Millions of Americans are stuck at home during the coronavirus quarantine, and they’re finding themselves engaging in activities they hadn’t paid much attention to before.
If your newfound hobbies are bringing you comfort and joy, you might want to dive into them a little deeper with some great magazines devoted to those topics. Here, we’ve compiled examples of some publications you can save on through the NEA Magazine Service that can help you cook, garden, decorate, craft and more.
Click on any of these links to jump directly to your new interests: cooking and baking • gardening • organizing and decorating • crafting • arts • writing • exercising • bird-watching • woodworking • keeping the kids busy
Cooking and baking
Although some restaurants are still preparing meals for takeout and delivery, Americans are relying a lot more on grocery stores and their own kitchens to come up with three square meals every day. Sometimes you have to make do with whatever ingredients are available. Other times, you get inspired to try something new and exotic.
Food Network Magazine, Taste of Home, Martha Stewart Living, Cooks Illustrated, Food & Wine, Fine Cooking, Allrecipes, Bon Appetit and Gluten-Free Living are a few of the options available for budding chefs.
Gardening
If your thumbs have suddenly turned green, don’t worry! Digging in the dirt is a great physical activity that can reduce stress while contributing beauty to your world.
Get tips on flower combinations, vegetable gardens and landscaping layouts in magazines such as Fine Gardening, Better Homes & Gardens, Heirloom Gardener, Garden Gate and Horticulture.
Organizing and decorating
Find inspiration in publications such as Good Housekeeping, Better Home & Gardens, Country Living, Southern Living, Martha Stewart Living, HGTV Magazine, Dwell, American Farmhouse Style and Do It Yourself.
Crafting
Maybe you dusted off your sewing machine to fashion some protective masks. Or perhaps all those boxes (and bins and drawers) of crafting materials are calling your name. If you’ve got the urge to create now, magazines dedicated to specific crafts can teach you techniques and provide inspiration.
Titles available through the NEA Magazine Service include Crochet World, Beadwork Magazine, Quick Quilts, Threads, Sew News, Quilting Arts, Knitscene and Creative Machine Embroidery.
Arts
Writing
Book some time to work on your writing, whether it’s poetry, a few chapters in your novel, or your private gratitude journal. Find expert writing advice in magazines such as The Writer, Writer’s Digest and Poets & Writers Magazine.
Exercising
Bird-watching
Woodworking
Whether you want to construct your own kitchen cabinets or just make one of those cute little squirrel picnic tables everyone’s talking about, you can carve out a new niche with woodworking. Find projects for all levels of skill in magazines such as Woodcraft Magazine, Wood Magazine, Woodworker’s Journal and Fine Woodworking.
Keeping the kids busy
Granted, this isn’t exactly a new hobby. But with screen time on the rise now as children are learning from home on the same devices that also typically provide entertainment, encouraging other forms of engagement is critical.
One way to move kids offline is to get them engrossed in fun magazines tailored to specific age ranges. More than 30 titles are available, including National Geographic Kids, Highlights, Fun for Kidz, Ranger Rick Jr., Girls’ Life, Boys’ Life, Sports Illustrated Kids and Jack & Jill. You also can find subscriptions to several comic-book series.
For kids of all ages, choose from subscriptions to puzzle periodicals such as Word Search, Sudoku, Logic Problems, Crosswords and Variety Puzzles.
NOTE: The magazines listed here were offered at a discounted rate through the NEA Magazine Service as of April 6, 2020.
