There are thousands of hobbies that people actively partake in around the world, however, we wanted to hone in on some of the more quirky hobbies that people do, especially if you’re interested in doing something a little different.
This list isn’t exhaustive but we will include the most well-known quirky hobbies that people engage in, including a few obscure ones to pique your interest — in fact, we dare say some of them you won’t have heard of at all.
If that sounds like an interesting prospect then make sure to keep reading.
1. Hikaru Dorodango
Hikaru Dorodango is a pastime that started in Japan but has recently become popular all across the world due to how satisfying it is.
In case you didn’t know, Hikaru Dorodango is the process of making ultra-smooth mud balls from regular dirt that you might find in your backyard. You might wonder why someone would want to do this, but let us tell you that it’s not to be underestimated. Once fully polished and completed, the dorodango is an extremely satisfying and beautiful object to look at much like a decorative ornament.
Better yet, it’s one of the cheapest hobbies on the planet and you can make them as frequently as you want.
At face value, the hobby may seem simplistic but there’s actually a knack to it and it takes some real expertise before you can start making beautiful spheres; we recommend reading Dorodango by Bruce Gardner (above) as it’ll teach you everything you need to know about the hobby.
2. Toy Voyaging
Toy voyaging is an especially quirky hobby and it takes a certain kind of personality to want to engage in it.
If you didn’t know, toy voyaging is the process of sending your favorite toy off on holiday to exotic destinations around the world. It works as an exchange; essentially, you’ll send your toy off in exchange for another person’s toy and you’ll take pictures for each other of the toy in special locations in that locality.
Again, this may seem peculiar or slightly eccentric but it’s actually a great way of traveling the world without having to do it yourself — the toy is your conduit for travel.
3. Prison Pen Pals
You may have heard of pen paling but you probably didn’t know that you could establish a pen pal relationship with an inmate at a prison facility. For people who love watching murder documentaries or crime documentaries, this one’s for you.
Essentially, you can write an inmate, male or female, and can talk to them about pretty much whatever comes to mind. In fact, some people have even become best friends with some of their prison pen pals and sometimes, even lovers.
4. Hydroponics
Hydroponics is a little bit like gardening but instead of using soil, you’ll be using water as your base for growing things. In fact, the whole process becomes much easier by using a dedicated hydroponics station to grow your herbs or plants.
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You may wonder why you’d choose hydroponics over traditional gardening; a few things, it’s cheaper, more space-efficient, and can yield higher quality food or plants. It also means you can grow things indoors as the hydroponics station comes with lights installed for growing your plants.
5. Fishkeeping
Fishkeeping is fairly popular but it’s still on the fringe of what most people keep i.e. cats, dogs, and other furry critters.
As a hobby, it’s rather satisfying building your tank, implementing features, then buying the fish who will inevitably spend the rest of their lives there. Bear in mind, some fish can only live in certain water temperatures meaning you’ll need to learn a little about what you’re buying. With that said, most pet stores that sell fish will let you know what kind of climate they need to be exposed to live a happy life.
Fish come in all shapes, sizes, and colors which is what makes this hobby so interesting; you can really make your fish collection completely unique and can even install novel features that look great as a decoration in your home.
6. Meat Smoking
Meat smoking is something of an old-fashioned pastime that was often used as a method of preserving foods that would usually spoil.
Some popular meats to smoke include steak, fish, and even pork, however, you can do it with pretty much whatever you want.
As a hobby, the process is rather fun if not a little long-winded, however, you get to reap the tasty benefits once you’re finished.
With that said, we recommend familiarizing yourself with the process by reading this crash course book on smoking meat — it will also provide some useful information on what tools you’ll need to do it efficiently.
7. Protesting
Protesting is the perfect hobby for someone who wants to fight for good causes and to help speed up change within society.
In fact, we consider protesting a serious activity more for necessity rather than a hobby, however, it can be a fun way to make new friends and meet like-minded people.
Some of the most popular protesting causes include climate change, living wage guarantees, and increasing taxes for the top 1% of earners.
In truth, you can protest about anything you like which can really help to increase visibility on things that are important to you and others.
8. Stone Stacking
Stacking stones is a relatively simplistic hobby but it’s a great way to be creative and express feelings through a slightly different artistic medium that most people wouldn’t usually use.
The clue is in the name, you’re literally stacking stones to create artistic structures or to simply test how many stones you can stack without them falling over.
Most people do this down the beach if they’re lucky enough to have one but you can basically do it anywhere with stones or rocks.
9. Taxidermy
Taxidermy is an unusual hobby that takes a certain kind of person to enjoy doing, however, it’s considered a necessary activity to help us preserve the body of beloved pets that have passed on to keep them looking as lifelike as possible.
Yes, we may not be able to extend life yet but we can at least preserve the image of the pets we’ve dearly loved.
In fact, this is the main reason for taxidermy as a hobby and a process; it gives comfort by helping to immortalize our furry friends.
10. Geocaching
Geocaching is a quirky hobby that is basically a modern-day treasure hunt.
It relies on you having good navigational skills to find various caches that are located around your city, or further afield.
You can do it alone or with friends, there’s not really a specific setup you need to start doing this activity, though we do think it’s more fun with others.
In fact, it’s really easy to get started, if you go to the geocaching website you can create an account and sign up for different geocaching activities in your area; they even have an app for it too.
It’s worth mentioning that you’ll mainly be relying on your smartphone GPS to navigate to where you need to be, or alternatively, you can get a dedicated GPS device.
11. E-Scootering
E-scooter popularity has surged worldwide, and even local governments are getting on board with this novel mode of transport to help reduce climate emissions.
With that in mind, e-scooters are incredibly fun to ride, and because battery technology is so good these days, they’ll be able to go for tens of kilometers before needing to be recharged.
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Rules around riding e-scooters vary depending on your locality so we recommend checking in with your council or government office to make sure you aren’t breaking regulations.
12. Worldbuilding
Worldbuilding is the process of creating a fictional world, characters, and even the politics within that world.
You’re literally building a brand new world from the ground up including important creatures who live within that world.
One of the most notable world builders is probably J.R.R. Tolkien who invented not only Middle-Earth but some of the spoken languages within that world such as Elvish too.
In fact, if you’re really creative but not particularly good at making stuff or drawing things then this is the perfect quirky hobby for you.
13. Competitive Walking
As far as sporting hobbies go, competitive walking is definitely one of the most quirky.
It’s like a race, however, you’re not allowed to use the mechanics of running and instead, are limited to walking only.
This makes for a very unusual sight for the average onlooker, but it’s actually really fun once you get into it.
There are hundreds of competitive walking events all over the world meaning if you’re good enough, you’ll be able to take part and power walk to your heart’s content.
14. Mukbang
If you like engaging in weird trends then mukbang is probably at the top of this list.
Essentially, you’ll be live-streaming your eating sessions with an emphasis on making as much noise as possible (for the pleasure of the viewers) and will usually engage in eating challenges where you’ll eat your entire week’s worth of calories in one sitting.
It’s not for the faint-hearted and it’s actually really unhealthy in the long run, especially if you’re eating junk food.
If you want to get creative then you can create a healthy mukbang channel or you can even eat specialized cuisine depending on what you like.
15. Ethical Hacking
Ever wanted to get paid for doing something criminal?
Well, now you can with ethical hacking.
Essentially, tech companies will pay out rewards to people if they can find flaws or vulnerabilities in their systems; these rewards are often significant, life-changing amounts of money.
It makes sense for a company to do this, especially since they could risk losing millions every year if they’re hacked by a rogue operator or group — in essence, it’s cheaper to pay people to find the flaws before it happens for real.
Most ethical hackers start with a background in coding, however, it’s not uncommon for actual hackers to hang up their black hats in favor of going white hats to make more legitimate gains — ethical hacking is a good way to do this.
16. City Cleaning
Cleaning up your city can be as simple as picking up cans or bottles when you’re walking around, or joining more concerted efforts such as scheduled beach clean-ups that are done as a team.
It’s actually quite fun and gives you the opportunity to meet like-minded people whilst also allowing you to keep active.
Conservation of the planet starts with you, the individual, and that’s perhaps what makes it so powerful.
As a joined entity it can be extremely far-reaching and that’s why trying to get millions (or billions) of people on board with it is crucial.
17. Prepping
Prepping is another quirky hobby that essentially imbues the ethos of what can happen, will happen… eventually.
Preppers prepare for the worst by stocking up on canned foods, and bottled water, and even implementing their own off-grid power solutions in case the power grid were to go down.
In extreme cases, and if you have the money to do so, preppers also build disaster-proof bunkers so they can hunker down to ride out any major catastrophes in relative safety.
On one side of the fence, this could just be an expensive experiment, however, if anything were to happen then preppers will be the first folk to survive any major disasters.
If this sounds like fun then you might want to get acquainted with some of the processes of prepping — a basic survival book can help with this and even a survival kit as it’ll give you some useful tools in an emergency situation.
18. Whittling
Whittling is a niche form of woodworking where you’ll literally be “whittling” pieces of wood down for decorative effect, or to create functional objects.
Whittling is sometimes referred to as wood carving as you’ll be using a carving kit to scoop, file, and carve your piece of wood.
- Ergonomic Whittling Knives – Safer and easier to use, especially for beginners, our wood carving knives for kids and adults...
In fact, it’s probably the most basic form of woodworking and has origins that date back thousands of years, however, as an activity, it’s only limited by your own imagination which is what makes it so fun.
19. Pogoing
If you think the idea of bouncing up and down really high in the air sounds like fun, then you might want to get a pogo stick to start pogoing.
It’s a rather quirky hobby and has similarities to both a sporting hobby and a general pastime, however, we can all agree that pogoing is really fun.
In fact, if you’re good enough, you can enter into competitions to show off your skills for the chance to win glory and possibly prize money.
20. Train Spotting
No, we aren’t talking about the movie (though we do love it).
In fact, we’re talking about the obscure pastime of spotting trains where people will camp out and wait all night just to catch a glimpse of a famous train such as The Flying Scotsman or even the train from Harry Potter!
Most people take professional camera equipment to immortalize the moment in the highest detail, but even your smartphone will do the job.
Apart from spotting the trains (obviously), you’ll get to enjoy a sit down with other like-minded folks who’ll be camping out with you — just don’t forget the biscuits.
21. Diorama Creation
A diorama can be a wonderful thing to make, and to eventually look at once the project is finished.
Essentially, a diorama is a lifelike miniature scene where you’ll create everything from the environment, the buildings, and even the miniature people that inhabit your creation.
It involves a few different creative processes such as painting, sculpting, and even planning the layout.
In fact, one of the reasons why creating a diorama is so satisfying is probably because almost anyone can do it and there’s no “right” way to do it meaning you can have total creative freedom.
It also pairs well with number 12 on our list, worldbuilding, as you can literally conceptualize what your world will look like.
22. Jam Making
Making jams is something of an old-time hobby, however, it still remains as versatile as ever with the hundreds of different fruit combinations that you can come up with.
In fact, that’s part of the charm when it comes to making jams — you can literally make them as unique as you want by adding a variety of flavors such as liquors or herbs.
It’s great to eat as a treat and they can be a great addition to a hamper or to be given as a gift on birthdays and at Christmas time.
You’ll need to familiarize yourself with the process of making jam and you may want to invest in proper jam jars for storage purposes; most jams will taste their best for up to a few weeks but you may want to discard them after this duration especially if they have mold growing on top.
23. Furniture Restoration
Furniture restoration is something that takes time and expertise to be good at, however, it’s a really satisfying pastime once you get good enough and it can even be a lucrative income source.
As a hobby, it takes extreme patience to restore a piece of furniture correctly and to avoid damaging any delicate pieces of whatever it is you’re restoring.
In fact, we recommend doing plenty of research before attempting to restore anything and it may also be worth actually paying a visit to an experienced restorer to learn good practices.
24. Element Collecting
Element collecting is a type of collecting hobby where you’ll attempt to gather as many elements from the periodic table as possible.
Some elements will be almost impossible to obtain as some can only be made in extremely rare conditions, whereas others can be extremely difficult to store without seriously expensive scientific equipment.
To get around the issue of collecting the majority of elements yourself, you can actually buy a pre-made element kit with real samples, bear in mind, this won’t include everything, especially the dangerous or radioactive elements.
25. RC Car Racing
We’ve talked about RC car racing as a hobby before, however, it’s something we regularly mention in our top lists due to how fun it is.
For a petrolhead or someone who’s naturally competitive, racing RC cars can be a cheaper way to scratch that itch than investing in actual cars.
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There’s also a lot more you can do with an RC car that wouldn’t be possible on a real car due to how small they are meaning you can really test your engineering skills or inventiveness.
26. News Raiding
As far as quirky hobbies go, news raiding is definitely near the top.
Essentially, your goal as a news raider is to invade live news broadcasts by appearing in the background as much as you can or generally being a bit of a pest.
Don’t be surprised if you get quite a bit of hate for this one or become an infamous character featured in YouTube commentary videos.
27. Blacksmithing
Blacksmithing is one of the oldest hobbies on this list, in fact, it has been practiced for thousands of years mainly out of necessity to craft chains, armor, weaponry, and a whole host of other metallic functional objects.
It’s still continued to this day, however, its relevance as a single-person pastime is dwindling in favor of huge production operations that can quickly churn out precisely crafted metals.
With that said, there are still some niche markets that you can serve, especially where custom weaponry is concerned or making replicas for people.
If you’re not looking to make money then it’s worth bearing in mind that blacksmithing can be an expensive hobby and you’ll need lots of materials to get started.
We recommend reading a book on blacksmithing and familiarizing yourself with some of the skills needed to become efficient at it.
28. Streaming
Streaming, or live streaming as it’s more commonly known, is a way of engaging thousands of people over the internet to come and watch whatever it is you’re streaming, be it gaming, playing D&D, or even streaming your eating sessions (see mukbang).
It’s rather quirky and takes a certain type of personality to really connect with its audience, otherwise, it can just fall flat on its face especially if you’re wanting to make money from it.
With that said, aside from the potential monetary gains, it’s also a great way to connect with people from the same community to who you might not have had the chance to talk otherwise.
This is especially important for gamers as it’s more necessary to collaborate and share ideas with others to boost your in-game success.
29. Homebrewing
Homebrewing is something we’ve talked about in a few of our other hobby lists and that’s because of how popular it is among certain enthusiast crowds.
It’s more so popular now than it ever has been in the past and that’s probably because of the huge success of IPAs and other custom-type beers.
Essentially, brewing is here to stay and there’s a huge market for homebrewers to tap into to potentially make some money.
If you want to give it a try then we recommend starting with a homebrew kit as it’ll give you everything you need to get started without over-complicating the process.
30. 3D Printing
3D printing is a recent advent of modern technology, yet still remains rather quirky and on the outskirts of what most people engage in as a pastime.
The potential for 3D printing technology is astronomical, though, on a more personal level, it can help you create simple structures really quickly for modeling purposes or to create a functional device.
In case you didn’t know, you can download the 3D printing instructions online for your printer to print out certain things.
If you’re good enough, you can use 3D printing software to make your own structures in the program before printing them out meaning you can make really specific things.
The biggest drawback of 3D printing as a hobby is that it’s really expensive to acquire a 3D printer at the moment, however, if you’ve got any spare capital then this can be a really unique way of having fun in your spare time.
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