10 Ways to Get Grandchildren Interested in Traditional Hobbies

3. Create a narrative. Explain the personal reasons you collect or craft, says Scott English, executive director of the American Philatelic Society, an organization for stamp collectors. If you’re a collector, look for items that appeal to kids’ contemporary narratives. English, for example, likes Star Trek stamps. There are even stamps based on 1980s video games. (Fun fact: Did you know John Lennon collected stamps?)​

​4. Make it all about them. One of Wright’s sons needed a stand for a laptop computer, so they made one. They also built a wooden connector for his video game controllers. “It’s tying his interests into the woodworking, as opposed to, ‘Come, let’s do woodworking,’ ” Wright says.​

5. Create success. Start small, advises Finlay, because getting kids back to a project on day two is often a struggle. “Finish something in an afternoon. … They want to make progress. They want to get to that completion and the satisfaction.” Her daughter, Erin, 13, who has been knitting since she was 3½, was 7 when she made her first YouTube video on how to crochet. Finlay suggests focusing on a gift. “Choose a nice little project for [a friend], and that will motivate you because you’ll want to get it done,” she says.​

James Wright is passing on his woodworking skills to his children Arthur, Melody and JJ.

Courtesy James Wright

6. Go slowly with instructions. It’s easy to give kids so many steps they feel overwhelmed, Wright says. He’s learned to take it step-by-step with his daughter, Melody, 13, who’s the most interested of all his kids in woodworking. She even created her own YouTube channel, Melody’s Work Bench, where she demonstrates projects. Rather than explaining all of a project’s steps at once and boring or discouraging her, Wright gives her steps to do one at a time at her own pace.​

7. Admit your own mistakes. Understand that kids are afraid of failure, Wright says. “They’re afraid of embarrassing themselves. … Be willing to show off your own mistakes or be willing to not criticize, but be like, ‘Oh, OK, I see where you're going with that. Maybe we can try it this way.’ ”​

8. Play with materials. Erin suggests multicolored or self-striping yarn to keep kids engaged with yarn crafts. And go big, she says: “Big fat yarn. Big crochet hook. Big loops.” Green sometimes teaches quilting using paper. For stamp collecting, English suggests ordering a packet of stamps from the Philatelic Society and letting kids sort them out and discover what they like. “Let them go through them, see what interests them, and then find what threads they want to pull on a little harder,” he says.​

9. Connect with others. The Philatelic Society, for example, has a virtual stamp club for kids age 6 to 17 that costs $10 annually and includes a newsletter, welcome packet and access to online videos. Outschool, an online learning platform, offers virtual classes on everything from knitting to origami.

A grandchild could invite a friend — either in person or virtually — to learn a skill along with them. Or they could create their own how-to video, or teach you how to make one.​

10. Don’t despair. Even if a hobby doesn’t catch on, grandparents are influencers, Green says. “It becomes a part of their arsenal of stuff. And even if they only use it because they appreciate it but don’t want to do it, they’ll collect it, or they’ll buy it as a gift.”​

This story was originally published Dec. 18, 2020. It has been updated to reflect new information.