Need a New Hobby or Skill? Free Tutorials Can Help

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I admit it: I am a YouTube addict. I love the ability to jump on that website and learn pretty much anything that I want by watching a video or two. It’s so much easier than reading a pattern or how-to book.

Sometimes, though, I can’t find exactly what I’m looking for. A while back, I wanted to learn to scrapbook, but the tutorials I found there weren’t exactly what I was looking for. They were either intimidating or too frilly and girly (which is surprising if you know how frilly and girly I can be).

I kept looking and searching until I found just the right place that had the tutorials I wanted. This gave me the idea to share my favorite, best-ever websites and tutorials with you.

Scrapbooking, paper crafting, and mini-albums

Check out all of these tutorials on My Craft Channel. I especially like the Heidi Swapp ones. She makes creating a beautiful project look easy and actually attainable. You are likely to see lots of her products if you shop in craft stores.

I like the early seasons’ Teresa Collins tutorials, too. If I can create something nice from watching these, you definitely can.

Music lessons

The BBC was nice enough to compile this list of free music lessons. These are gems, and my college professor even directed me to some of these in my music theory class. Check them out if you want to learn to read music, sing, or to play the piano or guitar.

Sewing and quilting

There are lots of sewing tutorials on YouTube, but these tutorials by Jenny Doan are my hands-down favorite. If you weren’t a natural whiz in home ec class and were maybe even sewing-challenged, these are the ones for you.

She shows step-by-step instructions for quilting and sewing projects that are placed in levels from beginning to advanced. Try one. You’ll be hooked.

Other crafts

Creativebug has some tutorials that you have to pay for, but there are also free offerings. I splurged and paid the $10 fee for the tutorial for making baskets from rope. These baskets are quick to make and are beautiful. I’m a fan of anything that makes me look more talented than I am, and this one was great. There are tons of choices here.

Workouts

My superhero trainer, Brooke, is training for a Spartan race, and she loves the Spartan website for its exercise tutorials. Even if you aren’t interested in participating in an official race, you can sign up for the daily workouts. They will send you an email that shows you a list of exercises to do that day. The explanations and photos are really helpful for getting each move just right.

You can check out Spartan’s YouTube page for video tutorials about the exercises, too. If you do want to try a Spartan race, you can check here for events in your area.

BeFit is another great YouTube channel with everything from cardio to pilates to yoga. I love the diversity of helpful videos.

Math tutorials

I hate to admit that, even though I ended up taking many more math classes in college than is typical for an English major, I have the hardest time remembering how to handle math problems that my high schooler encounters. My favorite go-to place for math help is Khan Academy on YouTube.

The channel covers every math concept that you can imagine. If you are struggling to help your child, or yourself, with math, you really must check out these tutorials. Khan Academy even have science tutorials.

Back-to-basics skills

Old Fashioned Families may not link to instructional videos, but it contains a plethora of how-to advice about subjects like canning foods, dehydrating produce, gardening, children’s crafts and so many more that I can’t name them all. If you are searching for information on back-to-basics skills, this is your site.

Girls’ hairstyles

I’d love to tell you that I had my daughters’ hair fixed beautifully with elaborate braids every day when they were growing up. Unfortunately, I really struggled with this one. By the time I’d get all but the simplest of braids completed, they’d be practically in tears, and I was completely frustrated. I wish I’d found this awesome YouTube channel called Cute Girls Hairstyles.

Educational printables and activities for kids

DLTK has simple and printable activities to keep your child occupied. If you have never used some of these crafts for your kids, you’re missing out.

I’m betting you’ll love School Express, which has thousands of free printable worksheets. However, you may have to wade through downloadable activities that aren’t free of charge. The good news is that those are usually reasonable, too.

ABC Teach is a favorite for teachers. It has an amazing amount of educational curricula for fee-paying members. Membership even allows you to create customized worksheets. However, there are thousands of free printable activities that you can access for your child. If you are a home-schooler, you will want to check this out.

Before we had the Internet, people learned skills the old-fashioned way. They checked out books from the library or had somebody teach them. Of course we can still learn things that way, but the Internet has made tutorials so much more accessible and quick. Have fun learning a new skill with these sites.

Do you have any favorites? Share them with our readers below or on our Facebook page.

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