My brother is currently looking for some nice hobbies that his son can get into so I thought I'd ask you guys for some suggestions on some possibly obscure hobbies we might be missing out on. The problem is that he's not really too interested in sports or arts so the types of hobbies he could end up getting into tend to be a bit limited. He loves chess and strategic war video games like Command and Conquer so I'm hoping to get some recommendations along those lines but feel free to discuss anything unrelated so other people can also benefit from this thread and I might get some ideas from those too. Thanks!
It's difficult to make a suggestion because there is not enough about your nephew. Are there siblings, sisters or brothers? Does he have other activities that he participates in, other than sports? Does he read? Does he like music? The best suggestion is to ask your nephew what he likes. Even if he just plays with it for a short time his father would have found out that's another thing his son at least thought that he might like it.
He could write or read, that is a cool and passable hobby, tons of stuff to read about strategies and wars etc. He could discover more strategy boardgames (Settlers of Catan is a good one). Give him some puzzles, RubicCube and all those puzzles where you have to think spatially or get one part out of another. Could even enjoy playing stuff like Dungeon and Dragon, probably, but like boardgames, that takes a group. If he likes chess, he might enjoy playing go, too, the Asian territory game. But he needs people to play that with.
I would give him a skateboard and take him to a skate park where can practice this great sport and interact with other skaters. It's one of my favorite activities to accompany my cousin to the nearby skate park and watch him and his friends swirling through the air. Another nice past is taking my nephews down to the beach where we have fun with our kites. Water sports are fun as well. The possibilities are endless.
How about Photography? If he likes the combat games tell him he is going on a hunt to "Shoot" pictures of whatever they chose, It gets him out and moving. He will have the chance to have experiences, maybe take him to a place like a museum that has real combat equipment, or on a ship. I am not sure where you are located but if you are in the US there are plenty of places that might foot the bill. Many Naval yards and memorials that do tours. Cameras are not that expensive, you can get digital ones that your nephew can upload easily. Even if they have no computer you can go to the library and upload pictures to his own cloud or a place like MySpace. In fact you can get an older film camera like a 35mm and go to a place that lets you process your own photos. My son also liked that sort of video games. I took him to the book store and bought him books about historical battles and stories from soldiers. He was about the same age as your nephew. I recall he liked the book(s) Band of Brothers a lot. I don't know if you are in an area with re-enactors, the kids love that stuff. It is fun just going to one of the encampments when they have them. Our progress went from interest in pirates to the civil war. A trip to Gettysburg PA nailed the civil war thing, it also introduced ghost hunting to the mix,
If your nephew hasn't already joined a chess club, you might want to get him involved in that. Maybe they have one at his school. Does he like to work with his hands? You might suggest building models or wooden objects like birdhouses and small shelves. He might also like doing other crafts. Many people seem to think that arts and crafts is more for girls, but it's really not. There are many cool things for boys to make as well. He might even end up selling some of his items if he makes something really good. How cool would that be, to have fun making stuff and then make some pocket change along the way as well? Many kids love to make their own money. I love the hunt and shoot photos idea, Mockingbird. Very cool.
He likes chess and real time strategy? Then I suggest you get him some RTS games such as Starcraft, Warcraft, Age of mythology, to keep him busy in that regard. Since it's clear he likes "mental" hobbies I suggest you get some sudoku, crossword, and other brain teaser puzzles. Cryptography is a another option. Just get him into hobbies that 1. Require mental acquity 2. Allow him to be a loner 3. Challenge him
Building scale models is also a good hobby to introduce to ten year olds. My son is into Gundam model kit building for 4 years now (he started when he was 8, now he is 12) and has been joining major competitions. He even aced it twice last year and was able to visit Singapore and Tokyo to compete with other junior Gundam modelers all over the world.
Get him to play Magic: The Gathering, it involves a ton of strategizing, and you will never have to wrory about him getting into drugs, cause he won't ever have any money left.
When my son was 10, he was into Harry Potter's wand, and he was on a mission to make his own wand out of sticks, and pieces of woods that we can find. He designed the wand differently each time, and it was quite interesting to see. Of course, he was under-supervision when he used the tools.
Buy him board games or video game consoles (Nintendo Wii, PlayStation, etc.) Personally, I prefer giving him books. Reading would help him hone his creative side and comprehension.
Two words: Solar. Power. For several reasons. First, it's actually super fun to learn how to power things using the sun as the source of that power. It can be anything from recreational things (cars, planes, toys) to functional things you'll use every day (fan, charger, flashlight). Secondly, it's mad educational.
My boyfriend suggests frisbee golf or bowling. Are their any minor leagues near you? I think he might like frisbee golf at the local park. Our community college has badminton games for $4 a day and they provide you with all of the equipment.
