8 Classes on Skillshare to Nourish Your Mind While You’re Stuck Indoors

If you’ve already exhausted your watchlist on streaming sites, you’re probably on the hunt for fun ways to keep yourself entertained during your newfound free time at home. How about picking up a cool life skill along the way? If you’re curious where to start, try Skillshare, an online resource with tens of thousands of creative classes taught by experts in their respective fields. From learning how to turn your favorite foods into frame-worthy illustrations to mastering calligraphy to launching your own fashion line, the classes are a great way to make the most of your time indoors. While you get limited access to classes for free, you can also opt for a premium account that lets you enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to the platform’s entire catalog. Membership starts at $8.25 per month, plus, right now, new members get two months of premium access for free. We’ve rounded up a few classes we’re excited to try ourselves.

You’ve likely seen illustrator Mikey Burton’s work on sites like Airbnb, Target, and even the popular show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. His 60-minute class focuses on mastering food-themed illustrations and is perfect for beginners looking to nourish the artist within. You’ll learn the basic concept of sketching, adding type, playing with colors, and finishing your masterpiece! Plus, it’s a cool skill to add to your resume.

Watch: Geometric Illustration: Drawing Your Favorite Foods

Smartphone cameras are so sophisticated these days that it’s completely possible to take professional-level images of your home-cooked experiments. Learn some neat tricks during this 30-minute session with @Lifewortheating food blogger Adam Goldberg, who’s been documenting his love of food to over 2,50,000 followers for several years now. Goldberg will teach how to frame a shot, edit images using simple apps, and find inspiration. It’s a fun class, especially if you’re looking to strengthen your social presence.

Watch: iPhone Food Photography: Capturing Coffee, Dessert, and More

In just a little over 60 minutes, perfect the art of pasta making with Nicoletta Grippo, head chef at La Scuola di Eataly in NYC’s Flatiron district. You’ll start with an intro to different kinds of pasta making techniques, understanding the science behind the dough and mastering cavatelli and orecchiette pasta shapes, and get a tutorial for making Eataly’s famous pesto sauce. Besides a cool life skill, it’s also a fun party trick to show off at your next virtual dinner party.

Watch: Make Fresh Pasta the Real Italian Way 

Michael Phillips from Blue Bottle will train you on the tricky process of sourcing, brewing, and tasting coffee beans to fine-tune your palate and elevate your morning cup of joe. Plus, you’ll also learn how to brew delicious coffee at home using whatever you have on hand. Yup, no pro equipment required! The almost 60-minute session has one of the highest enrollment rates and is a really fun way to deepen your coffee knowledge.

Watch: From Plant to Cup: Brew an Amazing Cup of Coffee

Macarons are possibly one of the trickiest treats to nail, but in just 15 lessons, you’ll be whipping them out like a pro! Start with understanding the anatomy of the macaron and build from there, learning how to make the meringue, pipe shells, whip up silky buttercream filling, and even experiment with flavors. The class is taught by Marie Asselin, a Québécois food writer who’s been nurturing budding macaron makers via her popular blog for over five years.

Watch: How to Make French Macarons

Once you’re done with this 46-minute class, you’ll never buy bagged tea again. Tea content specialist Nadia de la Vega teaches you how to steep the perfect cup using different varieties of loose leaf teas like green, black, white, oolong, and pu’erh. Plus, you’ll learn how to appreciate the nuances of each flavor and pair them correctly with different foods. Virtual tea party anyone?

Watch: Leaf to Cup: Learning About Tea

Nick Anderer, chef at popular New York Italian restaurants Marta and Maialino, will walk you through the steps of making authentic Roman-style pizza like the pros. In nine lessons, Anderer will deconstruct the tricky technique of making dough, rolling it out, dressing up your pie, baking it, and share tips on how to re-create the restaurant-style thin crust in your home oven. Once you’ve nailed the technique, you’ll be adding pizza to your regular weeknight meal chart.

Watch: Italian Chef Secrets: How to Make Perfect Thin Crust Pizza 

If a glass of chilled pinot or a plummy merlot helps you relax these days, but you’re not sure which one to buy, then Gary Vaynerchuk’s 55-minute class on how to shop for wine might be worth adding to your watchlist. A wine enthusiast and founder of WineLibrary.com, Vaynerchuk will take you through the key steps of how to taste, select, and shop for wine. He even dips into the fundamentals of sparkling, white, and red, rounding off his lesson with recommendations for each.

Watch: Getting Started with Wine: Buy Smarter, Taste More 

Which of these classes are you most interested in trying out? Let us know in the comments below!