The store will not work correctly in the case when cookies are disabled.
chev_right_small instagram twitter youtube tiktok threads plus alert_in_circle basket basket_full chev_down chev_right cir_eye cir_pencil cir_puzzle c_scissors cross pencil message linkedin linked youtube link look paypal p_discover p_maestro p_mastercard p_paypal p_visa search secure sq_book sq_earphones sq_eye sq_message sq_pencil sq_play play sq_search star tick user user_in_circle wishlist zoom_big zoom_in zoom_out nav play_video download mail balance edit peeko
Skip to Content

On this website you can browse and buy Usborne books in English, French, German, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Dutch, Korean and Brazilian Portuguese.

In the UK and certain countries in Europe, you can buy directly from Usborne or from an Independent Usborne Partner. In the USA you can buy books via links to Usborne Books & More, the website of our US distributors.

Elsewhere in the world we provide links to local online retailers who will fulfil and deliver your order. Please check the retailer’s delivery destinations to make sure they deliver where you are.

In China, you can buy Usborne books in English and in Chinese (simplified characters) via online and offline retailers.

Welcome to

This event ends in
D:
H:
M:
S
Toggle Nav
Irresistible books for curious kids
  • Books
    • Browse by Age
      • 0 - 3 years
        • Viewing 0 - 3 years
        • 0+ months
        • 3+ months
        • 6+ months
        • 12+ months
        • 18+ months
        • 2+ years
        • 0 - 3 years
      • 3 - 5 years
      • 5 - 7 years
      • 7 - 11 years
      • 11 - 13 years
      • 13 years+
      • Browse by Age
    • Browse by Category
      • Summer Shop
      • Starting school
      • Activity books
        • Viewing Activity books
        • Colouring books
        • Drawing and doodling
        • Puzzles and quizzes
        • Sticker books
          • Viewing Sticker books
          • Sticker Dolly Dressing
          • Sticker books
        • Wipe-clean books
        • Rub-down transfer books
        • Write-in activity books
        • Activity books
      • History
        • Viewing History
        • Ancient Egypt
        • Ancient Greece
        • Ancient Rome
        • Art history
        • British history
        • Famous people and explorers
        • Knights and castles
        • Prehistoric times
        • Vikings
        • World wars
        • History
      • Science and technology
        • Viewing Science and technology
        • Space
        • Computers and coding
        • Human body
        • Science dictionaries
        • Technology and inventions
        • Transport and vehicles
        • Science and technology
      • Dinosaurs
      • Baby books
        • Viewing Baby books
        • Christmas books for babies
        • Board books
        • Cloth and fold-out books
        • Baby novelty books
        • THAT'S NOT MY®
          • Viewing THAT'S NOT MY®
          • Christmas
          • Fantasy
          • Farm animals
          • Wild animals
          • Pets
          • Vehicles
          • THAT'S NOT MY®
        • Baby books
      • Early years
        • Viewing Early years
        • Going to school
        • First skills
          • Viewing First skills
          • Learning to write
          • Numbers and first sums
          • Letters, shapes and colours
          • First skills
        • Phonics and learning to read
        • Nursery rhymes
        • Word books
        • Growing up and first experiences
        • Early years
      • English
        • Viewing English
        • Creative writing
        • Dictionaries
        • English
      • Fiction
        • Viewing Fiction
        • Animal stories
        • Classic stories
        • Fairy tales
        • Funny stories
        • Graphic novels
        • Story collections
        • Fiction
      • Foreign languages
      • Geography and environment
        • Viewing Geography and environment
        • Earth and the environment
        • Seas and oceans
        • Weather and climate
        • Activism
        • Geography and environment
      • Growing up and mental health
        • Viewing Growing up and mental health
        • Mental health and feelings
        • Relationships and Sex Education
        • Growing up and mental health
      • Hobbies and interests
        • Viewing Hobbies and interests
        • Art and crafts
        • Chess
        • Cooking and food
        • Fashion
        • General knowledge
        • Music
        • Nature and outdoors
        • Religions
        • Sports
        • Hobbies and interests
      • Libros en Español
      • Lift-the-flap books
      • Maths
        • Viewing Maths
        • Maths dictionaries
        • Puzzles and activities
        • Telling the time
        • Times tables
        • Maths
      • Picture books
        • Viewing Picture books
        • Picture book stories
        • Non-fiction picture books
        • Picture books
      • Read with Usborne
        • Viewing Read with Usborne
        • Read with Usborne Level 1
        • Read with Usborne Level 2
        • Read with Usborne Level 3
        • Read with Usborne Level 4
        • Read with Usborne
      • Class sets
      • Inclusive book recommendations for schools
      • Unicorns
      • Weddings
      • Jigsaws
      • Magic painting and fingerprinting
      • Sound and musical books
      • Browse by Category
    • Popular Themes
      • Summer Shop
        Summer Shop
      • Earth and the environment
        Earth and the environment
      • Mental health and feelings
        Mental health and feelings
      • Jigsaws
        Jigsaws
      • Sound and musical books
        Sound and musical books
    • Popular Series
      • Sticker Dolly Dressing
        Sticker Dolly Dressing
      • THAT'S NOT MY®
        THAT'S NOT MY®
      • Billy and the Mini Monsters
        Billy and the Mini Monsters
      • Farmyard Tales Poppy and Sam
        Farmyard Tales Poppy and Sam
      • Usborne Early Years Wipe-clean
        Usborne Early Years Wipe-clean
      • Key Skills
        Key Skills
      • 100 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT
        100 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT
    • New Books
    • Browse All Books
    • Books
  • Activities for Kids
    • Discover Activities for kids
    • Play and Learn at Home
    • Fact of the Week
    • Activity Sheets
    • Storytime Videos
    • Write a Story
  • Quicklinks
    • Discover Quicklinks
    • Quicklink of the Week
    • Browse Quicklinks Books
    • How to Say
    • Online Safety
    • Quicklinks Help
  • Schools
    • Resources
    • Fact Force
  • About Us
    • Meet the Family
    • Sustainability
    • What We Stand For
    • Safety
    • Careers
    • Global
    • Trade
    • Blog
    • Press
  • Fact of the Week
  • Sign In / Register Sign Out
  • Buying Options
  • Privacy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Meet the Family
  • Sustainability
  • What We Stand For
  • Safety
  • Careers
  • Global
  • Trade
  • Blog
  • Press
  • More options
    • Home
    • Usborne Blog
    • Tips and expert advice
    • Why is having a hobby so important for k...

    Usborne Blog

    • Tips and expert advice
    Emma Baxter
    Emma Baxter
    January 07, 2021
    Share
    • Share this page on Facebook
    • Share this page on Twitter
    • Share this page on Pinterest

    Why is having a hobby so important for kids?

    A boy singing and playing the guitar

    Hobbies are an activity we do in our downtime, purely for pleasure. However, as well as being fun, a hobby can enrich your child’s life and help them grow and flourish in numerous ways:

    1. Hobbies boost self-esteem

    If a child enjoys an activity, the odds are they’ll want to do it often and therefore get pretty good at it. The choice of hobby is an expression of your child’s personality, it’s something they can ‘own’ and identify with and gives them a sense of purpose. A hobby provides an outlet for children to showcase their physical abilities or creative expression, and gives them an enormous sense of pride in their accomplishments.

    2. Hobbies relieve stress

    Hobbies aren’t associated with school, homework, chores or other responsibilities. Hobbies offer complete relaxation (with no feelings of pressure or stress) whilst keeping the brain actively engaged.  

    3. Hobbies teach valuable life skills

    A new hobby comes with challenges, but whilst engrossed in their chosen activity children don’t even realise they’re learning patience, self-discipline, practising fine motor skills and bilateral coordination, developing critical thinking, goal setting, problem solving and creative thinking. All great skills for real-life scenarios.

    4. Hobbies can be good for a child’s physical well-being

    Any physical hobby, eg. gymnastics, swimming, karate, or any hobby that requires the child to go outside eg. geocaching, gardening, rock collecting, means a child is getting all the health benefits of exercise without them even noticing.

    A boy and dad playing football

    5. Hobbies help to find friends

    As well as discovering something about themselves, children can also find new friends who also share their hobby, are in the same team, or go to the same club.

    6. Hobbies are educational tools

    Along with building new skills, hobbies provide children with a wider education. A child who likes writing stories learns about sentence structure and grammar, a child who collects rocks learns about geology and science, a child who enjoys baking learns about measuring and science. There’s also a small chance that your child’s hobby will turn into a lifelong career or a multi-million dollar business, here’s hoping!

    7. Hobbies banish boredom!

    Children often need something productive to occupy them and fill their time. Hobbies give them an activity to look forward to and get excited about (and keep them away from screens for a while.)

    Where to Start

    You can suggest hobbies to your child, and encourage them to try new things out, but in the end your child will naturally choose the hobby they enjoy most. Be prepared that they may chop and change their hobbies, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing – just see this as them being more curious about the world and expanding their horizons even further.

    An A-Z of hobby ideas

    Acting, Art, Astronomy, Baking, Bowling, Cars, Chess, Cooking, Collecting (anything from comic books to gems and minerals), Coins, Comic strip drawing, Crafts, Cycling, Dancing, Doodling, Drumming, Entomology, Environment, Farming, Finger painting, Fishing, Fashion, Flower pressing, Fossil hunting, Gardening, Geocaching, Guitar, Horse riding, Ice hockey, Insects, Jigsaws, Junk crafting, Karate, Kite flying, Knitting, Lego building, Letter writing, Magic, Martial arts, Meteorology, Music, Nature Spotting, Origami, Ornithology, Painting, Piano, Puzzles, Performance, Photography, Quizzes, Reading, Roller skating, Rock and seashells, Running, Scrapbooking, Skateboarding, Singing, Stamps, Sudoko, Swimming, Taking care of animals, Tennis, Theatre, Trampolining, Ukulele, Video making /editing, Woodcraft, Writing, Xylophone, Xbox, Yoga, Yo-Yoing, Ziplining, Zoology.

    Share
    • Share this page on Facebook
    • Share this page on Twitter
    • Share this page on Pinterest

    About the Author

    Emma Baxter
    Emma Baxter
    January 07, 2021

    As a child Emma Baxter was an avid reader and loved anything and everything creative - as an adult nothing has changed and she's still unashamedly kidcentric. Following a career in television she now works as Usborne's Global Content Creator - making films and animations, taking photos, writing and feeling delighted to be surrounded by gorgeous books.

    More from Emma Baxter

    More in this blog category

    • Behind the scenes at Usborne, Tips and expert advice
      How to talk to children about love

      Find out how to talk to young children about love, and why it’s so important. Usborne author, Katie Daynes, shares the main lessons she learned from writing Very First Questions and Answers: What is love?

       

       

      Katie Daynes
      Katie Daynes
    • Tips and expert advice
      Ten-year-old planet champion, Sofia Züger, on her love for What is mud? and campaigning with Save Soil

      Sofia Züger loves talking to children and families about the importance of soil and why we should save it from going extinct.

      Sofia Züger
    • Tips and expert advice
      Why Usborne's Very First Questions Books work well for my neurodivergent son

      To support Neurodiversity Celebration Week, we hear from an Usborne editor about her experiences sharing Usborne’s ‘Lift-the-Flap Very First Questions and Answers’ books with her son, who has recently been diagnosed with autism. 

    Useful Links

    • Buying Options
    • Newsletter Sign-Up
    • Privacy Policy
    • Cookie Settings
    • Terms & Conditions
    • Modern Slavery Statement

    Menu

    • Books
    • Activities For Kids
    • Quicklinks
    • About Us
    • Blog
    • Fact of the Week

    Contact

    FAQ and Help

    Trade Enquiries

    Press Information

     

    Connect

    • Follow Us on Instagram
    • Follow Us on Facebook
    • Follow Us on Youtube
    • Follow Us on Tiktok
    • Follow Us on Twitter
    • Follow Us on Threads

     

    About Us

    Usborne is one of the world’s leading independent book publishers. We are proud to be a family business that aims to create brilliant books for children of all ages.

    ©2025 Usborne Publishing Limited

    Site by Superb