@Psychedelic_Zebra I really am going to take you up on that hissing cockroach offer this spring. My son would be ecstatic.
My unique hobby, which my six year old son got me into, is collecting and pinning insect specimens. He’s been obsessed with bugs since before he turned three, and earlier this year asked to start a collection. I found kits online that were geared toward kids, and very quickly became almost as obsessed as my son. We spent a lot of time together this summer collecting bugs, identifying them, learning about them, and pinning them. When he found something new, we’d both freak out a little bit. This hobby led to raising monarch caterpillars and Carolina sphinx moth caterpillars. By the end of summer, he’d caught and pinned enough insects to fill two collection boxes.
It’s been really interesting to see how my son learns from his collections. He’s happy with only one specimen of each insect, and even asked me to help him make sure certain butterfly specimens were male instead of female before adding them to the collection. His reason: females lay the eggs, so we should be careful not to kill one. It’s not so much my hobby as a partnership, but I can’t pretend to be as involved and fascinated as he is!
I also like to photograph insects, and am saving up for a good macro lens. I finally got the camera I wanted and took some great pictures this summer, but that macro lens would really be nice. :)