Want to Try a New Hobby? These 7 DIY Kits Are Beginner-Friendly and Start at $10

We’re all spending a little more time at home these days—and while we love a good Netflix binge, you might find yourself itching to try something new. The good news: If you’ve been meaning to pick up a new crafting hobby, you can totally do it from the comfort of your home. These DIY kits ship straight to your door, and the projects inside are completely beginner-friendly.

Try a kit from Rolife, which offers miniature versions of a kitchen, greenhouse, library, and more. All come with the pre-printed pieces; you just need to cut them out with your own scissors or craft knife and paste them in place with the included glue. My boyfriend’s sisters are big fans and say it’s a meditative hobby that’s easy to do while watching TV or listening to a podcast (their creations are shown above). The best part: Rolife’s offerings are all Prime-eligible.

Buy: Rolife DIY Miniature Kit, $34.99 each at Amazon

Pick up a kit from Bluprint’s The Stranded Stitch, which features 16 different patterns in its shop. Each comes with the embroidery hoop, cloth, embroidery floss, cross stitch needle, pattern, and basic cross stitch instructions. None of the kits top $20 and all have $5 flat rate U.S. shipping.

Buy: Desert Cacti Cross-Stitch Kit, $18 at Bluprint

Order a kit from We Are Knitters, which has tons of projects to choose from (levels range from Beginner to Advanced). All kits come with the necessary yarn, needles, and instructions. For nearly-instant gratification, they recommend a smaller project, like a scarf or snood—you’ll be able to see the results of your labor faster. But We Are Knitters also just released its 2020 home decor collection, which includes blankets, pillows, and a basket in colors and textures that pull inspiration from Yucatán, Mexico. That includes the Merida blanket above (level: Easy). Through 3/22/20, all U.S. orders include free shipping.

Buy: Merida blanket, $110, at We Are Knitters

Order a kit from Michaels that includes everything you need to create a needle felted llama. There are other adorable animals to pick from, too (a tiny fox! an equally tiny flamingo!), and they’re all priced at a very affordable $9.99 apiece. Once you’ve mastered the individual animals, try a larger kit (like this one from Etsy) to create an entire menagerie.

Buy: Dimensions Needle Felting Kit, Llama, $9.99 at Michaels

The Woolery offers a kit to create the leafy design shown above, among others. The kits start at $14.99 each, excluding the punch needle tool and hoop; both are available on the site.

Our own house tours editor Adrienne Breaux is a punch needle fan (her favorite punch needle Instagram follow: Rose Pearlman) and swears needle punching is super forgiving and easier to learn than it looks. “Unlike most other needle crafts, punch needle has one of the smallest hurdles to overcome to learning it AND sticking with it,” she says. “There’s no tiny needle to thread, the needle STAYS threaded throughout much of the work, and there aren’t a ton of complicated stitches or knots to learn… there’s just one basic movement. And needle punching is so easy to fix when you make a mistake; you can undo stitches by literally just tugging on the yarn, you can re-punch over trouble spots. I could go on and on and on.”

Buy: Punch Needle Kit (Leaves), $14.99 at The Woolery

Wildflower Art Studio has a comprehensive beginner kit that includes 12 watercolor paints, a mixing palette, two paintbrushes, oil pastels, a micron pen, paper, and more. The kit also comes with a beginner project guide to follow along with. Wildflower Art Studio also offers online classes, so you can expand your projects once you master the basics.

Buy: Watercolor Kit, $65 at Wildflower Art Studio

Grab a loom and yarn kit from Wool Couture Company on Etsy. The kit includes a lap loom plus the yarn you’ll need to make the hanging above—and you can choose from 10 different color combinations.

Buy: Wool Couture Company Weaving Kit Small, $31.14 at Etsy