1,000+ Hobbies, Interests, & Passions – The Ultimate List of Hobbies

Our list of hobbies has over 1,000 (and counting!) hobby ideas and interests for you check out.

Finding a new interest or passion is a great way to keep yourself busy. And let’s be honest – finding a new hobby is exciting!

Learning a new hobby new is fun – and challenging – just the thing you need to need to keep yourself from getting to bored with life.

Unfortunately, some of us don’t find our hobby naturally. So hopefully we can help push you in the right direction with this list of hobbies that will make you dizzy with possibilities.

So, let’s get started in finding a new hobby!

What is a Hobby?

To find out what a hobby is, we have to follow the history of the word hobby. The origin of the word “hobby” actually dates back to the 1660s and involved a horse (better known as a hobbyhorse).

Essentially, hobby horses were created for children to mimic riding a real horse. This evolved into the word “hobby” being adopted into the official language as a way to describe leisurely recreational activities.

definition of a hobby:

In a way, people don’t usually select hobbies. Their natural interests pick hobbies for them.

Types of Hobbies:

Before we get started with the list of hobbies: Know a friend or family member that could use a new hobby?

Share this list with them!

If I’ve missed a hobby or interest that should get included, please feel free to contact me.

Check Out Some of Our Other Articles:

• Hobbies that Make Money
• Cool Websites to Visit When Bored
• Successful People Don’t Get Bored

Here is our GIANT list of hobbies that I’ve compiled from around the web.

Competitive & Sports Hobbies List

Everyone seems to have some kind of competitive nature – something we learn to embrace from an early age in school! Below is a huge list of sports and competitive games that many people enjoy doing in their free time.

General Outdoor Hobbies List

Who doesn’t enjoy being outside (especially when the weather is nice!)? Some people like to lay on their backs and watch the clouds go by – nothing wrong with that – , but other people have hobbies such as the list below to help fill their time when enjoying the outdoors.

Fun Card Game Hobbies List

This list of hobbies is one of my personal favorites. My grandfather and I are HUGE cribbage players – something we play on a very regular basis. I’m sure we all know that one person that just loves solitaire for SOME reason.

Below is a big list of card games that people enjoy playing. What card game do you like to play?

Collecting Hobbies List

Ever been on the beach and see some older gentleman scanning the beach with a metal detector? Well, chances are he’s collecting something – coins probably.

There have some truly odd collections they start as a hobby. Below is a list of popular collections that people have started.

Do you collect something odd or different that’s not listed below? Contact me!

Racing Hobbies List

There are several types of racing hobbies that we have to go over. I’ve broken this section of the hobbies list down by what type of race it is.

The fact of the matter is – we like to be NUMBER 1! Nothing gives people a rush quite like a race. Check out our giant list of racing hobbies that people love to participate in.

Running Races / Marathons

Orienteering Racing Hobbies List

“Orienteering” races are sports that combine elements of navigation, with a specific method of travel. Want to learn more about Orienteering? This will get you started!: Wikipedia

Cycling Race Hobbies List

Bike races! They come in all shapes, sizes, and types. From manual biking to BMX – there’s no short of cool bike racing hobbies.

Ski & Skating Race Hobbies List

This hobby list is for the type of person that isn’t afraid to strap some interesting devices to their feet and go for a ride. Probably like cold weather, too – just not required!

Animal Racing Hobbies List

This type of racing hobby is well known for horses (think the triple crown!), but there are a few other interesting animals that people enjoy trying to race to the finish with.

Just make sure you treat the animals with respect and dignity, OK?

Motorsport Racing Hobbies List

Closely related to the bike racing hobbies, this type of race involves big motors in any number of types! If you can drive it – you can probably race it .

Model Race Hobbies List

Who said the motor had to be a big one? Or even something you had to be in? Grab a remote control and get racing with an interesting model (a drone perhaps?)!

Random Hobbies List

This list is a bit…interesting. Just check out some of the things below and see if it peaks your interests. Traveling is a good. Go travel! (People watching is a favorite hobby of mine , actually)

Model Building Hobbies

Self Defense and Martial Arts

Writing

Arts & Crafts

Animal Enthusiast

Indoor Games 

Dancing

Musical Instruments:

Music Genres:

Sometimes you just have to geek out on some new music. Credit: This list of music genres comes from MusicGenreList

Food & Beverage

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You May Already Have a Hobby, Which is Cool Too!

To illustrate that everyone has hobbies already, or at the very least what a hobby can be for you, I bet that you can name at least ONE hobby that a friend or family member of yours has.

Don’t believe me?

Fine, let me try it out!

• My best friend dedicates massive amounts of time to mastering the guitar. He practices, gigs, and is constantly playing his guitars. He also dedicates a lot of his extra “fun money” in new guitar equipment. He’s also a big computer guy.
• My sister LOVES dogs. So much so that she created a profession out of her hobby by training them for a living! How cool is that?
• My wife loves running (no idea why!), and is really good at it! When the weather is decent outside, she takes runs for miles. She enjoys this activity so much, she got her family to start doing marathons with her. She also loves baking, ready, and photography.
• I have two other friends who are absolutely obsessed with all things theatre. They go to all the shows in town, act in their own shows, listen to music, follow the actors, and even travel to New York whenever they can.
• My uncle has several hobbies. He collects and listens to records, knows everything there is about audio equipment, loves Jazz music and its history, enjoys amateur photography, and travels around the world when time permits.

My Hobbies

I’ve actually mentioned a few of my hobbies in my about page..but being from Wisconsin, I have some very location specific hobbies I would consider myself having.

So I’ll tell you a few of mine and see if you can relate to any of them!

Being a Wisconsin Sports Fan! I absolutely love…

• Green Bay Packers
• Milwaukee Bucks
• Milwaukee Brewers
• Wisconsin Badgers
• Green Bay Gamblers Hockey

I consider following these sports teams as some of my hobbies because I spend a lot of my free time outside of work dedicated to following these teams.

• Going to games
• Watching games on TV
• Reading team-related news on sports websites
• Learning about the history of the teams
• Listening to team-related discussions on podcasts
• Talking about the teams, players, coaches, strategies, etc, with friends and family that share my love for the tea

These are examples of hobbies that the other “hobbies lists” on the internet fail to explain to you guys. Just because it’s not a specific “activity”, other interests you have a passion for can be considered as hobbies.

Other Hobbies I Currently Have:

• Writing
• Singing
• Reading fantasy novels
• Listening to my favorite music and bands
• Playing Racquetball and Tennis
• Cooking delicious meals (chicken is my specialty!)
• Training and Playing with my two dogs
• Playing cribbage with friends and family
• Playing guitar (poorly but I still enjoy it!)

Past Hobbies that I USED to Have But Stopped:

• Playing Madden football video games every waking moment. I knew all the tips and tricks!
• Playing and mastering every other PS2/N64 video game known to man.
• Playing basketball/soccer/football when I wasn’t playing video games.
• Riding Bike (I still do this, just not as much as I’d like to!

So, as you can see, a hobby can be literally anything you want it to be. As long as you consider yourself someone that dedicates a fair amount of time to that subject, you’ve got yourself a hobby!

What are some of your current interests that you may never have considered as a hobby before? Comment on our page below!

Benefits of Hobbies

Outside of being a good indicator of who you are, what you like to do, and what most fills you with enjoyment – having a hobby has several benefits as well.

Mental Health Benefits

Several studies, including this study that dates back to the ’40s, show that having dedicated hobbies in our life is extremely good for our mental health.

And it makes sense, right? Had a bad day at school or work – you probably want to get your mind off your crappy day and do something enjoyable.

So you gravitate towards the things that make you happy!

That makes having a hobby good for several possible mental health benefits:

• Stress Relief during tough times
• Building relationships with friends and family
• Mental/Cognitive Challenges
• Gives yourself a sense of accomplishment and productiveness
• Enjoyment in doing the things you love in life
• Encourages mindfulness and taking a break from life

Making Extra Money

It’s no secret many people take their hobbies and manage to make money with it. I created this other awesome guide of ready-made hobbies that have several avenues to making money as well.

Kick Bad Habits

Are you trying to quit a bad habit? Why not replace that activity with something fun or productive instead? You’ll get your mind off the bad habit, and possibly do something productive instead!

For example, are you trying to quit going out to eat all the time? Replace it with learning to cook instead.

Or say you want to quit smoking, replace that time and money that was normally spent on that bad habit and invest it into something productive like learning an instrument or interesting skill.

Physical Health

Obviously, if you decide to pick up playing a sport or exercising as a new hobby, you’ll gain the added benefit of better physical health!

According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey study in 2015-2016, an estimated 39.8% of U.S. adults aged 20 and over have obesity.

That’s almost half the population of the US! So I highly recommend trying at least one hobby that gets you up and out of your chair!

Didn’t you hear? Sitting is the new smoking!

Learn a New Skill

Not all hobbies may apply to this, but imagine if your new hobby gave you a new and valuable skill?

Imagine if you deciding to learn how to program a computer code? Or you picked up doing yoga and now you can teach a class? Maybe you want to stretch your leadership skills and teach a local baseball team.

The possibilities are endless, and having a valuable hobby skill may even help you advance your career.

Other Hobbie List References:

• List of Hobbies – Wikipedia
• List of Hobbies – NotSoBoringLife
• The Massive List of Hobbies – Storm The Castle
• 551 Interesting Hobbies to Try