PMDD brains often need outlets that are soothing, sensory, and expressive (like SeaPaint 🎨). Here’s a list of creative, PMDD-friendly hobbies that work similarly to SeaPaint, grounding, tactile, and mood-shifting.

  Artsy Hobbies

Using your hands with soft music playing in the background can help with grounding. Here's a few ideas. PMDD friendly playlist coming soon.

• Fluid art / paint pouring → the flow is calming, less “perfection” pressure.

• Clay sculpting or pottery → grounding, sensory, stress release.

• Collage journaling → mixing words + images helps externalize PMDD emotions.

• Tie-dye or fabric painting → low stakes, colorful, dopamine hit.

• Candle making → scent + color therapy combined.

• Jewelry making (beads, resin, wire) → small satisfying projects with quick wins

• SeaPaints - → soothing + color therapy combined. 

 Writing + Storytelling

A personal favorite of mine. Helps with both processing emotions and escaping them...depending on what you're writing, but that's the beauty of it. You get to choose the writing journey you'd like to go on.

• Zine-making → mini self-published “pamphlets” about your feelings/art.

• Creative journaling → mixing sketches, doodles, affirmations.

• Poetry bursts → short, raw writing that doesn’t need to be polished.

• Scrapbooking or memory books → organize happy memories to balance PMDD lows.

 Nature-Based Hobbies

Nature all on its own can be grounding, but pairing it with a soothing hobby to get you out of your head, makes it even better.

• Herbal crafting → making teas, tinctures, soaps, or bath salts (control + healing).

• Flower pressing + botanical art → collecting + arranging calm beauty.

• Gardening in pots → low effort, nurturing, cycles that echo your own.

• Rock painting → simple, portable, shareable (hide them around town for others).

 Movement + Sensory Play

Soft, repetitive movements can be soothing to the nervous system.

• Dance journaling → move your feelings out to one song a day.

• Fiber arts (knitting, crochet, macrame) → rhythmic, meditative.

• Embroidery → repetitive, mindful, and tactile.

• SeaPaints → colorful, mindful, and sensory soothing.

 Therapeutic Crafts

There's something about mindless crafts, that can help "bring us down a notch." 

• Vision boards → channeling hope when PMDD brain is dark.

• Resin art → preserving flowers, shells, or glitter in a way that feels permanent.

• Soap making → sensory + practical + creative.

• Origami / paper folding → calming, portable, structured.

• Hand lettering / calligraphy → flowy and meditative.

• SeaPaints → colorful, mindful, and sensory soothing.

✨These hobbies work best if they’re✨

• Low-stakes (no pressure to be perfect).

• Sensory-rich (color, texture, sound).

• Flexible (something you can drop when energy crashes).

• Cycle-aware (keep harder projects for follicular days, soothing ones for luteal).