Arts And Craft

Listed here are a few hobbies for students geared towards creative activities that can generally be done within their own home with relatively inexpensive resources.

Students can be limited in their space, their time and the materials that they can purchase. However, the hobbies for them in this list take all these limitations into consideration.

DRAWING & PAINTING

• Drawing and painting are one of the most adaptable hobbies for students since there are lots of various art mediums you can learn and multiple ways you can explore them.
• Art supplies can get pretty expensive but there are student-grade ones that beginner’s can start using. This hobby is also great since you can do it at home, a cafe, and a park, pretty much anywhere.
• Don’t know how to draw? No problem! Every talented artist was once a beginner. One can initiate learning the basics of drawing, from sources like various videos/articles with illustrations on the Internet and online classes from where you can pick up the skills.
• Here is a list of different art mediums you can explore: Pencil, Pen & Ink, Coloured Pencils, Art Markers, Pastels, Charcoal, Acrylic Painting, Oil Painting, Watercolour, Spray Painting, Airbrushing, etc.

COLLAGE ART

• Collage art is one of the many great hobbies for students. It allows for an incredible range of creativity as it can use a variety of materials and mediums. Most likely, you’ll have everything you already need at home. All you need is paper and glue or tape and you’re good to go.
• Collage art involves creating artwork with various materials onto a flat surface. Common items used in collage art include magazine images, newspaper clippings, photos, movie tickets and book pages. You can further decorate your art by drawing, painting or adding decorating materials like buttons, ribbons, or flowers.

CALLIGRAPHY & HANDLETTERING

• In recent years, there has been an increase in calligraphy. Calligraphy involves the art of decorative handwriting. Modern hand lettering can use various art mediums and decorative pieces.
• The topic of choice can be just a single word, a quote, or even a passage. Hand lettering is a great hobby for students to explore and develop their style of art.

PAPER CRAFT

• The list below is hobbies for students who are obsessed with paper. These hobbies work well for them since the main material used is easy to obtain and quite affordable – paper.
  • PAPER QUILLING – Paper quilling is one of the most creative hobbies for students who enjoy paper crafts. Also known as paper filigree, paper quilling involves rolling strips of paper and gluing them onto a surface to create elaborate three-dimensional pieces of artwork. Only a few supplies are needed to get started with this hobby —paper strips, adhesive, a quilling tool and a surface (like heavy paperboard).
  • FOIL ART – Have you ever seen invitations or greeting cards with lettering or artwork covered in a gold or silver film? Did you know that you can actually make that yourself at home? Foil art involves the transfer of metallic film onto paperboard. You can do this with just a laminator, metallic foil sheets, paperboard, and an inkjet printer. If you don’t have an inkjet printer, you can also use the ones available at your local copy shop. It’s an exciting hobby for students to explore as you can make your own prints to hang around the house or impress friends and family with fancy greeting cards.
  • SCRAPBOOKING – This is one of the most popular hobbies for students inclined towards crafts. It’s a fun and creative way to collect your memories. You can use photos, artwork and printed media (like tickets, brochures, etc) as the focus of your scrapbook. This technique of arranging items for display can be used for boxes and cards as well.
  • DECOUPAGE – Decoupage is a hobby for students that enjoy decorating objects. It involves gluing coloured or decorative paper onto an object. Items that are frequently decorated using this technique include jewellery boxes, picture frames, large decorative letters, and other fun items. These can also make a good gift for your friends and family members.
  • ORIGAMI – Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding. Many people have made paper airplanes at some point in their lives, but did they know that they were already doing origami? The best thing about this hobby is that you can find projects that are simple enough for beginners or ones that require a little bit more detailed folding for more experienced folders. Another similar hobby that you might enjoy is Karakuri (or automata) which are the Japanese art of making mechanical paper models that move.

PLANT HOBBIES

• Usually, gardening would come to mind when thinking of outdoor or plant-focused hobbies for students. Here we will focus more on less traditional activities.
  • TERRARIUMS – Building terrariums is a creative hobby that has been growing in popularity. It involves the use of small ornaments, rocks and plants to create a miniature garden setting usually within a glass enclosure. You can use succulent planter items (rocks, dirt, and sheet moss) to get started. The great thing about this hobby for students is that you can decorate your room with the terrariums after you’re done.
  • FLOWER PRESSING – If you love flowers, you might also love the idea of preserving them. Pick out some of your favourite flowers for this activity and use a book or flower press to flatten the flowers. Once they are dried out, you can mount these onto a canvas or frame them to be hung around the house or even use them in other arts and crafts

DIY (Do-It-Yourself) HOBBIES

• Do-it-yourself hobbies are one of the most popular hobbies for students. Many teens love being able to create items from scratch which gives them a certain type of satisfaction.
  • CANDLE MAKING – Candle making is the craft of creating candles from beginning. It is both an art and a science as a lot of thinking goes in selecting the right materials. Making candles is one of the many great hobbies for students where you can experiment with a lot of different ingredients. You will need to select the right wick and wax to fit the style of candle you desire. Fragrances, dyes and other items can be added as well. Candle making is highly customizable and allows a lot of room for creativity.
  • SOAP MAKING – Soap making can be a fun hobby for students to learn. Like candles, you can give your handmade soap to your friends and family members as a gift. Soap making gives you the option to be able to control everything you put in it. There are countless combinations of ingredients you can use for soap. Glitter, tea leaves, fruit purees – the possibilities are endless. There are also multiple ways to make soap: the re-batch method, melt-and-pour method, cold process method and hot process method.
  • UPCYCLING – Upcycling is one of the most engaging hobbies for students who love decorating their spaces and making good use of old items. This hobby involves converting unwanted items into something of much better quality and to transform old material into something useful. Unlike recycling, upcycling is meant to add more value to the item. This activity has increased in popularity in the past few years due to the dedication of some to become more eco-friendly and generate zero waste.

INDUSTRIAL HOBBIES

• The word “industrial” is used here as to refer to working with materials that are typically seen in large-scale manufacturing like metal, glass, wood and concrete. These materials can actually be used in many creative hobbies for students to explore.
  • METAL EMBOSSING – If you are attracted to the idea of working with metal but prefer a hobby that requires a much smaller workspace, you might enjoy metal embossing. Metal embossing involves using an embossing stylus to create sunken or raised designs into a sheet of metal, usually tin-coated pewter or silver. These are typically available at your local crafts store, but you can get started exploring the hobby with items around your house. Disposable aluminium foil baking sheets and cold/soft drink cans work very similarly.
  • GLASS ETCHING – If you are looking for a smaller scale hobby while working with glass, consider glass etching. This hobby involves creating designs onto the surface of glass by using a few simple items — etching cream, masking tape and a paintbrush. It’s an incredibly easy activity to explore. Try etching items like glassware to give as gifts.
  • PYROGRAPHY (WOOD BURNING) – Pyrography, or wood burning, is an excellent alternative to working with wood without needing a large workspace or workshop. It involves burning designs into a piece of wood using a specialized pen to provide heat to the surface. This technique allows you to add shade and dimension to wooden artwork. You can easily explore this hobby by purchasing a beginner’s kit that has all the necessary equipment to get started.
• NOTE: Students who participate in these hobbies need to exercise caution as you can burn/hurt yourself with the materials and resources used.

COMPUTER AND DIGITAL HOBBIES

• Maybe you just prefer to be more creative by digital means. Here are some hobbies listed below.
  • DIGITAL PAINTING – Digital painting is a way you can paint without getting messy. With a stylus and a digital drawing pad, you can start creating artwork digitally.
  • GRAPHIC DESIGN – Just like digital painting, the sky is the limit in graphic design. Invest in paid software like Adobe Creative Cloud to get the best tools out there. It comes with Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, and many other programs helpful for graphic designers. Looking for a cheaper alternative? Try Inkscape, a free vector graphics editor, to see if graphic design is right for you.
  • ANIMATION – This hobby involves creating moving graphics utilizing computer software. Animated graphics can be either 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional. If you want to try out animation before investing in expensive programs, check out these free softwares: Pencil 2D, Synfig, Opentoonz, Wings 3D, Source Filmmaker, or K3-D.
  • PHOTOGRAPHY – As phone cameras are becoming more powerful with each release, you can actually start to see if you enjoy digital photography by using what you already have. You can also use software like Adobe Photoshop to help you enhance your photos. Before you invest in more expensive equipment, take time to learn and understand the principals of photography.
  • WEB DESIGN – There is a lot to learn to create a web page, but it’s not as hard as you may think. Lots of websites are available to help you through that process. Although there are a lot of pre-made templates out there, web design can push you to be more creative if making yours from scratch.