With 52.4 million seniors living in the United States alone, there’s a lot of demand for interesting things to do in retirement.
Sure, there are traditional hobbies like chess or badminton but if you want something a bit different our list of unusual hobbies for seniors has you covered.
Beekeeping
OK, it might sound not-so-unusual for a second but, exactly, how many beekeepers do you know, personally? Not very many, right?
Beekeeping’s a great hobby because it’s kind to the planet, much safer than most people think and you can either eat or sell the honey!
You can even rent bees out to help pollinate fields!
And if you think that’s cool check out these awesome hobbies you can make money at too!
Urban Sketching
For this, you need a chair and a sketchpad. You don’t have to supply the chair, you can use a park bench or a beach deckchair if you like.
Urban sketchers visit different places around their lives and make sketches of them.
It’s a cheap hobby that helps you really see the world around you.
Hot Air Ballooning
It’s not the cheapest of hobbies but there’s no doubt that air ballooning is a thrilling hobby, where you get to float above the world and see it in all its glory.
It can get a little dicey at times, mind you, so if you have heart problems, you might want to try something a little safer like yoga for seniors, instead.
Tree Shaping
This hobby is for those with truly green fingers.
As the name suggests, it’s all about making trees into art and you do so by bending and weaving young trees into certain positions.
It takes some expertise to learn how to do this so that it enhances a tree and not all trees can be shaped, but learning it is so rewarding!
Geocaching
All you need is the geocaching app and you can learn to play geocaching. It’s really easy, somebody hides something and then leaves clues to where it is on the app.
You track the “something” down and photograph it. Sometimes, you may be asked to swap the item for something of similar value too. It’s huge fun!
Paper Quilling
This is a super cheap hobby for which you just need some strips of paper.
You create art pieces from the strips and turn them into practical items such as photo frames or earrings!
Live-Action Role Playing (LARP)
Think Dungeons & Dragons where you are the hero waving a sword around, or the evil skeleton mage about to consume your friends for breakfast.
Yes, it’s live action role playing and it’s heaps of fun. There are more than 30 societies in the United States to join if you fancy it.
Pyrography
This is an art form where you burn designs into wood to create gorgeous pieces of art.
The word-burning pen isn’t very expensive and then all you need is wood to get started.
Rock Balancing
Think Jenga, but with rocks. And with the intention of making beautiful structures that are self-balancing rather than collapsing into a heap.
The beauty of rock balancing as a hobby is it’s 100% free to learn.
Toy Voyaging
This cool hobby involves purchasing a toy and then getting it passed from person-to-person to travel the world and when it changes hands, the person takes a photo of it and sends it to you.
You can learn more about it at the ToyVoyagers website. It’s the cheapest way to see the world and not leave home.
Final Notes
If you can’t find something that you want to do on our unusual hobbies for seniors list, you’re really not trying.
Everything here is fun and apart from hot air balloons, low cost, so pick something and give it a go!
If you’re still looking for something to do in your free time, why not check out these awesome online courses for seniors and learn a new skill!