s also a useful hobby. You can even perform alterations on your clothes in the future (if your jeans are always too long, this will be a life changer) and if you enjoy sewing enough, you can even start making clothes!
2. Crocheting
Crocheting is something so easy to start, and it can really develop into something that you love and a hobby that can help you calm down and relieve your stress. It’s also simply because there are plenty of kits and videos online to help you start crocheting. It’s also relatively inexpensive, a kit running you as cheap as 20 dollars on amazon.
But I would say that one of the best things about crocheting is that you are able to make so many things. Once you get better at it, you can make clothes, stuffed animals, keychains, and just about anything you want to make. Crocheting is a very versatile hobby. However, the downside is that you will need some patience to start learning. Consider that if you get frustrated easily, this might not be the best hobby to start.
3. Watercolor
You would be completely surprised at how easy watercolor painting can be! Not only is it super simply, but it also turns out looking a lot nicer and more complicated than it was. All you need are some brushes, a pallet, and some watercolor paper.
My recommendation is to search up how to paint watercolor flowers online. The reason why it’s a lot easier to watercolor than you think is because you don’t have to stress about mistakes. Everything looks intentional when the water moves on the page. Also, if you paint something natural like flowers or a tree, you don’t have to worry about everything looking perfect since you are painting an organic shape!
4. Reading
I feel like when people bash on readers and call them “nerds” for reading instead of watching a movie, they just haven’t found a genre of book they enjoy. Getting fully absorbed in a page-turning book series is such an exciting feeling. Plus, I think everyone should have the aesthetic wintertime experience of cozying up on your couch next to a fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate, reading a book. This is probably one of the least expensive and low commitment hobbies on this list, so you might as well give it a try.
5. Start a clay project
I had a clay phase during this past summer, and while I wasn’t great at it, I had lots of fun! If you don’t like getting messy though, this might not be for you. Starting a clay project is a really broad idea since you can really just make whatever you want with clay.
You genuinely can do anything with clay. Some things that I’ve done are create pink clay hearts and stick it (with double sided tape) around my bedroom, create small animal figurines as decoration, and I did this mirror project. I added paint to the clay, rolled it up into balls, and used it as flowers to decorate a small table mirror. There are plenty of videos online, if you are interested in doing that project (it went viral a while back). I would say that you shouldn’t have too high expectations while doing this, because clay is hard to work with, but it’s super fun to work on with someone else! I worked on the clay project with my sister and we had lots of fun.
6. Decorate your room
This isn’t really a hobby, but I think it would be such a fun way to spend your winter break! There are plenty of ways to decorate your room. One thing I’ve done is hang paper butterflies from my ceiling, which brings more life and color into my room. It was also so fun to color and hang up. Other ideas would be to draw pictures for your room, make a vase of paper flowers, print and hang up photos on your walls, create a paper banner, make a hanging ribbon jellyfish, and so much more. Then after you make these decorations, you can enjoy it for years to come and remember the time you took to make each one, which just makes it extra special.
7. Bullet journaling, calligraphy, scrapbooking, handwriting
I just put all these ideas under one umbrella because they all require the same resources to do. I had a big bullet journaling phase and I highly recommend it because it was so fun to take time and draw out organizers and little doodles and make the page look nice with stickers and washi tape. It’s also such a great hobby because the bullet journaling community is very big and there are so many ideas out for you. Plus, if you find out that you really enjoy bullet journaling and you have the time for it, you might even continue to use it in your everyday routine!
The one thing I would say is bad though is that the materials can quickly add up to be a lot of money. You don’t necessarily have to get a ton of materials, but it does make the experience a lot more fun. You would need a bullet journal (with good quality pages), calligraphy pens, colored pencils, and washi tape/stickers. However, I do find myself using a lot of these items even though I don’t really bullet journal anymore, so you don’t really need to worry about wasting these items. For example, you could scrapbook on special occasions when something special happens.
8. Get active
I know your first thought would be “why would I want to do that?” but I think everyone should have some form of exercise to stay in shape. Exercise not only makes you healthy but it releases endorphins that make you feel happier, and I believe that every teenager needs some endorphins right now, so I highly recommend you start some form of exercise.
It doesn’t have to be something intense, like joining a sports team. You can do something simple, like workouts at home, pilates, neighborhood runs/walks, or if you have time or live close by, you can start going to the gym. This is such a great hobby to start during winter break, when you have lots of time. It’s also great that you can choose what level and intensity you want to start exercising. It can be as low commitment or as time consuming as you want, and you can also start for completely free!
9. Gardening/growing plants
This is something that I personally wanted to start doing, and I think it is such a great idea. Especially if you are someone that has a nice garden or a lot of sunlight in your room, I think it would be so nice to be able to grow and take care of your own plants. Gardening is a very deep rabbit hole, which I love because there is so much information out there about how to take care of plants, what plants would best suit your lifestyle, and so much more.
There are plenty of options for even the least committed people. Starting a hobby of growing plants can decorate your space, and it’s fun doing research and taking care of something.
10. Hand-make gifts!
What better way to get into holiday spirit than to spend your time making gifts for people? Not only is it fun to kick back and do something with your hands while rewatching your favorite comfort movies, but hand-made gifts are cheap and it’s guaranteed that the person you’re gifting it to will like it.
Who wouldn’t like something that someone took the time and effort to make themselves? It’s incredibly thoughtful and there are so many different types of gifts you can hand-make. Some ideas are to make a 3d paper card, make pipe cleaner or paper flowers, paint and fill up a memory box, draw or paint something, or crochet or sew something. These are only a few of the possibilities!
Conclusion
That wraps up the list of 10 things you can busy yourself with during winter break. Have fun!
