Looking for guidance about hobbies for teenagers that will spark their passion? Read on! Maybe you’ll ignite a spark in yourself too!
You can always tell when someone has a passion. It can be in sports, or drama, or coding, or a universe of different things, but it’s always something that nourishes them. Cultivating a hobby that they can be passionate about is good for teenagers. Hobbies can help them find both their tribe and something they can excel at, which are important steps on their path towards adulthood.
It isn’t easy to start a new hobby, especially with teenagers. Here are some thoughts on hobbies for teens that might spark a lifelong passion, as well as some info on how you and your kids can get started with these hobbies.
Have a kid that’s not a teen? Head over to our article Hobbies for Your Kids That Your Family Will Love and check out our hobby recommendations for kids 12 and under!
Cosplay is short for costumed play—cosplayers take on the role of a favorite character by creating elaborate, visually accurate costumes. It involves crafting clothes, weapons, and accessories. Cosplay encourages skills in a variety of arts, and just how elaborate you want the costume to be is limited only by your creativity and budget.
It’s best to start small, assembling a costume out of pre-made pieces. If your kid is interested in cosplay, they probably already have a character they want to cosplay as. Find some images of the character online, and then break down the costume into individual pieces. What is the character wearing on their feet? Their hands? What’s on their head? What’s their pants situation looking like? Then, you can go through your closets and local thrift stores to find what you need. Be patient with yourselves and with each other. You probably shouldn’t try to build light-up Iron Man suits for your first cosplay. Pick a character whose costume is doable with your for-now limited skills, like Doctor Who, Harry Potter, or Kiki (and her cat Jiji) from Kiki’s Delivery Service.
If your kid decides that they want to do more ambitious and original cosplay, then eventually they’re going to have to learn how to read a pattern and sew. There are lots of patterns for making your own costumes out there, ranging from this similar to but legally distinct from Sailor Moon costume, to this intimidating Assassin’s Creed-esque coat, or this Magical Guy.
Beginners Guide to Making Your Own Clothes.
Kamuicosplay on Youtube has lots of how-to videos.
Depending on the character, cosplay can involve a bit of painting, including area coverage and fine detailing, color mixing, and various other techniques, plus painting is its own terrific hobby, so pop on over and brush up on our Bob Ross Painting Tutorial Starter Kit For Beginners!
Robotics combines engineering and computer science to make machines that can help people, or failing that, creating machines that can do something entertaining without catching on fire, or trying to annihilate the human race. There are lots of robotics competitions in high school, and building and programming robots can lead to your kids developing marketable skills.
LEGO Mindstorms is a good jumping on point with robotics, because of the large user community around the Mindstorms platform who can mentor you and your kids in this complex, but oh so satisfying, hobby. There’s a Mindstorms Facebook group and the LEGO Ambassador Network to connect you with more experienced LEGO roboticists. Either the LEGO Mindstorms Robot Inventor set or the EV3 Core Set will help you get started and give you everything you need to build and program several different robots. Be forewarned, LEGO Mindstorms gear requires an investment, of both time and money. Your kids might want to join a LEGO group or their high school’s robotics team to see if robotics is something they’re truly passionate about.
Getting Started With LEGO Robotics: A Guide for K-12 Educators, by Mark Gura.
LEGO EV3 User Guide—this guide might give you a sense of what is involved with building programmable LEGO robots.
First LEGO League—this is one of the main high school robotics competitions.
For more STEM related ideas, check out our article What is Science for Kids?
Fossil hunting is searching for evidence of prehistoric life. Once you start looking for fossils, you’ll see them everywhere. Learning about fossils is a great way for teenagers to “zoom out” and look at their lives from a broader perspective. Slotting the day’s frustrations into the context of geologic time might help make them less frustrating.
Before we go any further, I want to remind everyone not to take fossils from public lands. Instagram them all you want, but leave them where they are so other people can enjoy them too.
Your first order of business in fossil hunting will be to find a place that has lots of fossils. A quick Google search should help you find a fossil-rich area to visit. It’s also a great idea to seek out mentors at your local fossil hunting club. A good mentor can save you a lot of time and frustration, and your teenagers will benefit from having cool grownup friends. After that, there are a few small pieces of equipment that’ll make fossil hunting more rewarding: A magnifying loupe or a microscope attachment for your smartphone will help you unlock more knowledge about your fossils. If you and your kids get deeper into the hobby, you may eventually want a rock hammer to break open fossil-bearing rocks and a proper microscope to help you examine and clean your fossils.
Fossil Hunting 101: A Guide the Absolute Newbie, by Michael Maisch
Smithsonian Handbooks: Fossils, by David Ward
Volunteering is giving your time and energy to make a positive impact on a person or a group. We nerds tell ourselves over and over and again that with great power comes great responsibility. Volunteering can help you make those words mean something. When your kids see you volunteer, it sets an example that they’ll remember. Volunteering together can help start your kids on a lifetime of service to others.
Get your kids started with volunteering by thinking with them about their values. What matters to your family? STEAM education? The environment? Your fandom community? No matter what your priorities are, there’s a volunteer opportunity out there that is a good fit. Is reading important to your kids? Reading is Fundamental’s Literacy Network can help you help others learn to read. Are your kids interested in STEAM? There might be a volunteer opportunity available through STEM-E that would help you become STEAM educators. If you’re looking for a way to volunteer and social distance, STEM-E is currently offering virtual opportunities! In the world of fandom, the 501st Legion of Star Wars cosplayers does a lot to help people and is also a place to show off your kids’ painstakingly crafted cardboard Stormtrooper costume.
Volunteermatch.org is a clearinghouse of volunteer opportunities all over the USA and in a huge variety of areas. It’s a great way to find an opportunity that fits you and your kids.
Volunteering: The Ultimate Teen Guide, by Kathlyn Gay
The post Hobbies for Teenagers That Will Spark Their Passion appeared first on Nerdy With Children.
Looking for guidance about hobbies for teenagers that will spark their passion? Read on! Maybe you’ll ignite a spark in yourself too!
You can always tell when someone has a passion. It can be in sports, or drama, or coding, or a universe of different things, but it’s always something that nourishes them. Cultivating a hobby that they can be passionate about is good for teenagers. Hobbies can help them find both their tribe and something they can excel at, which are important steps on their path towards adulthood.
It isn’t easy to start a new hobby, especially with teenagers. Here are some thoughts on hobbies for teens that might spark a lifelong passion, as well as some info on how you and your kids can get started with these hobbies.
Have a kid that’s not a teen? Head over to our article Hobbies for Your Kids That Your Family Will Love and check out our hobby recommendations for kids 12 and under!
Cosplay is short for costumed play—cosplayers take on the role of a favorite character by creating elaborate, visually accurate costumes. It involves crafting clothes, weapons, and accessories. Cosplay encourages skills in a variety of arts, and just how elaborate you want the costume to be is limited only by your creativity and budget.
It’s best to start small, assembling a costume out of pre-made pieces. If your kid is interested in cosplay, they probably already have a character they want to cosplay as. Find some images of the character online, and then break down the costume into individual pieces. What is the character wearing on their feet? Their hands? What’s on their head? What’s their pants situation looking like? Then, you can go through your closets and local thrift stores to find what you need. Be patient with yourselves and with each other. You probably shouldn’t try to build light-up Iron Man suits for your first cosplay. Pick a character whose costume is doable with your for-now limited skills, like Doctor Who, Harry Potter, or Kiki (and her cat Jiji) from Kiki’s Delivery Service.
If your kid decides that they want to do more ambitious and original cosplay, then eventually they’re going to have to learn how to read a pattern and sew. There are lots of patterns for making your own costumes out there, ranging from this similar to but legally distinct from Sailor Moon costume, to this intimidating Assassin’s Creed-esque coat, or this Magical Guy.
Beginners Guide to Making Your Own Clothes.
Kamuicosplay on Youtube has lots of how-to videos.
Depending on the character, cosplay can involve a bit of painting, including area coverage and fine detailing, color mixing, and various other techniques, plus painting is its own terrific hobby, so pop on over and brush up on our Bob Ross Painting Tutorial Starter Kit For Beginners!
Robotics combines engineering and computer science to make machines that can help people, or failing that, creating machines that can do something entertaining without catching on fire, or trying to annihilate the human race. There are lots of robotics competitions in high school, and building and programming robots can lead to your kids developing marketable skills.
LEGO Mindstorms is a good jumping on point with robotics, because of the large user community around the Mindstorms platform who can mentor you and your kids in this complex, but oh so satisfying, hobby. There’s a Mindstorms Facebook group and the LEGO Ambassador Network to connect you with more experienced LEGO roboticists. Either the LEGO Mindstorms Robot Inventor set or the EV3 Core Set will help you get started and give you everything you need to build and program several different robots. Be forewarned, LEGO Mindstorms gear requires an investment, of both time and money. Your kids might want to join a LEGO group or their high school’s robotics team to see if robotics is something they’re truly passionate about.
Getting Started With LEGO Robotics: A Guide for K-12 Educators, by Mark Gura.
LEGO EV3 User Guide—this guide might give you a sense of what is involved with building programmable LEGO robots.
First LEGO League—this is one of the main high school robotics competitions.
For more STEM related ideas, check out our article What is Science for Kids?
Fossil hunting is searching for evidence of prehistoric life. Once you start looking for fossils, you’ll see them everywhere. Learning about fossils is a great way for teenagers to “zoom out” and look at their lives from a broader perspective. Slotting the day’s frustrations into the context of geologic time might help make them less frustrating.
Before we go any further, I want to remind everyone not to take fossils from public lands. Instagram them all you want, but leave them where they are so other people can enjoy them too.
Your first order of business in fossil hunting will be to find a place that has lots of fossils. A quick Google search should help you find a fossil-rich area to visit. It’s also a great idea to seek out mentors at your local fossil hunting club. A good mentor can save you a lot of time and frustration, and your teenagers will benefit from having cool grownup friends. After that, there are a few small pieces of equipment that’ll make fossil hunting more rewarding: A magnifying loupe or a microscope attachment for your smartphone will help you unlock more knowledge about your fossils. If you and your kids get deeper into the hobby, you may eventually want a rock hammer to break open fossil-bearing rocks and a proper microscope to help you examine and clean your fossils.
Fossil Hunting 101: A Guide the Absolute Newbie, by Michael Maisch
Smithsonian Handbooks: Fossils, by David Ward
Volunteering is giving your time and energy to make a positive impact on a person or a group. We nerds tell ourselves over and over and again that with great power comes great responsibility. Volunteering can help you make those words mean something. When your kids see you volunteer, it sets an example that they’ll remember. Volunteering together can help start your kids on a lifetime of service to others.
Get your kids started with volunteering by thinking with them about their values. What matters to your family? STEAM education? The environment? Your fandom community? No matter what your priorities are, there’s a volunteer opportunity out there that is a good fit. Is reading important to your kids? Reading is Fundamental’s Literacy Network can help you help others learn to read. Are your kids interested in STEAM? There might be a volunteer opportunity available through STEM-E that would help you become STEAM educators. If you’re looking for a way to volunteer and social distance, STEM-E is currently offering virtual opportunities! In the world of fandom, the 501st Legion of Star Wars cosplayers does a lot to help people and is also a place to show off your kids’ painstakingly crafted cardboard Stormtrooper costume.
Volunteermatch.org is a clearinghouse of volunteer opportunities all over the USA and in a huge variety of areas. It’s a great way to find an opportunity that fits you and your kids.
Volunteering: The Ultimate Teen Guide, by Kathlyn Gay
The post Hobbies for Teenagers That Will Spark Their Passion appeared first on Nerdy With Children.
Afronerd Radio can now be heard LIVE courtesy of Apple Music/Itunes
Let's go, folks! Check out the latest episode of Afronerd Radio's Mid Week in Review show airing every Wednesday at 8 p.m. eastern on BTalk 100. Listen to your cosmic-irradiated AFROnerdist hosts deliberate on the following topics: well, the big news this week centers on social media/tech giant, Facebook, being brought to task by whistleblower Frances Haugen, testifying before Congress. Haugen, a former data scientist with Facebook alleged that the company harms children and foments political discord for the sake of profit:
And just when Facebook is going through its issues, the IATSE International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) voted to approve strike authorization, giving the union president the ability to halt TV and film production nationwide; and yet there's another streaming platform to distract Dburt's attention-Kino Lorber, Inc, the film distribution company, is now branching into streaming but specific to cult movies and its free.; and in more tech meets greed news, the Pandora Papers were leaked providing further evidence that the wealthy hide money and the Illuminati is very real. Oh and that no one will probably go to jail because it's legal to evade taxes when one is in a certain "tax bracket" (there isn't a bracket, apparently);
Noted children's book illustrator and cartoonist, Jerry Craft got caught up in a CRT (Critical Race Theory) controversy unbeknownst to the author himself pertaining to his latest books, New Kid and Class Act; Dave Chappelle's new comedy special is available on Netflix and Dburt has some thoughts; And lastly, our final analyses regarding the close of S1 for Disney+'s What.....if? series.
One thing that Dburt is doing (finally) is investing in cryptocurrency, courtesy of Roundlyx. We would implore our followers to investigate, discern and then explore by using our referral code: afro-87A4BF
Call us LIVE at 508-645-0100. AFTER CLICKING ON THE HIGHLIGHTED LINK, GO DIRECTLY TO AFRONERD RADIO!!!
Also, Afronerd Radio's podcast format can be heard via BTalk 100 Pandora, Spotify and, IHeartRadio....more formats to follow!
One of the coolest moments in WandaVision for Marvel Comics fans came during the Halloween episodes. In those chapters, Wanda Maximoff and Vision wore homemade versions of what fans know to be their superhero outfits from the comics. Longtime Avengers fans squealed with glee seeing Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany in their classic costumes at last. Even if those costumes were a little more DIY than we imagined them.
Now, fans can immortalize this classic WandaVision moment with a pair of high end 1/10 statues from Iron Studios. You can check out images of these detailed collectibles right here:
Iron Studios
The Scarlet Witch 1/1o scale statue features Wanda dressed in her comic book Scarlet Witch look, wearing a leotard and boots with red gloves and a cape. The statue captures the moment we see Wanda walking down the stairs of her home in suburban Westview. Ready to celebrate, she describes her costume to her family as a “Sokovian Fortune Teller.” You can pre-order the Wanda Halloween Version statue for $139.00 by clicking here. It ships between July and September 2022.
Iron Studios
Just like Wanda, Westview’s resident synthezoid/dad is wearing a costume similar to his comics incarnation. Only described by Iron Studios as follows: “with most characteristics of cosplay, in a more laid-back way, with sports shorts, sneakers, and yellow socks.” At one point, Vision even compares the ensemble to that of a Mexican wrestler. And we really can’t disagree. The Halloween Vision 1/1o scale statue is also up for pre-order. He’ll set you back $139.00 and has the same shipping window as the Scarlet Witch figure.
Iron Studios
No word yet on if Pietro/Quicksilver (“Fietro”), Billy, and Tommy will get the statue treatment. But we’d love to see the entire WandaVision Halloween versions come out in statue format. To check out more Marvel statues, head on over to the Iron Studios website.
The post WANDAVISION’s Halloween Costumes Get Collectible Statues appeared first on Nerdist.
Do you ever think about how William Shatner made a career while being a captain of the USS Enterprise but had never been to space? Well, that’s about to change! That’s right, Captain Kirk is going to space. Why? Because rich people have nothing better to do with their time than waste money on things like this when everyone else just watches it happen while struggling to survive.
Joining the vice president of mission & flight operations of Blue Origin, Audrey Powers, Shatner will be launched into space on October 12, and honestly, this just feels like a mistake, but if Captain Kirk wants to see space, go ahead and spend the money, I guess.
Two incredible and inspirational people will join the #NS18 crew. Actor @WilliamShatner and Blue Origin’s Vice President of Mission & Flight Operations Audrey Powers @AudreyKPowers. pic.twitter.com/xqI9nw1KX8
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) October 4, 2021
“I’ve heard about space for a long time now. I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle,” Shatner said in a press release. I suppose he’s referring to his long-running stint as Captain Kirk through three seasons of Star Trek and into the subsequent film franchise.
Twitter is … well, they’re making fun of this.
The fact that SNL aired a Star Trek parody with Blue Origin the day before William Shatner was announced to be flying on Blue Origin is proof that the universe is beyond parody at this point
— June 🏳️🌈 (@June_space_) October 4, 2021
OFFICIAL: Carrie Fisher was not in the wrong when she bullied Bill Shatner
— 💀 SKELETRINA 💀 (@ohcatrina) October 4, 2021
Looks like @JeffBezos is sending Capital Kirk to the space. This is what happens when a nerd ends up with a bucketload of money https://t.co/UjQC4XdAww
— Harshvardhan Takawale (@HarshTakawale) October 4, 2021
Please tell me his first broadcast starts with, “Captain’s log: Stardate 111221.” #StarTrek https://t.co/1sFbk5D8hx
— Eric Schwartzberg (@eschwartzberg) October 4, 2021
As one tweet says, this is what happens when nerds have too much money. I can just imagine Bezos sitting there and thinking, “Huh, it’d be so funny if Captain Kirk came to space on Blue Origin” and then contacted William Shatner. I just fear that Bezos attempted to contact Harrison Ford only to be met with an angry Ford on the other line screaming at him about his nonsense. Honestly, that’d I’d rather see that than Shatner going to space for 5 seconds and selling it as a Star Trek miracle for the next twenty years.
Anyway, sorry to my brother, who will probably read this because he loves William Shatner a lot, but there’s a reason I like Chris Pine as James T. Kirk more than Shatner …
(image: CBS)
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The post William Shatner to Ride to Space on Jeff Bezos’ Rocket first appeared on The Mary Sue.