Yahoo Sport 
Best craft and hobby kits for adults 2021
Thanks to our infamous weather, us Brits are masters at entertaining ourselves on a rainy day. The last 12 months have seen us spend more time indoors than ever, and as such, we’re looking around for new inspiration to stop us climbing our (twice painted by now) walls.
Most of us are sick to the back teeth of quizzes, puzzles and baking by now. Fresh ideas are in high demand. Why not step it up a notch by learning a new hobby or immersing yourself in a DIY kit that gives you a beginner’s taste of a new art or craft?
So if you’re ready for some screen-free entertainment, we’ve gathered the best hobby tools, puzzles and all-in-one kits to help you try a whole new world out for size.
Some of our ideas also work fantastically as gifts, so treat a friend by having one delivered to their door too.
From art supplies to cinnamon bun-making kits and designer animal mascots, we've rounded up the best indoor hobby kits to shop now.
See our favourites below
Pioneer DJM 250MK2 2 Channel Mixer
We may have hit pause on our regular lives, but the party can continue to play indoors. Searches for decks and turntables have shot up 30 per cent year on year over at Argos as people look for ways to fill the silence.
Experiment and create brand new tracks with this mixer, which allows you to mix high-quality audio from both analogue and digital sources so you can dive into your music collection, both old and new. An incorporated sound card lets you connect the decks to your computer and link with rekordbox dj to perform with CDJs too.
The Clay Club Home pottery kit with paint
There has been a burst of activity on the pottery front, with a whole new audience fired up for the craft thanks to the efforts of Hollywood funnyman Seth Rogen. The comedian has fallen for ceramics big time in lockdown, and continually posts his creations on his Instagram.
Get started on your own clay adventures with this home pottery kit, part of Selfridges’ Project Earth edit. It comes with all the tools to make your masterpiece with paint also included for the finishing touch.
Kirstie Allsopp Candle Making Kit
Cottagecore may have been born in SS20, but it’s a continuing trend as we all look for ways to make homemade products to add to a cosy hygge-at-home feel. At Argos, searches for candle making kits were up over 400 per cent compared to the same time last year.
This kit comes equipped with everything you need to get started in the art of candle-making with vegan soy pellets, a reusable tin and fresh pink grapefruit scent. There are even stickers in the box so you can personalise your creation with its own name, or a personal touch if you intend to give it as a gift.
Sculpd Pottery Kit
If your Zoom background looks a bit lacklustre, there’s nothing like a homemade piece of art to bring some character to your bookshelves. This kit comes with low-maintenance air dry clay, perfect for total novices, and there’s enough for two people so you can rope a family member or housemate in too. You’ll also get all the tools you need plus paint and brushes to complete your piece. Try your hand at making pinch pots, small plates for keys, candle holders or even a tiny sculpture - the sky’s the limit!
Set yourself a real challenge by combining ceramics with candle-making with Sculpd’s candle-making set, £18.99.
FAO Schwarz 3D Light-Up Spin Art Set
Painting with a 3D twist, this set is ridiculously easy to use a child could do it. In fact, it’s designed for ages six and up, but don’t let that stop you. With four squeezy bottles of neon paint, the spin art machine and wheel and plenty of cardstock squares - including glow-in-the-dark ones - this is a fun painting set to get at for grown-ups too.
Make Your Own Chilli Sauce Kit
Regular readers know that here at ES Best, we’ve got a sweet spot for hot sauce. If you’re like us, now is the ideal time to get cracking on making your own. From The Upton Cheyney Chilli Farm comes this all-in-one kit that will see you cooking, cooling and decanting your very own spicy sauce from scratch.
The kit includes the base ingredients and kit to make three bottles of mild smokey chipotle and three bottles of fiery and fruity mango sauce.
The Brewery in a Box Essential Starter Kit
Pubs are off-limits and supermarket-bought cans just don’t have the same refreshing feel. The answer? Bring the brewery home! Beer Hawk has this starter kit that’s perfect for willing homebrewers. The box has it all, from a fermenter, a brew kettle and even a bottle capper with caps so you can safeguard your supply. Devised by masterbrewers from US company Northern Brewer, this kit also comes with a recipe for Block Party Amber Ale. Will a bottle of homebrewed suds pass the taste test? This is one satisfying way to find out.
There’s also a Brooklyn Brew Shop Afternoon Wheat Beer Making Kit that you can whizz through in a couple of hours, £40.
Create Your Own Luxe Soap Box Set
We’ve never heard, read and written about washing our hands as much as we have since the pandemic began. Bring fresh pleasure to the simple act by using your own homemade soaps to stay clean. This soap-making set comes with a 24-page book and all the things you need to turn out beautiful soaps yourself.
Luna and Wild Dried Letterbox Flower Arranging Kit
Dried flowers are taking off big time as more of us understand the unsustainability of fresh blooms and look for eco-friendly alternatives. This craft kit is a departure from the norm - you’ll get three variations of premium quality dried flowers to style which should last years without needing to water; good news for the botanically-clueless.
Best of all it comes in a letterbox-sized parcel, so will be safely delivered even if you’ve popped out for a moment (which always seems to be when the postman calls in our experience).
Naissance 'Butter Me Up' Make Your Own Organic Body Butter Kit
They say that the devil makes work for idle hands, so keep yours engaged in a productive way - by making your own organic body butter. At a time when our skin is crying out for deep hydration (thanks constant central heating), this kit will guide you in making the most heavenly vanilla-scented cream to slather onto parched skin. You’ll emerge from your lockdown cocoon like a well-hydrated, glossy-skinned butterfly. Cruelty-free and vegan.
Colour Changing Gin Infusing Kit
A strictly adults-only magic show, this kit from Sandy Leaf Farms will change the colour of your favourite tipple when you add tonic. An enchanting way to take your home happy hour up a gear.
£7.99 | Amazon *On sale from £10.99
Bespoke Jewellery Making Kit
Jewellery is a personal thing for many, and it can get a whole lot more special by designing your own pieces. Cast is on a mission to help with this outrageously popular jewellery making kit, currently available for pre-order thanks to the monumental demand. The kit has everything you need to cast your dream jewellery pieces in wax before having them made in solid sterling silver for £60 more. A great kit to help you unleash an underlying passion.
PAUL Home Bread Maker Kit with 500g White Bread Flour
It feels like you can’t scroll on Instagram without seeing at least a dozen smuggly home-baked creations. If you’re keen to jump on the carby bandwagon, bakery PAUL is here to save the day with it’s in-house BYOB kit.
It has everything you need to make classic white bread at home: think 500g PAUL Strong White French Bread Flour; 15g Active Dried Yeast; and a Bread Proving Basket. Knead, now.
Pasta Evangelists Taste of Italy Pasta Making Kit
Fresh homemade pasta is easier to make than you think - especially with this kit on side. From food subscription company Pasta Evangelists, the box contains Doppio zero pasta flour (1kg), Italian sea salt flakes, a straight pasta cutter, beechwood rolling pin, plus another for making tagliatelle, beechwood gnocchi maker, a malloreddus paddle and a round ravioli stamp.
Just add water (and an egg) and you’ll be on your way. The perfect gift for the pasta lover in your life.
Make your own Terrazzo Plant Pot
Give your houseplants a Club Med-style makeover with this kit, which will see you making a bespoke terrazzo plant pot for one of your leafy babies.
With the help of an online tutorial video, you’ll create the flecked patterned pot using tools like a single use mould, Jesmonite, sandpaper and sealant, plus plenty more. A slightly more challenging kit for those who are excited to learn new skills.
Kintsugi Repair Kit
The Japanese art of kintsugi – where broken objects are fixed with golden glue – is based on the philosophy that things can become more beautiful through their imperfections. We think that’s rather lovely. This set comes with enough glue ingredients to fix several objects, plus two bowls to practice on.
Make Your Own Print Face Covering Kit 3 Pack
Face coverings are now a fact of life in the UK: they’re the required accessory on all public transport as well as shops. If you fancy having a go at making your own, this kit will see you making three triple pleated ones in different prints. It comes with three patterns of pre-cut fabric, six pieces of elastic, three nose clips, sewing thread, sewing needles and plastic clips along with a set of instructions.
Don’t worry if you don’t have a sewing machine - these masks can be hand-stitched too. An extremely handy kit to have and technique to learn in these strange times.
Pom Pom Banner Kit
Brighten up your walls with this banner kit which comes accessorised with playful pom poms. You can choose from a selection of positive phrases which all come with a natural cotton rope hanging. There’s also a sturdy paper 4-in-1 Loome tool along with a roll of merino roll in your preferred colour.
The only things that aren’t supplied are household items like an iron and a pair of scissors which you’ll need to complete the design.
Retro Arcade Kit
If your childhood was spent in the arcade, feeding pocket money into the machines, this kit will be right up your street. A step-by-step guide will see you put together a retro game arcade, complete with coin slot, LED screen and sound effects. The finished result should be a Pong-style tennis game - an iconic piece of gaming, as any true fan knows.
Print Club London x Luckies – Screen Printing Kit
Screen printing is a lot of fun and a perfect garden activity, but for the uninitiated it can be tough to understand exactly what equipment you’ll need. No such issues with this kit, a collab from Print Club London and Luckies.
It contains everything you’ll need as a first-time screen printer, including a step-by-step guide, water based inks, silk screen, squeegee and reusable templates. Get ready to breathe new life into tote bags, t-shirts, sweaters, dresses and lots more.
Other screen printing kits:
Lisa Angel Make Your Own Mini Crochet Basket Kit
You may not want to believe it, but spring will roll around in a matter of weeks. In the meantime, inject some cosiness into your homewares with this hanging plant pot which you will fashion yourself from crochet.
What you’re paying for is not only the kit, also instructions, yarn and the all-important crochet hook.
Tech Will Save Us DIY Synth Kit
It’s time to revive that faded dream of being a music legend, and this DIY Synth Kit is the first step on your journey to stardom. The kit takes you through the process of building your own synthesiser without having to embark on anything too technical or dangerous, such as soldering.
By the time you’re finished, you’ll be able to create a trio of synth sounds: a Dub Siren, Stutter and Atari. Don’t forget to thank us when you're collecting your Brit Award. Suitable for ages 13 and up.
reCAP Mason Jars Fermentation Starter Kit for Food Lovers
Fermented foods are incredibly good for your gut and overall health, so if you’re looking for easy access whenever you want, then consider the search over. This kit is ideal for anyone looking to make small batches of everything from kombucha to kefir and kimchi. Get started with the help of an instruction guide, three recipes and a packet of raw Himalayan Pink Salt.
Modern Calligraphy Set
The art of handwriting has been brought back from the brink thanks to this calligraphy kit. Made for beginners, the parcel includes a calligraphy workbook, nibs, handmade black ink and a nib holder. Everything is beautifully made and feels high quality and although there isn’t an instruction book included, there are plenty of tutorials to guide you online.
Ginger Fox Cactus Origami Kit
This kit contains a stock of colourful card, and instructions on how to fold it into five desktop-size cacti. If you’ve ever found yourself wishing for a risk-free opportunity to handle a cactus for an extended period of time, here it is.
Stanley STA0GR25 Heavy-Duty Glue Gun
A staple for everyone from builders to crafters, a glue gun is an invaluable tool to have at home. It’s biggest plus is its versatility: it works on wood, plastic, metal, glass, ceramics, rubber, leather, paper, card, fabric and polystyrene!
It heats quickly and bonds in 60 seconds using 25W. You can pick up glue guns in craft stores for less, but the robust, heavy duty feel of this Stanley model is reassuring and looks like it will last for 101 projects, and beyond.
Lampshade Making Kit
If you have a specific look in mind for a lampshade but can't find anything like it online or in the shops, this is the perfect solution - simply make your own! This kit will show you how to make your own pendant or table lampshade using your covering of choice.
The straightforward instructions take you step-by-step through the process until you're left with a 30cm diameter x 21cm high lampshade that can hang from the ceiling or finish a table lamp. Your fabric covering is not included in the kit, which means you're free to use whatever you want - old clothes, worn bedsheets - to make a light covering that's uniquely yours.
#RaeburnAtHome DIY Panda Mascot
Making his eponymous label on sustainability, Christopher Raeburn is all about the modern three Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle. The label ties eco-responsibility with a streak of playfulness, best showcased in its animal mascots - which are now available to make at home for free.
Simply print out the pattern on A4, then pin it on off cuts or unwanted fabrics and stitch together using a machine or your hands. While the pattern is free, you can make a donation to Direct Relief, which supports frontline medical staff battling Covid worldwide.
