Find Joy and Healthy Living in Your Favorite Childhood Hobbies

Music to soothe the soul

Maybe you took piano lessons for years, only to wish you’d never stopped. It could be time to pick up where you left off.

Karen Mandell, 76, a former teacher from Lynnfield, Massachusetts, took lessons from age 9 through high school, and has taken lessons on and off ever since. These days, she feels confident when she plays. “Like, ‘You know what? You haven’t lost it.’... It’s kind of a good feeling,” she says.

Playing a musical instrument is linked to better brain health and increased social interaction in older adults, according to a 2020 report on music and the brain from AARP’s Global Council on Brain Health. And AARP’s Staying Sharp lays out how music reduces loneliness, improves mood and decreases pain.

“Whether you’re returning to the instrument you played as a child or starting from scratch, the best thing you can do is to dive straight in and don’t limit the scope of your ambitions,” says Emily Wright, a cellist and music educator from Southbury, Connecticut. “It really is possible to have success on any instrument if you put your mind to it and find a supportive instructor.”

Even if you don’t live near a music school, independent music teachers are everywhere. Ask for references from friends or trusted neighborhood groups.

All you gotta do is dance, dance, dance!

Kids wiggle, shake and move to the rhythm because it’s a natural thing to do and because it makes them happy. Such fun shouldn’t be relegated to nostalgia.

Ballroom dancing two or three nights a week has been a wonderful way for 75-year-old Allison Peak to start dancing again and be social after finding herself suddenly single in her early 60s.

“It has been great for making new friends,” says the retired technical writer from Kensington, Connecticut, who hadn’t danced much since young adulthood. “We meet at dances and we chat, and we do things outside of dancing.… It’s just so much fun. It’s pure joy, really.”

Dancing has social benefits for older adults, including reducing anxiety, depression and loneliness, according to a 2025 review published in the journal Frontiers in Sports and Active Living. It’s great for your brain and body, too.  The review says dancing stimulates memory, reduces the risk of mental decline, and improves strength, balance and flexibility.

And “there’s no upper age limit,” says Rochester Swing Dance Network founder Esther Brill, a dance teacher from Rochester, New York, who once had a 100-year-old student in her class. “And even with physical handicaps or diminishments, you can still find ways to dance.”

Check online to see if there are dance studios near you, or sign up for a class at your local community center.  Be sure to ask ahead of time what kind of mobility is expected of you in the class.

A bicycle built for you

Remember your first bike?

Linda Artruc, a 58-year-old retired science teacher in Livonia, New York, remembers that getting a ten-speed bike for her eighth grade graduation “was like freedom.” Artruc has knee issues that rule out running and occasionally hiking. “But I don’t have any issues biking,” she says, shortly after returning from biking 181 miles over four days with others along the Empire State Trail.

Cycling — both outdoors and on indoor stationary bikes — not only strengthens the heart, it may also contribute to better brain health and lower dementia risk, reports a 2025 study published in JAMA Network Open.

Not feeling steady enough for a bike? Go for one with more support, says Dr. Alan Beyer, executive medical director of Hoag Orthopedic Institute in Irvine, California. “If you’re suffering from balance issues, there’s nothing wrong with going back to training wheels,” or a bike with one front wheel and two rear wheels, says Beyer. “And do not forget the helmet.” Or just go the stationary-bike route.

You can bike almost anywhere. Research your area’s bike paths and trails, or just hop on the seat and go.

Paint with a passion

Without the structure of art class, many people who loved to paint in childhood haven’t touched a brush in decades.

Melinda Marks Burgard, 67, a semiretired music therapist from Greenwood Lake, New York, enjoyed making art through seventh grade. When COVID hit, she decided to bring out some watercolors she’d stored away and had never used. They were “just waiting,” she says, so she picked them up and painted a woman in the water watching a sunset. Now, about once a week, painting sessions put her “into an altered state — like a meditative state” and help her deal with her anxiety, rather than having to increase the dosage of her medication.

Adaptive and easy-grip brushes are available to help budding artists with arthritis. A 2023 article in the journal Geriatric Nursing promoted visual artmaking activities as a successful diversion for older adults living with chronic pain.

A painting practice “at any age can be life-changing, but particularly for older adults,” says Antonia A. Perez, a teaching artist and Lifetime Arts trainer based in Long Island City, New York. “Learning to mix colors, developing brush techniques, learning to observe and depict, as well as discovering new means of self-expression: All exercise decision-making, memory and imaginative processes of the mind.”

Sign up for an art class — some cater to older adults — to develop your painting skills while socializing with peers.

Stoked to skateboard

These days, “shredding” may have more to do with preparing a cheese dish than riding a skateboard, but it’s never too late to get back on four wheels.

Aaron Wagner got his first skateboard in elementary school because his big brother was into the sport. Now the 56-year-old carpenter from Seligman, Arizona, rolls around because “it’s freeing,” he says. “You just get to cruise around and everything goes away. All the problems of adulthood kind of just leave because you have to pay attention to what’s going on under your feet.”

Aside from working motor skills, dexterity and balance, skateboarding activates the mind, says Freddie De Sota, who was inducted into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame in May: “It’s a whole process of rethinking, relearning, redoing. Honestly, it gives you your youth back.”

And while no large-scale studies have been done on older adults and skateboarding, Paul O’Connor, a sociologist at the University of Exeter in the U.K., found in a 2018 study that skateboarding helped the Gen Xers he spoke with cope with depression and stress. The study found that it gave them a creative outlet that can get squashed by adult responsibilities.

To shred more safely, especially as an older adult, stretch before you start, and wear safety gear, says De Sota.

Not ready to take it to the street? Virtual reality skateboarding training reduced pain, enhanced balance and improved muscle performance in adults between 50 and 80 years old, according to a 2024 study published in the Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation.

Birdwatching is not for the birds

As a child, Miranda Wilcox read about the birds of North America and kept track of every species she saw. She moved away from the hobby for about four decades when life took over. When her husband bought a bird feeder and the birds started showing up, she felt the same joy watching them settle in for a snack that she did as a kid.

Wilcox, 54, a leadership development coach who lives in Greece, New York, says the hobby is about noticing something she had forgotten about. “A lot of times we take [birds] for granted, even though they’re providing the soundscape of the space where we are, or contributing to it.”

And it’s a popular hobby, says Hartt, adding that birding comes up a fair bit in his research with adults 65-plus. “People love the intellectual challenge of identifying birds, the adventure of going to find them — which often comes with a lovely, nature-filled, sensory experience — and the camaraderie of highs, lows and the excitement of being amongst other birders,” he says.

Want to swoop into this hobby? Check out AARP’s Beginner’s Guide to Birding. You can also try birdwatching clubs and workshops, or see if there is a birdwatching festival in your area.

Knit happens ... so knit

It can be a crazy world out there. And knitting can help you chill out, according to a 2019 study published in the Journal of Biotechnology and Biomedical Science. According to researchers, activities that use an alternating right-left stimulus pattern (like knitting) can treat anxiety and stress. So whether you learned it as a kid in home economics or sitting by your grandmother, knitting is a great hobby to pick up again to find a bit of serenity.

“I always tell my customers that the cost of yarn includes a certain amount of therapy with it,” says Jen Carlo, owner of Yarn in Waterbury, Vermont. “I can tell if I haven’t knit in a few days.”

Tina B. Kane is going to wrap up “about five unfinished sweaters” she has been working on over the past 30 years, now that she’s retired as a project manager. The 67-year-old from Newington, Connecticut, taught herself how to knit as a young girl by imitating her mother’s friends, who would knit while visiting. “It’s very gratifying to see something develop under your own hands,” she says.

Knitting also helps keep her sharp. “Following a pattern keeps your brain agile.… Or you can veer off and start to create something that’s unique, and that’s very exciting.”

An added bonus: You end up with meaningful gifts for your kids and grandkids.

Check out AARP’s step-by-step beginner’s guide to knitting, or look for classes at your local community center or knitting store.