Hobby recomendations

[HandsInTheCookieJar]

DS struggles socially especially with other kids his age, in fact his best friend is a year above him. He does have a little friend circle which is great although he struggles sometimes when they’re busy ir unavailable. Does anyone have any recommendations for fun hobbies where he might be able to find more friends? He’s not really a ‘lad’ in that he doesn’t like football or rugby or big loud events. More geeky quiet things.

Warhammer
Scouts
Climbing
Watersports

(I know you said not sporty but my non-sporty DD likes these as its about individual focus rather than team ball games)

Thank you! I should say has done some sporty things in the past like running. Swimming could be a good one though. 😊

Is he into music (gigs or playing an instrument/being in a band) or gaming?

Is there a games cafe type place where you live. They usually have a variety of things - Pokémon, Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer etc.

Archery, horse riding, chess, rubix cubes ( competitions when you get better) volunteering - hopefully more caring people doing it anyway. Many RDA groups have lots of young people helping on a Saturday.

Martial arts or is along sporty lines?

Not so much, he tried learning guitar a while ago but gave up after a month and hasn’t talked about it since

Air Cadets have been the making of my shy teen DS. He loves it!

Capoiera (or another martial art), very fun and active and can be social too.

Thanks everyone for the recommendations! I wasn’t expecting so many but I’m grateful!

@Needmorelego He likes Pokemon so that could be a good idea, although I’ll need to have a look and see if there’s anything like that nearby.

@horseymum He loves chess and often plays it online as well as watches youtubers going over historic games, he goes to a club already but I don’t think he makes many friends from it.

@RaininSummer I’m going to check what’s around us because I think this would be great ti get into and something that’d benefit him too

That’s brilliant! Glad to hear air cadets has worked for your DS, sadly it’s be difficult to encourage DS to try- he’s deftly afraid of heights and planes 😵‍💫

Amateur radio? - geeky, and these days it's a gateway into a variety of techy interests.
Fishing? - quiet
Photography? - varying levels of geeky and quiet

Warhammer, you could find a local Games Workshop and visit as they'll have lots of friendly introductions to the game and advice (can get expensive though).

Are there any local board game cafes? Some places will do tournaments for things like Pokémon. I take my daughter to afternoon Pokémon games where people are lovely.

D&D or other games?

Is there any youth clubs nearby? Sometimes they are very good for the nonsporty kids as they meet likeminded people. Often churches have them and usually open to all even if you don't frequent that church or any church.
Or a local film makes where he could do behind the scenes work if he didn't want to be upfront.

He sounds like my ds, who does swimming, martial arts and has just started park run.

He likes archery too - lots of angles and calculating distances in his head - but I haven't found a regular club yet.

Explorer Scouts? They go from 14 - 18 and you don't have to been to Scouts before. But you need some liking to outdoor activities.

Another martial arts suggestion. I was a quiet, non sporty kid but found a good club and it gave me so much confidence and I made a bunch of friends of all ages. The club I'm in now has a load of kids and they really bond together

Fishing.

I have just spent a blissful 4 hours at our local junior/senior pool with son who is 12. He has saved up or birthday gifts for all kit - he has a whip pole and a reel rod, little stool, landing net and contraptions of all sorts. I sat in the sunshine reading my book and watching a heron, finished knitting a project and helped occasionally when he needed a hand holding something.

He chatted to other older fishermen, and came away with gifts from their tackle boxes - some special hooks with a very exciting mechanism to attach to current line. Apparently.

He absolutely adores it and he cannot wait until the rivers open again next month. Over 13s need a rod licence from the Environment Agency (they are free) and also a permit if the waters belong to a club.

Another vote for Explorer Scouts. My DS sounds similar and really enjoyed Explorers.

How about doing a Climbing course?

Thanks everyone for pitching in! I’ll try to respond to everryone’s here.

I’ve had a look and there’s a board game cafe type thing not too far from us which looks like it would be promising.

Scouts is an option and it is something that would benefit him for sure, there’s a scouts club near us too.

There are a couple of martial arts clubs nearby that do different things, I’ve had a chat with him about the idea of doing it and he said he’d like to try either Karate or Judo.

sadly he’s not interested in fishing, find it boring apparently 😅

Thanks again everyone for the recommendations 😊

Sea cadets if you're near the coast. My son loves it.

My DD is quite shy, loud and outgoing in her friendship circle but not really one for sports or outdoor activities.
She’s wanting to go in to the medical field in some way in the future so I signed her up for the St John’s Ambulance Cadets….she LOVES it! They do ‘badgers’ for the younger ones too. She’s met lots of new mates and it’s something she really enjoys.

www.rya.org.uk/start-boating/childrens-sailing