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There’s a familiar image from the 1960s and 70s: dads spending their weekends tinkering in garages, building things with their hands, and puttering around in the garden. At the time, as technology began creeping into everyday life, those analog hobbies might have seemed quaint or even behind the times.
Yet those same hobbies still offer practical challenges, sustained attention, and time with other people, which makes them well worth revisiting alongside the newer activities you enjoy.
The National Institute on Aging notes that staying engaged in meaningful activities may be good for cognitive health, though the evidence for lasting effects isn’t definitive. The practical takeaway is simple: pick activities you genuinely enjoy.
Here are seven hobbies from that era and some of the skills and experiences they involve.
1. Building model airplanes and trains
Remember when every other garage had a dad hunched over tiny pieces, meticulously assembling model planes or laying out elaborate train sets?
Model building involves handling small parts, interpreting spatial arrangements, and following a sequence. It’s a genuine hands-on challenge.
Assembling a model calls for patience and precision. You need to visualize the finished object, follow instructions, and troubleshoot a part that doesn’t fit.
Working with physical objects also has a tactile element that many screen activities don’t share.
2. Amateur radio operation
Ham radio might seem like the ultimate outdated hobby, but those operators were engaging in something profound without realizing it.
Think about what amateur radio actually required: learning Morse code (essentially a new language), understanding electronics, problem-solving on the fly when signals got disrupted, and maintaining social connections across vast distances. It was multitasking before we had a word for it.
In my book Hidden Secrets of Buddhism: How To Live With Maximum Impact and Minimum Ego, I talk about the importance of mindful focus – something ham radio operators practiced naturally. They had to be completely present, listening through static for faint signals, adjusting frequencies with subtle precision.
Amateur radio also created opportunities for conversation and friendship over long distances, much as online communities do today.
3. Woodworking in the garage
Every neighborhood had that guy with sawdust in his hair and the smell of varnish on his clothes. Woodworking wasn’t seen as artisanal or special – it was just what men did.
The cognitive demands of woodworking are staggering when you break them down. You’re constantly calculating measurements, visualizing how pieces fit together, problem-solving when things don’t go as planned, and engaging in complex sequential planning. Every project requires you to think several steps ahead while staying focused on the cut you’re making right now.
Sanding and making careful cuts can provide a focused rhythm, though safe tool use always needs your full attention.
An absorbing project can be a welcome break from everything else, and the satisfaction of finishing something useful is often what brings you back to the workbench.
4. Gardening and growing vegetables
Back then, growing your own vegetables wasn’t a hipster hobby – it was just practical. But those men digging in the dirt were onto something profound.
In her article on gardening and cognitive health, neurologist Smita Patel suggests gardening may support brain health by combining physical activity, mental engagement, and other healthy habits.
Gardening engages multiple cognitive processes simultaneously. You’re planning seasons ahead, observing subtle changes in plant health, adjusting strategies based on weather patterns, and constantly learning from both successes and failures. It’s problem-solving in real-time with real consequences.
Then there’s the simple pleasure of working outdoors and watching the seasons change.
5. Playing cards and board games
Card games and board games combine social time with attention, memory, or strategy, depending on the game. Some involve remembering previous moves, estimating probabilities, and adapting to another player.
Playing together also creates opportunities to practice fair play and handle disappointment.
6. Photography with film cameras
Before smartphones made everyone a photographer, taking pictures required genuine skill and patience. Film photography was expensive and unforgiving – you couldn’t just delete and retake.
This limitation forced a different kind of thinking. You had to understand light, composition, and timing. Every shot mattered. You’d mentally calculate exposure settings, visualize the final image before pressing the shutter, and then wait days or weeks to see if you got it right.
Darkroom work added a practical combination of chemistry, timing, and artistic decisions.
Constraints often lead to greater creativity, and film photography embodied this principle perfectly.
7. Fixing and maintaining cars
When something broke in the 60s and 70s, men fixed it themselves. Cars especially became laboratories for problem-solving and mechanical understanding.
Diagnosing car problems without computer codes required detective work. You had to understand systems, trace cause and effect through mechanical chains, and develop an intuitive feel for how engines should sound and behave. It was applied physics and engineering wrapped up in a weekend activity.
Today, manuals, forums, and diagnostic tools can help, but troubleshooting a car still draws on remembered details, mechanical reasoning, and careful testing.
And there’s real satisfaction in solving a practical problem yourself, along with the confidence that comes from building a skill.
The bigger picture
These hobbies offer hands-on work, patient practice, and social contact, qualities that newer activities can offer too.
So choose a hobby for what you enjoy and what’s accessible to you. Nostalgia can be part of the appeal.
If one of these hobbies interests you, try a manageable project or join a group. Building, gardening, photography, and games offer different ways to learn and spend time with others.
The best starting point is an activity you are interested in returning to.