10 Ways to Get Grandchildren Interested in Hobbies

How can you engage a grandchild with a hobby near and dear to your heart? Consider that time spent together might be the best lesson of all. And be open to learning something from them. Then try these 10 tips.​

Passing on her love of quilting to her grandchildren is important to Myrah Brown Green, with grandson Cyrie Richard Williams and granddaughter Summer-Zaire Bell.

Courtesy Myrah Brown Green

1. Keep it age-appropriate. For example, when can kids learn woodworking? When they are old enough to understand “sharp” means dangerous, says Wright, who made his first project when he was about 6. Start with something fun, he suggests, such as peeling wood curls with a spokeshave, a two-handled plane. “You’re just having fun with the wood,” Wright says.​

2. Beware of distractions. Turn off the TV, says Amy Finlay of Amherst, Massachusetts, who owns KnittingHelp.com, an online knitting store and resource. Her family doesn’t even own a TV, but her kids sometimes listen to audiobooks while they work on craft projects, giving them another incentive to return to the project. ​

3. Create a narrative. Explain the personal reasons you collect or craft, says Scott English, executive director of the American Philatelic Society, an organization for stamp collectors. If you’re a collector, look for items that appeal to kids’ contemporary narratives. For example, the U.S. Postal Service is due to release Forever stamps based on the popular Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game on August 1, 2024. The society hopes to attract a new audience with a kickoff event two weeks later at its show in Hartford, Connecticut, which will feature a demo D&D game, English says.

(Fun fact: Did you know John Lennon collected stamps?)​

4. Make it all about them. One of Wright’s sons needed a stand for a laptop computer, so they made one. They also built a wooden connector for his video game controllers. “It’s tying his interests into the woodworking, as opposed to, ‘Come, let’s do woodworking,’ ” Wright says.​

5. Create success. Start small, advises Finlay, because getting kids back to a project on day two is often a struggle. “Finish something in an afternoon,” she says. “They want to make progress. They want to get to that completion and the satisfaction.” Her daughter, Erin, 15, who has been knitting since she was 3½, was 7 when she made her first YouTube video on how to crochet. Finlay suggests focusing on a gift. “Choose a nice little project for [a friend], and that will motivate you because you’ll want to get it done,” she says.​

James Wright is passing on his woodworking skills to his children Arthur, Melody and JJ.

Courtesy James Wright

6. Go slowly with instructions. It’s easy to give kids so many steps they feel overwhelmed, Wright says. He’s learned to take it step-by-step with Melody, who’s the most interested of all his kids in woodworking. Rather than explaining all of a project’s steps at once and boring or discouraging her, Wright gives her steps to do one at a time at her own pace.​

7. Admit your mistakes. Understand that kids are afraid of failure, Wright says. “They’re afraid of embarrassing themselves,” he says. “Be willing to show off your own mistakes or be willing to not criticize, but be like, ‘Oh, OK, I see where you’re going with that. Maybe we can try it this way.’ ”

And Wright teaches that mistakes are a good way to get better. “The best thing I try to tell people with kids: If they mess up, they can learn from that and always do it again.”

8. Play with materials. Erin suggests multicolored or self-striping yarn to keep kids engaged with yarn crafts. And go big, she says: “Big fat yarn. Big crochet hook. Big loops.” Green sometimes teaches quilting using paper. For stamp collecting, English suggests ordering a packet of stamps from the American Philatelic Society and letting kids sort them and discover what they like. “Let them go through them, see what interests them and then find what threads they want to pull on a little harder,” he says.​

9. Connect with others. The American Philatelic Society recently partnered with members of Postcrossing, an online community that connects people from all over the world via mailed postcards — which of course require stamps that often come from another country. And members of local stamp clubs are eager to share their knowledge and welcome collectors of all ages, English says.

Outschool, an online learning platform, offers virtual classes on everything from knitting to origami. Or a grandchild could invite a friend — either in person or virtually — to learn a skill along with them. They could also create their own how-to video or teach you how to make one. “What you’re trying to do is find that connecting point because young people will put their phones down for a good experience,” English says. ​

10. Don’t despair. Even if a hobby doesn’t catch on, grandparents are influencers, Green says. “It becomes a part of their arsenal of stuff,” she says. “And even if they only use it because they appreciate it but don’t want to do it, they’ll collect it, or they’ll buy it as a gift.”​

This story was originally published Dec. 18, 2020. It has been updated to reflect new information.