Are you approaching retirement?

When you stop working, you’ll find you have more free time than ever before. Whilst it can be daunting trying to fill your days with meaningful activities, having a hobby can help you to feel grounded, as well as providing social, emotional and physical benefits.

Here, we take a look at 5 fun hobbies for seniors:

Fun Hobbies for Seniors: Learn Carpentry

Carpentry is a skilled task, but it can also be a fun new hobby to learn. You could invest in some tools and use books and videos to learn some basic carpentry, or you could look at joining a class.

You could start with some basics, such as carving or building a bird box, before trying your hand at more challenging tasks such as recreating a garden bench.

You’ll feel a great sense of accomplishment from learning about different materials, tools and techniques and implementing them to create bespoke pieces for your own enjoyment or to share with others.

Express Yourself with Creative Arts

Painting can be a fun way of creating new and unique artwork for your home. It’s expressive and therapeutic, and the possibilities are endless. You could seek inspiration from special memories – such as a family holiday or flowers from your wedding day – to give your creations a personal touch.

Painting can provide an outlet for expressing your emotions, whilst allowing your creative energy to flow from the end of the paintbrush onto your chosen surface. There are many different techniques you can learn. You could try still life or abstract and enjoy using a range of different mediums such as watercolour, acrylic, inks or charcoal.

You could use this new hobby as an opportunity to connect with like-minded people, too; why not try an art class?

Fun Hobbies for Seniors: Take up Gardening

Gardening is a great way to keep busy and stay healthy in retirement, as there’s always something you can be doing in your outdoor space; whether that’s extracting your homegrown produce or preparing your soil for the coming season.

Why not join a gardening club to help you learn new tips and tricks for your garden? Alternatively, if your own garden space is limited, you could consider acquiring an allotment.

Have you ever thought about growing your own seasonal produce? It can be a great way of reducing your carbon footprint, whilst improving your diet with seasonal vegetables. Why not try creating some new, healthy dishes using your home-grown vegetables?

Consider Joining a Book Club

If you’re an avid reader, why not join a book club? Sharing your experience with others provides the opportunity to engage your brain and exercise your thoughts, whilst allowing you to discuss your favourite novels with other passionate readers.

Reading can often help you to relax and escape the hum-drum of everyday life; you could even set up a comfortable reading corner in your home where you can retreat with your latest novel.

Meeting up with like-minded people to discuss the book is a great way to make new friends, and also allows you to gain new insights and ideas, as well as providing the opportunity to share your thoughts, feelings and opinions on the book.

Try Joining a Pilates Class

Another of our fun hobbies for seniors to try is pilates. As you get older, it’s particularly important to keep your body moving and engage in regular exercise.

Pilates can be a fun way to introduce your body to new movements and help to strengthen your core. This can promote balance, helping to reduce the risk of falls.

Exercise will not only keep you physically healthy, but it’ll also improve your mental health. You’ll also have the chance to socialise with others, and it’ll help you create a structured day-to-day routine.

If you have limited mobility, why not try chair pilates?

If you’ve found our fun hobbies for seniors helpful, try reading our previous blog on the best technology for seniors.

Alternatively, why not contact Friary Meadow to find out more about their retirement properties?