Celebrate National Hobby Month with Your Kids

1. Try a New Hobby

With the start of a new year, January is an ideal time to take advantage of National Hobby Month and learn a new hobby. Challenge your child to find something of interest that he or she may have never tried before. Perhaps your child always wanted to learn to knit, ice skate or oil paint. If the challenge of a new hobby is daunting, seek out a local class your child can enroll in, such as one at a recreation center or his or her school.

2. Try an Old Hobby

In commemoration of National Hobby Month, your child may enjoy trying a hobby that was popular with previous generations. There are many hobbies that may seem obsolete in the age of video games and Facebook, but they're still lovingly practiced by enthusiasts today. These include model train building, puppet making and listening to old radio shows.

This is also a great month for your child to pick up a personal old hobby. Perhaps your child used to be passionate about magic tricks, crochet or basketball. This month, encourage him or her to return to a beloved old hobby and see if the passion is rekindled.

3. Become a Hobby Researcher

If your child struggles to identify a potential hobby of interest, then suggest becoming a hobby researcher. Your child can interview family members, especially those he or she may not know very well, about what hobbies they have. This can include their current hobbies as well as their hobbies when the relative was your child's age. Your child can also research the general popularity of various hobbies. This may spark an interest in a hobby he or she hadn't considered before.

4. Find a Family Hobby

This January, set aside a Saturday afternoon, a weekday evening or any time when the whole family can participate in a hobby together. You could go for a hike, cook a meal together or play a board game. This activity will not only help you all get active with a hobby, it can also serve as a bonding opportunity.

5. Share Your Hobby

Your child may already be passionate about his or her hobby. If so, recommend that he or she share that hobby with the world by creating an instructional video or videos and posting them online. For example, if your child is interested in photography, he or she could create a series of videos that explore various photographic techniques. This will enable others to learn how to partake in the hobby. Your child could also offer to teach others about the hobby, whether through a local community center or his or her school.