Niche Extracurricular Activities for High Schoolers

Scrabble

Scrabble is ideal for students who enjoy language, strategy, and mental challenges. It strengthens vocabulary, analytical thinking, probability assessment, and pattern recognition.

A high-schooler can maintain about three to five hours a week through practice games and online tournaments.

This activity can lead to participation in national and international competitions (yes, they exist), setting up Scrabble clubs, mentoring younger students, and building a strong academic extracurricular profile.

Beekeeping

Beekeeping suits students passionate about ecology, biology, sustainability, and hands-on learning. It develops environmental awareness, responsibility, and basic agricultural science knowledge, and also teaches small-scale product creation. (I wanted to do this, and although my parents said no I did research it and it is quite low budget, and a skill worth learning especially as bees are becoming more and more endangered, I will definitley try going into this once I am in college; if I can afford it that is)

Since beekeeping requires minimal maintenance, around one to three hours a week is sufficient; it is also a relatively low-budget endeavor.

Students can expand into honey or wax product sales, environmental school projects, science fairs, or urban ecology advocacy.

Slime Business for Social Causes

A slime-making micro-business is perfect for creative and entrepreneurial students interested in crafting and fundraising. It teaches budgeting, marketing, branding, product design, and community engagement. (I was watching one of those "how I got into UChicago/UC Berkley/UCLA videos, and the guy spoke about his slime business and how he scaled it during COVID, and I just thought it was so cool, linking the video here)

Time commitment ranges from two to six hours a week, mostly for production and sales.

This activity can evolve into a school stall, an online store, or a sustained fundraising initiative, providing real experience in youth entrepreneurship.

Woodworking

Woodworking fits students who enjoy building, design, engineering concepts, and practical creation. It cultivates spatial reasoning, tool literacy, planning, craftsmanship, and patience. (I did woodworking as my MYP personal project, building children's toys. Honestly, it is a pretty solid workout and helps clear your mind of things because of how loud it is.)

Once a week, as your commitment is enough to steadily improve skill.

Woodworking can lead to larger design projects, participation in maker fairs, furniture-building for school clubs, or portfolio pieces for engineering, architecture, or design applications.

Podcasting

Podcasting is great for students who enjoy speaking, storytelling, or exploring niche topics in depth. It develops research skills, communication, interviewing techniques, audio editing, and content planning.

Students can manage a realistic commitment of one to four hours each week, depending on episode frequency.

Future opportunities include building a digital portfolio, interviewing local experts, creating youth media collectives, or contributing to school publications.

• Deep Dive into a Specific Historical Period

  This hobby is well-suited to students with an interest in the humanities, political science, and academic research. It develops historical reasoning, analysis of sources, academic writing, and synthesis of large amounts of information. One to three hours a week is enough to maintain consistency. Students can turn this into essays, competitions, mini-documentaries, school exhibitions, newsletters, or a research portfolio.

  
  

• World-Building from a Fictional Series

  Students who love fantasy, writing, gaming, or storytelling thrive in world-building. It strengthens creative writing, narrative development, map-making, lore creation, and imaginative reasoning. Time commitment is flexible—one to five hours a week, depending on the depth of world design. This can grow into short stories, campaigns for tabletop games, illustrated maps, fan projects, or self-published content. For example, the Harry Potter world has so many unexplored characters by mainstream media, so it would be fun to dive deep into that (it's something I've been considering for a while).

  
  

• Reddit Post Reactions (Structured Commentary)

  This is for students interested in digital culture, sociology, humour, or analytical commentary. It improves critical thinking, writing, digital literacy, and online community awareness. One to two hours per week is sufficient. Students can expand this into a commentary blog, a newsletter on Internet culture, a youth digital literacy project, or media analysis content. (There is this guy on YouTube, Dylan is in Trouble who does something similar, so for inspiration, you can watch his videos).

Writing a Book

Writing a book suits reflective, creative, or academically ambitious students. It develops discipline, long-form writing, editing, and narrative structure skills.

Time is extremely flexible, ranging from one to seven hours a week, depending on pace and goals.

Students may pursue self-publishing, enter writing competitions (there are many out there if you just search short story competitions, or novel competitions with requirements ranging from 1000 to 10,000 words; these competitions can also act as a base for your writing to take off from), build an author website, or compile a portfolio for humanities or creative program applications.

Instagram Edit Account

This hobby is ideal for students who love film, media, design, or animation. It builds photo and video editing skills, aesthetic sensibility, visual storytelling, and digital branding.

Around one to three hours a week is enough to consistently produce high-quality edits.

It can lead to freelancing, internships in media teams, contributions to school film clubs, or participation in student film/art festivals.

(I had an edit account for 4 years during covid, and it was really fun to interact with a community of people with shared interests; its definitley something I want to go back to after I finish highschool - I am taking a break because I know if I start again I will get sucked into it and only focus on the edits, and nothing else in my life and I can not afford that right now lol)

Topic-Based Newsletter

This activity fits students who enjoy research, writing, and curating information. It strengthens writing, layout design, synthesis, and consistency in producing content.

Students can maintain a one to four-hour per issue schedule, depending on how frequently they publish.

Newsletters can evolve into school journalism projects, writing portfolios, collaborations with local newspapers, or community information efforts. (I proposed one at my school, and although it did not go through, the idea was to email the student body a weekly newsletter; it is very easy to adopt a similar model.)

Mosaic Art

Mosaic art suits patient, detail-oriented students interested in visual creativity. It builds precision, color theory understanding, and long-term craft focus.

One to two hours weekly is ample to complete small pieces.

Students can develop portfolios, participate in art shows, sell pieces at fairs, or collaborate on community murals.

Printmaking

Printmaking appeals to students who appreciate traditional art processes and repetitive yet creative craftsmanship. It enhances design thinking, fine motor skills, composition, and artistic technique.

A one to three-hour weekly commitment is realistic.

Future possibilities include zine-making, art booklets, portfolios for art school, and participation in student exhibitions.

Pottery and Ceramics

Pottery is ideal for tactile learners and students interested in sculpture, craft, or design. It develops hand-eye coordination, patience, 3D visualization, and artistic discipline.

Two to four hours a week is appropriate, especially if using a studio.

This can lead to selling pieces, entering competitions, participating in exhibitions, or building a 3D arts portfolio.

Soap Making

This hobby is suited for chemistry enthusiasts, craft lovers, and aspiring young entrepreneurs. It builds knowledge of formulas, safety protocols, product design, fragrance blending, and branding.

One to two hours a week is manageable.

Students can create themed soap lines, sell at school events, run eco-friendly campaigns, or present chemistry-focused projects.

Candle Making

Candle making fits students with an interest in scents, aesthetics, and craft-based entrepreneurship. It teaches product design, color mixing, fragrance balancing, and packaging.

A one to two-hour weekly commitment works well.

Students can expand into small businesses, create gift sets, collaborate with school fairs, or launch themed candle collections.

Quilting

Quilting is perfect for students who enjoy textiles, handicrafts, mathematics in design, and cultural art forms. It strengthens sewing skills, pattern logic, precision, and creativity.

One to three hours a week keeps steady progress.

Quilt projects can be exhibited, donated for charity auctions, or used to build textile arts portfolios.

Website Making

This hobby suits tech-oriented students interested in coding, design, or digital entrepreneurship. It develops HTML/CSS basics, problem-solving, UI/UX thinking, and digital organization.

One to four hours weekly is sufficient.

Students can build their own portfolios, create websites for clubs or small businesses, or pursue freelance opportunities.

3D Modelling and 3D Printing

This is ideal for students interested in engineering, architecture, product design, or animation. It develops CAD skills, prototyping, spatial reasoning, and mechanical understanding.

Two to five hours per week allows for steady project creation.

Students can volunteer as models or assistive devices for NGOs, join robotics teams, create design portfolios, or enter maker competitions. (My uncle told me about this volunteer opportunity regarding 3D printing that I am linking here)

Organic Farming

Organic farming suits students interested in sustainability, biology, food systems, or environmental stewardship. It develops plant science knowledge, responsibility, experimental thinking, and eco-literacy.

One to three hours a week is typically enough for maintenance.

This can lead to school gardens, community farming projects, environmental advocacy, biology research, or collaborations with local groups.

I hope this gives you guys some ideas for what you can pursue if you are interested in different things!