21 Realistic Hobbies for Stay-at-Home Dads
Are you getting tired of staying at home with the same routine daily? Perhaps you find your personal time to be nonexistent? Starting a hobby might be the right call for you. Daddy time is extremely important, but don’t forget about yourself.
Engaging yourself in hobbies can have many benefits. From learning something new to finding a peer or two, hobbies can vary in what they do for you. One thing is for certain though, if you find something you love to do it will only make the rest of your day better.
Parents have arguably the most important job in the world. Any alone time is worth gold and we hope to make it that much better for you. We’ve put together some hobbies for stay-at-home dads with an understanding of the constraints you may have.
Hobbies for Stay-at-Home Fathers
1. Exercise
The most common but perhaps most important hobby for stay-at-home dads is regular exercise. Working on your health keeps you strong for your daily tasks and supports your mental health as well.
Given the time restraints you may have, see what you can do around home or in the neighborhood, but don’t forget to get away for an hour. It could simply be running on a treadmill or bodyweight exercises; this hobby has nothing but forever-lasting benefits for you.
2. Gardening
Stay close to fresh air and beauty by starting a garden. It’s a fun activity for people of all ages. You can start with planting flowers, fruits, or vegetables of your choice. Find some hand tools, get your gloves out, and start a little digging.
3. Practice New Skills
Another realistic hobby for stay-at-home dads is learning new skills. You can choose to teach yourself anything with the time you’re given. Be it a new language, photography, dancing, guitar, or any craft, you are never too old to stop learning, and should always leave a little time to get the brain working in different aspects.
4. Home Brewing
Find yourself a home brewing/beer-making kit, find some YouTube videos, and give it a shot. This is a leisurely activity that provides a fun outcome. So much fun for stay-at-home dads that you may want to call some friends over after your bedtime routine. There are many tutorials such as this one.
5. Start a Vlog
If you’re not camera-shy, this one is for you. There is so much to share and teach being a stay-at-home dad, get it out to the world. You can start by making small videos about your routine and uploading them on your YouTube channel. Produce content by starting small and seeing where it leads.
6. Freelance
Earn some extra money or let your creative juices flow. Freelancing is a great hobby for stay-at-home fathers. If you enjoy writing, graphic design, SEO, photography, and videography to name a few, then the freelancing world could use your services. This hobby can be a great way to improve your knowledge of different topics and polish your language skills.
7. Learn to Cook and Bake
Gone are the days of cooking as a gender role. This is a productive hobby that as a stay-at-home dad you could consider trying… you’ll have to eat something anyway. If you are someone who has never tried their hands at cooking, now is the time to adopt this fun hobby. You can start by baking some cookies for your kids or boiling their favorite pasta.
8. Play Sports
If you like sports there’s a good chance your kids will play. Why not join a sport yourself and allow them to watch it? Now, taking 4 hours to play a game may not be realistic, but an hour of tennis won’t hurt.
Pick-up basketball at the park is fun too. There are many options available and perhaps the emergence of the newest popular daytime sport, pickleball, piques your interest.
Night-Time Hobbies for Stay-at-Home Fathers
Are you a daddy who can only get out at night? Perhaps you just like doing things at the end of the day, and you’re definitely not the only one. We have gathered some night-time hobbies for you that don’t interrupt your family’s nightly routine.
9. Read a Book
An excellent night-time hobby for stay-at-home dads is reading a book. Reading is a great way to relieve feelings of stress and anxiety, wind down, and use your imagination in a different way. Whether fiction or non, easy reading is a healthy hobby before bed.
10. Yoga
Yoga can be a night-time hobby for stay-at-home dads that offers relaxation for great sleep. It offers many benefits including calming your body and lengthening your muscles. Night-time yoga can help the quality of your sleep.
Follow along with any video you find online and relax as you go through the motions. This can be done at home in your own environment, or of course at the studio amongst others.
11. Listen to Podcasts
Listening to podcasts can teach you many things. Although podcasts are a newer concept for many, there are unlimited options as to what’s available. Whatever it is you like to listen to, just put in some headphones and forget about the world for a few minutes.
12. Journal
You may not have tried it, but journalling is quite the therapeutic and restorative night-time hobby. Grab a pen and write down your thoughts…practicing gratefulness is an excellent start if you’re not sure what to write.
You can also visit sites that provide guidelines and tutorials for effective journaling if you’d really like to understand it better.
13. Enjoy A New Genre of Music
Enjoying new music at night time can be an entertaining hobby for stay-at-home fathers. Consider changing up your regular listening list as part of your hobby to create a new interest. Everybody listens to music but does everybody try something new? Give it a shot and see if it works for you.
Hobbies for Stay-at-Home Dads to Do with Their Kids
Spending leisure time with your kids can help you bond and enhance your relationship with them. Why not teach them a new hobby and then make it your thing? Here are some good hobbies for stay-at-home dads to do with their kids:
14. Upcycle Things
Recycling old objects and materials by making them better is a productive hobby for stay-at-home dads to do with their kids. Grab any abandoned object from your home and create something new. It can be as simple as creating a vase from a recycled bottle to get the ball rolling.
15. Camping
Full outdoor camping may be hard so why not get creative? Outside your home is a great experience if it’s an option, or if that can’t be done do it in your living room. Find a tent, get creative, and watch the kids have a blast while learning all kinds of new things.
16. Enhance Greenery
You can get your kids involved in taking care of the environment by planting greenery in your yard or on your balcony and watering them regularly. Take this a step further and see how nice you can get the lawn. It’s like an art if you treat it properly.
From seeding to cutting, kids seem to enjoy taking care of the grass. There’s something satisfying about watching kids run around while seeding grass. Why not see if you can get it to look like a golf putting green?
Don’t have a lawn? Head down to the local park and adopt some greenery. Perhaps a tree or grassed area, allows the kids to take pride in maintaining a piece of the park.
17. Martial Arts
Teach your children some martial arts and learn with them with the help of online videos and tutorials. Part of the fun is laughing and learning. They may like it and ask to head down to the local club. Simple kicking and punching in the form of Tae Kwon Do is an excellent start.
18. Play Video Games
Often not a popular hobby with parents, there are some benefits to playing with your kids. From learning teamwork to engaging them safely and building closer relationships, video games can build a bond with your kids. At the end of the day, most things are good in moderation.
19. Build Things
Kids love to create things, and building can bring out so many ideas. Lego is an obvious choice but magnet tiles have gained popularity. If real materials are an option the sky’s the limit as there are many ways to get creative.
A simple Google search will get you all the ideas you need. Why not learn to use some simple tools along the way when possible?
20. Paint
Drawing and painting are hugely satisfying hobbies for the mind. Choosing the right shades and drawing fine lines is a great way to relax and forget about the world. You can involve your kids in this hobby and help them enhance their artistic skills. We like to think it’s a great parent/child hobby. Whether you paint with them or beside them, allow the creativity to flow.
21. Decorate Your Home
Decorating and giving your old style a new look is a fun thing to do. If you’re feeling bold you can involve your kids in updating your space. Moving and replacing furniture, pillows, and accessories could be a great thinking experience for your children.
You can find themes, go modern, re-arrange, or try anything you can think of. Make a hobby of it by looking up new ideas and trying things throughout your time at home. It doesn’t have to get expensive if you think with your imagination.
Find a Hobby That Makes You Happy
Although being a stay-at-home day occupies most of the day with working and managing the home, having some personal time is important to stay refreshed. Any hobbies you can incorporate into your day are good for the body and soul.
While with the kids, finding hobbies together can add some fun to your day while also building a bond you’ll never let go of. We hope our list of hobbies for stay-at-home dads was helpful and complements your role as a father.
If you’re looking for more hobbies, check out our master list of hobbies and interests for many more ideas.