Hobbies refer to enjoyable activities done by others in their free time.
Hobbies do not include activities that are done in one’s mainoccupation.
Why is having a hobby important?
Hobbies are activities that can help one to gain new skills and knowledge. It brings enjoyment to one’s life and refreshes themselves with activities that they are passionate about. Such benefits are:
● Management of free time becomes fruitful due to picking up new hobbies.
● People gain more confidence as they become masterful in their crafts from picking up hobbies.
● People are able to lower their stress and make their life enjoyable.
● Picking up new hobbies can improve one’s social circle.
Why is it essential to have a hobby for children?
Picking up new hobbies helps children to learn more about themselves, their passion, strength, weakness, and talents.
Children are able to build up their confidence and self-esteem, while stimulating their brains.
It becomes essential for children as they will develop an appreciation for life, learn important life skills, improve their social skills, stand a higher chance of monetizing their hobbies, and explore new options in their life.
Interest and hobbies may sound similar. However, there are differences between the two words.
Hobbies require complete attention and participation to the activity. The activity done must be regularly with one’s dedication, in their leisure time.
Interest refers to the emotions and the want to educate oneself about the topics, for them to participate in the activity related to their interest, which can be a hobby. Income can be made from an interest, if one pursue a career out of it.
What types of hobbies can children pick up?
There are different types of hobbies for children to learn, either sports, outdoor, or indoor hobbies.
Sports hobbies are well-known among people. Children are encouraged to experiment with various sports before pursuing and taking it as their hobby.
Sports hobbies improve children’s gross motor skills and develop team player skills.
Example of sports orientated hobbies:
Swimming
Football
Dance
Basketball
Badminton
Gymnastic
Bowling
Karate
Rock climbing
Ice skating
Children that do not know how to swim are exposed to risk of drowning. Picking up swimming as a hobby improves their sense of self while ensuring that they are physically active.
The benefits of swimming:
● Learning about water safety.
● Decreasing stress on the child’s joints.
● It is an aerobic exercise, improves the child’s endurance and body’s efficiency with oxygen.
● Teaching the child about team work.
● Increase opportunities for future education, such as scholarships.
Football is a well-known sport by people. It improves the child’s psychological and physical aspects. The benefits are
● Encourage children to work with others.
● Improve the child’s ability to follow instructions.
● Develop their ethics in work, such as perseverance and willing to work hard.
● Learning to deal with defeats and knowing how to cope.
● Learning about sportsmanship and apply it into the child’s life.
Clinical evidence suggest children that participate in performing arts are physically active and have a lower chance of developing health issues. Such benefits are:
● Improved coordination, agility, flexibility, balance, and spatial awareness.
● Develop stronger muscles, better endurance and aerobic fitness.
● The child will have more self-confidence, self-esteem, self-motivation and physical confidence.
● Improve the child’s social skills.
Another well-known sport for children to pick up as their hobby. It is a sport that require fast movements and variety of skills. The benefit of picking up basketball as a hobby are:
● Improve the child’s endurance, balance, and coordination.
● Building the child’s muscle.
● Encouraging children to concentrate and be self-disciplined.
● Improving the child’s social skills.
Badminton is a sport that train and improve the child’s body coordination. It helps them to:
● Develop physical coordination, mobility, and good body posture.
● Build strength in their developing muscles.
● Enhance their vision.
● Learning about concepts for the child’s mental and social development.
Gymnastics helps children to be athletic with graceful movements. The benefits are:
● Growth in the cognitive aspect of a child.
● Strengthen bones and muscles.
● Enhance coordination and proprioceptive awareness.
● Learning about self-discipline and social awareness.
● Improve self-esteem.
Bowling helps children to learn social skills and develop their physical and psychological aspects. The benefits of picking bowling as a hobby for children are:
● Learning about mathematics from keeping scores and counting the number of pins to knock off.
● Reduced pressure in trying to score a strike for the child, as they can try again.
● Learning to improve their techniques from previous rounds in order to be better at knocking all the pins down.
Karate teaches children to be disciplined and respectful, improving their physical and psychological aspect. The skills they learn in the Karate class can be applied to other parts of their life.
● Children learn to protect and defend themselves with the techniques in Karate.
● Children have to be confident in their defensive techniques to pull off successfully. They are taught and encouraged to be confident while dealing with troubles, understanding that size does not matter.
● Karate classes enhance leadership skills in children, where they may coach or support those who are new to Karate.
● Karate classes develop the child’s character while they spend their time honing their skills with perseverance.
● Children will learn about self-discipline as they have to follow the correct technique in order to progress through their classes.
● The Karate classes encourage children to maintain a healthy lifestyle and body weight.
● Children are able to pick the specific martial art they want to learn, as Karate is a term for all the Japanese-style martial arts.
Rock climbing is an aerobic exercise that strengthen legs, arms, core, and hand muscles. Children are able to:
● Develop hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and body awareness, e.g. body positioning and placement of hands and toes.
● Learn problem-solving and decision-making skills.
● Build their self-confidence and self-esteem.
● Improve their contraction, focus, and patience.
● Lower their stress levels.
● Learn about communicating and listening skills to proceed upwards.
● Improve their social skills.
Ice skating
Ice skating is more than just an Olympic sport, it helps children to stretch and build up their muscles during the aerobic activity. The benefits are:
● Building up leg strength from the movements of skating.
● Improving the child’s psychological health.
● Encourage children to be physically active.
● Teaching children how to manage with failures and persevere.
● Developing the child’s contraction and focus.
● Improve the child’s hand-eye coordination and self-esteem.
Children should be careful when they are doing ice skating, as injuries can easily occur.
Parents should:
● Prepare safety equipment, such as helmets, gloves, good ice-skates, knee and elbow pads.
● Teach children how to land safely after falling. They have to bend their knees and squat if they are to fall, instead of leaning forward or backwards.
● Teach children how to stand up after falling. Children are to position themselves as if they are crawling, place their foot down and use the toe pick to prevent their feet from moving forward.
● Have children doing their warm-ups before ice-skating.
● Check if their child is exhausted, as exhaustion may lead to increase risk of injuries.
I hope the information available helps you to understand more about the hobbies that are suitable for children. As this article may serve as an aid to help you introduce various types of hobbies for your child to learn and pick up.
What matters most to parents? Our most-read articles:
Importance of a conducive learning environment
https://www.nurtureinfant.com/post/importance-of-a-conducive-learning-environment (Read 200,857 times)
Holistic Child Development
https://www.nurtureinfant.com/post/ensuring-holistic-child-development (Read 52,623 times)
What to prepare for infant care
https://www.genesisgroup.sg/post/what-to-prepare-for-infant-care (Read 23,028 times)
Tampines parks that you can bring your child
https://www.genesisgroup.sg/post/tampines-parks-that-you-can-bring-your-child (Read 11,902 times)
Cost of infant care
https://www.genesisgroup.sg/post/cost-of-infant-care (Read 11,246 times)
As one of the best infant care in Tampines, Nurture Infant House Tampines provides a happy and healthy learning environment for your infants to learn and grow independently.
Our infant care at Tampines have over 10 years of experience in caring for your beloved infants aged 2 months to 18 months old. Check out our Tampines infant care’s testimonials regarding the care that parents’ infants have received at Nurture Infant House.
Check out our infant care Tampines’s gallery for photos taken during activities.
If you are looking for good infant care in Tampines or preschool in Tampines or childcare in Tampines central, do consider Nurture Infant House.
Located beside our Tampines infant care is our Genesis Childcare 1989.
Boasting over 30 years of specialized experience, we have nurtured thousands of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers so if you are looking for childcare in Tampines to start your little ones in life, why not start your search by registering with us for a complimentary guided tour?
Click here to learn more about our child care centre or click here to WhatsApp us if you have any enquiries regarding our playgroup Tampines.
Lastly, would you like to visit our Nurture Infant House to find out more about our environment and setup as well as understand our operations by talking to our teachers and supervisor?
Nurture Infant House (2 to 18 months Infants)
Blk 433 Tampines Street 43 #01-61 Singapore 520433
Genesis Childcare 1989 (Playgroup to Kindergarten 2)
Blk 433 Tampines Street 43 #01-63/65 Singapore 520433
Opening hours: Monday to Friday (7am to 7pm) & Saturday (7am to 2pm)
Public Bus services: 8 / 21 / 28 / 29 / 293
Tel: 96664141