I've always loved reading. As a child I would read anything I could get my hands on! I also loved doing crafts and creative things. I picked up crocheting from my mom when I was about nine and still spend lots of time making things for my family and even sell a few items occasionally. Most kids love to do crafts and at their ages I'd suggest simple weaving projects, cut and paste projects like making birthday cards for family members or holiday greeting cards. Give them some old magazines with nice, family-friendly pictures in them (old flower catalogs are good) and let them cut pictures out with safety scissors. Help them make collages to decorate their rooms by glueing the pictures onto a sheet of paper or poster board. Stringing beads is popular with little kids, the older one will enjoy this but the younger one may try to eat them or stick them up his nose, so be careful with this one, maybe save it for a time when the youngest is napping or engaged in some other activity. Try lots of different types of crafts that are safe for their age and see which they prefer. Finger paints are always popular. The thing with kids and crafts is that it can get messy, but try to get over it for their benefit. My dining room table still has a bit of paint on in from a child's painting project that got off the paper, but I look on those old stains with fond memories!

I liked to wander in the woods until I was lost, just so I could find my way back again.. or maybe I was hoping I wouldn't, and instead I'd find the fairy wood. I didn't like other children, though I had little issue making friends. I also liked to collect woodland trinkets.. robins eggs shells, pressed flowers, etc.

That's not the sort of hobby you could teach to your children I suppose, perhaps convert it to hiking or nature photography... you'd be surprised what's there to photo
...even Alaska has a rain forest

My number one hobby was and still is reading. I also enjoyed writing stories, and play acting with friends.

Cooking is another hobby that has stuck with me.

Hobbies that I had (and no longer do) included stamp collecting, and playing with dolls.

Expose your children to as wide a variety of things as you can, and allow them to pursue their own passions.

I loved books and writing stories. The library was my favorite place. I would spend all day Saturday just wandering around picking just the right book. I also was a decent artist, which is kind of odd because because I can't even draw a stick figure now.

Rob,

Don't forget to introduce your babes to the wonderful world of color.
I was given a coloring book and crayons when I was 4, and my mother said it transformed me.

I quickly outgrew simple books and crayons and moved up to more elaborate pictures and large pallets of watercolor pens. There are coloring books for all ages, with degrees of details.
Whenever I would get a new book, I would sit and look at the image and plot out a color scheme.

This attention to color and detail took me to many other avenues of art. Before I became an adult, I learned how to watercolor, and even learned some batik.

Don't forget to introduce and encourage hands on art. I have always done collage art too, and it can also be so much fun! I know you can do collage work easier on the computer now, but nothing feels better than the paper between your hands and rolling the rubber cement off of your fingers.

Coloring book: Infamous Women Paper Dolls
Image: Mata Hari
Age Colored: 9

-quote-
its very interesting play with child i had one child his 8months his very very cute and peppy. daily my hobbies is playing with my son. uts so interesting and know about my son. he do daily some one different and interesting.
-endquote-

I have 2 girls, 4 and 8, so we have been through this pretty recently. As suggested books are number one. There are many different types now, some have pages that are puzzles or that have covers that hold finger puppets. These are our mainstay and I view them as "gateway toys." If they like a fairy book or a book about trains you can then buy them these toys. Of course books are a great hobby all by themselves ours "read" (the 4 year old is just starting) most nights at bedtime.

A trip to a small toy store or one of those "smart" toy stores with your child will allow them to explore and find something on their own. If you go this route I would explain on the way that the child gets one toy and only one toy. Be prepared to have that "one toy" change several times...that's really a good thing it shows they are thinking and are involved in the process.

Don't over think this too much, kids find hobbies organically. I built scale model cars but I don't think my little ones will. ;)
pk

Hi, @rob you said "My children (1.5 and 4)" but I can not remember my childhood of that age.

I can remember about my age of 7/8.

I would love to play with my partner but not with all.My partner was Naim(my best friend ever). I used to play model trains, bus, cars. I had a great collection of different kind of flying plane and fighter jet toys. BUT most interesting thing is that "I couldn't play a toy more than some days because I and my partner were so excited about inside of these toys. As a result when I got a new toys after some days I would beat it, heat it, break it to view inside of this toy.

Then I run these toys without cover. I often tried to put a cover onto another toys, like I can remember that many times I tried to put up plane's cover onto car.I often looked at electrical wires.Often I tried to pla toys without wire connections. My main attraction was colorful lights inside of police cars or ambulance.I would pick out these lights.

I can remember that I often tried to replace plane's wheel with car's wheel. And so all relative and wel wisher called me "child scientist". hahahaaa

I think this game helped me so much and so I am so encouraged to study in physics. Currently I am runner-up of our city's school science festival contest. I am going to participate our national school science festival in next year.

But I also was a book lover of comics and animal description books with great photos.My parents gave me opportunity to play multimedia games which are help to know about education....like I often played a game,in this game there are all alphabets and when I click on a letter like I clicked on "E" then a very big "Elephant " came and say "Elephant consists "E". "

I think you can give your elder child these kind of books where are many photos about animals,place and persons with short description.Then discuss about this animal/place/person, you also should encourage his to art a copy of that image.

Try to make him be a fan of books which are help to be a creative person in any job,place,work.Creative thinking and working is a great virtue which should start gaining from early of life.You can not make yourself creative when you finishing your degree. lol So when your child will make a design or destroy toys to know further about it don't discourage him.

I was not good at art but I can remember that I often art a picture about our village where sky was green colored by me. But my parents don't tell me that you should not color the sky green because it is blue.Because they know I will know about the color of sky latter, so they asked me to color the human, trees,sun etc with different color from actual.So that I can realize difference of color.
I think now it helping me to think about different from actual of anything.I know there is no directly advantages of it but I think it helps our mind to think about something different and creative.

Thanks
@safi

I was a builder! At early ages my dad made me a custom set of nice wood blocks - large smooth unpainted blocks in a huge variety of shapes. I'd build bridges, towers, houses, and more.

Then I moved up to Legos by age 8 or so. One of my FAVORITE childhood memories was when I was 8 years old and I had just finished caring for my mom and sister who were down with the flu. My dad had to work all day, so when he came home from work and heard what a great job I had done, he took me out to the store and bought me a couple giant Lego sets and a carrying case as a "thank you" gift. This was huge, because we didn't have a lot of money. My poor sister got a couple cheesy dress-up necklaces just to keep her happy.

From that day on I was building all sorts of Lego creations, and whenever life got me down I'd dump them all out and just start building! I still have all my Legos, in fact. My husband was a Lego junkie too and also saved his. So my kiddo's in for a mountain of Lego fun when she gets a little older.

Here are some other hobbies I had:

Reading (all ages)
Softball (age 10+)
Coloring, Painting, Playdough (age 2+)
Roller skating (age 6-13)
Bike riding...'round and 'round the block over and over...(age 5-13)
Piano Playing (age 5+)....playing the piano was a great outlet for my moodiness when I got to be a preteen.

Rob, I'd suggest getting them a nice set of play blocks, some musical instruments, sporting equipment, and books and see what they gravitate toward! And even when they've found a niche, keep nudging them to try other things!

Enjoy!

(Lego Tower)
http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2008/05/100-foot-lego-tower.jpg

(Lego Bear)
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/lego_13.jpg

The answers already given are excellent and do go along with my major suggestion of books for any age child. When very young, we realize that parents must do the reading, but even young children can answer questions or point out the objects and then later the colors, numbers, etc.

A love of books makes for a good student and then provides an asset throughout life and through any career one chooses.

I love the painting, etc. that you already do with the easels!! That's GREAT and will awaken a lot of talent in them. You can also work in playing with clay and other elements including wonderful lego projects that can result in later life into pictures like those in here. There are so many ways to express artistic talent and could lead to an interesting career in later life.

Once a little older, you could consider introducing them to pen pals, either by snail mail or online (the latter especially if they'd like to have friends in other countries -- what better learning experience could there be in geography, living conditions, writing skills, etc?). I began writing to pen pals about age 9 or so, and I am still best friends with my very first pal!!!

Although I know that technology takes more and more of children's time, you can make sure that your children are also regularly directed toward family games including board ones, plenty of time playing with friends for social interaction, visits to zoos and museums and other attractions to round out their adventures, and even just walking around the neighborhood to learn about other people and their pets, gardens, lifestyles, etc.

Good luck!! You are already on the right track!!

Mine was also reading. However, when I was growing up my older sister which is 18 months older than I would come home from school and we would play for hours. She would teach me everything she was taught that day. By the time I was to start school they wanted to advance me to 1st grade from the start. Although my parents did not think thta was a good idea, I still was ahead of all the class.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobnperla/2083958809/

I'm not sure where you draw the line between something you'd call a hobby, versus just something you do.

For example I always read a lot, but I've never considered that a hobby.Likewise watching TV, acting out make believe stories with other kids, playng board games with family etc.

In fact I probably didn't have anything I'd actually call a hobby until about age ten, when I learned to play chess, and then got more and more into it. At first it was just another board game, that I played with family or friends, not really a hobby as such. But after some time - not sure how long, year or more - I was reading books about it, playing in tournaments etc, so it was an important part of my life.

If you're looking for hobbies for your kids, I'd suggest letting them trying a lot of things and see what they go for. I wouldn't restrict it just stuff that I myself didn't learn until I was older. There's a lot to be said for starting most things as early as you find yourself able to do them.

As a geek, I daresay you'll enjoy this story about a nine year old who wrote an iPhone app.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7874291.stm

So examples of things that I didn't get into until much later, but which some young kids do really take to... programming, photography, tennis, skiing, wildlife watching.

f you're looking for something to be a lifelong hobby, I think tennis has a lot going for it. It's great whole body exercise, lots of fun, and pretty social. It's a good way to meet lots of people of both sexes, and it's something that most people can keep playing from as young as five or six right up into their sixties.

My nieces and nephew are in same age range as your kids, and I'm on the lookout too for the right moment to introduce them to things they might like too. As you say, they've all get their own personalities and likes. One has a passion and great ability for drawing, another loves soccer etc.

I played in dirt. Seriously. I was often covered with "wild" when I got in after playing outside all day. The dirt was so caked on, it often took a garden hose and heavy scrubbing to get me clean. I also loved frogs, snakes, climbing trees, fishing, and tormenting my much-more-proper sister.

Because I liked making things so much, my relatives would always buy me these craft kits called "Crafts for Kids." They were great and they were easy enough for me to understand on my own but also fun to do some crafts with my parents.

I remeber my favorite kits were for beading, making friendship braclets and one where I made a camera out of cardboard and electrical tape.

Besides the crafts kits, my grandmother taught me to knit and crochet, but I took more to crocheting. There are many books available for children to make easy and fun crochet projects.

I also wrote poetry and short stories and loved to draw.

I think the best advice I could give is to introduce them to the many fun activities out there but then let go and see where they are intrinsically inclined to go.

I'm older now, but I most appreciate learning to crochet young because I no longer need to find patterns and can make whatever I want (I am working on a meditation cushion right now but in the past made a case for my index cards amongst other things).

If not for my parents and other relatives' encouragement to pursue the hobbies I enjoyed, I wouldn't be able to utilize these skills today.

Did start and still try to do the following:
Reading, Collecting coins, Collecting stamps, drawing, coloring, Origami, Building with Lego blocks, Press and preserve leaves

my hobby was alwaz playing cricket

I always loved to make miniature weapons like shields swords and bow and arrows out of twigs I picked up in my yard. I would sharpen them on the sidewalk and I had a tree that I would hide them in. In case any little person came along and needed something to protect himself. It was all in fun and adventure.
And yes I still make them all these years later.