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Interesting ideas for primary homework

  • Author: Kevin Harcombe
  • Main Subject: CPD
  • Subject: Leadership
  • Date Posted: 12 January 2011

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Interesting ideas for primary homework

Evenings and weekends are precious to us all. So don't waste children's time, and your own, by setting dull homework...

Homework – a compound word that resonates down the chalk dust swirling corridors of all our school days. Home: warmth, security, a place to relax. Work: well, fill this one in yourself, why don’t you?

The point is, the two things don’t often sit well together and I have always been ambivalent about the value of homework for children under 11. An Ofsted inspector once told me that they’d stopped being critical of schools about parental attitudes to homework, because invariably half of parents thought the school set too little and the other half set too much, so schools couldn’t win (no change there, then).

Some parents think homework must be a ‘good thing’, without being quite sure why. They may have read it in the Daily Mail, or they may be of the “I had to do it and it never did me any harm” school of thought, in which case what’s wrong with flogging and outside lavatories?

These may well be the same parents who can remember how to do quadratic equations; unlike me whose secondary school child regularly weeps into her calculator at half nine of a Tuesday evening whilst bewailing the fact her parent is a mathematical imbecile. (Watch out, I riposte, it’s genetic.)

When homework has a positive impact

active homework ideas ks1

The nub of the matter is that homework is only useful when meaningful, related to and supporting class based work, well matched to the child, time limited and marked with top notch feedback from the teacher. Sadly, this is only the case in a minority of cases. Having got those longwinded caveats off my chest, here are some suggestions where homework can be manageable (for both the setter and the doer) and have a positive impact.

6 creative homework tasks

active homework ideas ks1

Interview a family member about their school days, work, play, food, etc. This develops questioning skills and can be recorded rather than written. Digital dictaphones are available for 20 quid and are within the reach of most schools. Results can be shared and presented in any way from a video presentation to a pie chart.

2. Pack a suitcase

Following some input on WWII and the mass evacuation of the young, set the children the task of making their own evacuation suitcase. (Some children will literally make one out of cardboard, but it’s the contents that are the key). What five things would they take with them and why? They can write this, or simply talk through their suitcase with the rest of the class. It’s the thinking behind this task that is the real learning. The speaking/ listening/writing is, as so often, a secondary benefit.

3. Flour babies

Read Anne Fine’s tremendous book of the same name, then provide the children with their very own flour baby (basically a 1 kilo bag of flour they have to look after as if it’s a baby). Children will draw faces on theirs, dress it, even push it to school in a toy buggy. Again, the real learning is in the thinking and empathy the activity generates.

4. Parent portraits

Sketch a parent in Henry Moore / Lucian Freud style, i.e. unflatteringly. It’s great fun, gives the parents a break from the child’s “I don’t know what to draw” cry and is a chance to look at more recent British artists.

5. Set up a museum

Our Y3 and Y4 children were recently given the task of designing their own Egyptian artefact at home. Resourcefulness from children – irrespective of family background – was stunning. We received several hieroglyphic scrolls (rolled up around cotton reels, rubbed with a tea bag to give the ageing effect) a multiplicity of pyramids (made from card, plasticine, lego), sarcophaguses, jewellery and lots of mummified Barbies and Kens. The class was turned into a museum, with carefully written exhibit cards and children curators on hand to explain the historical background to why the Egyptians valued these things, and opened up to parents and other classes on a Friday afternoon.

6. Serve breakfast

Sanctions for not having done homework don’t work, rewards do. Compare “If you don’t hand in homework you’ll miss break / lunch / PE / life.” With ” If you do hand it in regularly you’ll be invited to the end of half term Big Breakfast in the hall where your teacher will serve you toast, cereal, yoghurts, juice, etc.” Simple really, and a special occasion to look forward to at the end of half term.

Level the playing field

Set up a homework club…

For those children who don’t have access to books, internet, paper, pencils, scissors, glue at home, you could start a homework club and give those attending use of the school’s ICT facilities. For those familes who are ‘book poor’ you need to make sure your own library is well provided for. Last Christmas I asked assembly, “How many of you got some sort of a book as a Christmas present?” Less than half the hands went up. In the People’s Republic of Harcombe, when I get round to setting it up, the giving of books as presents would be enforced by presidential decree.

Throw the book at them

active homework ideas ks1

When parents ask about homework for their child I always respond that a) the best thing for a child to do of an evening is have some quality time with family and friends, sit down for a meal together, play a sport, learn a musical instrument or sing and not feel badgered into working all the hours God sends, and b) reading is just about the best homework anyone, adult or child, can do.

Parents don’t count reading as homework, see, and we need to educate them (this parent thinks homework is when you have indentations in your finger from holding the pen/tapping the keyboard for three hours, because writing is homework).

Time spent reading is seldom wasted and is either entertaining, thought provoking or informative or – just like this article, hopefully – all three. If you like you can structure what the children read by recommending lists (The Redlands Ten – ten books to read before you’re 10) to add a little challenge to the task. Local libraries might be able to help by ordering multiple copies of books for those parents that can’t/won’t buy them. Children get a certificate (and a book!) when they complete the ten.

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Fun Maths Activities and Investigations for KS1 and KS2 in Primary School

Anantha Anilkumar

Over the years, we’ve created lots of different fun maths activities and investigations to add to primary teachers’ toolboxes. Some of these maths activities mirror our online one to one maths tutoring programme, while others are more suitable for whole class teaching. We share here as part of our continual support for KS1 and KS2 teachers working in UK classrooms.

The purpose of these numeracy activities, especially the event-based ones, is three-fold:

1. To support you, the teacher, with problem solving and reasoning questions (with answers) and save you writing your own. 

2. To give learners the opportunity to see more everyday maths in context, and experiences of how maths reasoning really matters in the real world. 3. To add some variety and relevance to the maths lesson slides, questions and worksheets you may be doing with your class every day. We love what the White Rose maths hub resources provide in terms of weekly planning, but sometimes we may be looking for some more exciting, hands-on and fun maths activities, whether for Year 1 or Year 6.

Topical Maths Activities For The Term

Topical Maths Activities For The Term

Maths investigations linked to key calendar dates this term, designed to develop reasoning and problem solving in your pupils

Some of you may question the place that fun has in a child’s education , and whether fun maths lessons will achieve the long term goal of retention and retrieval. While we’ve all had a class which requires an upbeat tempo of fun games as part of their learning process, many children will experience cognitive overload if important new maths concepts are introduced through a game. You will know your pupils best in this context. 

The majority of maths activities and investigations shared below use a fun concept or relevant idea to develop children’s number sense, fluency, reasoning and problem solving skills in the pursuit of learning maths.

Follow the links below to find out more about the kind of maths activities and maths investigations we’ve got available to you.

Fun maths activities KS2 (with some KS1 in there too)

Fun outdoor maths activities 13 flexible and fun activities to do outside, many of which can be adapted for early years to Year 6; most of these involve some kind of physical activity and fine motor skill development, as well as treasure hunts for angles, ways to incorporate data handling, graphs and measurement into the school fair, and using mathematical skills to make mathematical connections to nature. 

Fun back to school maths activities teaching ideas to help you get back in the groove of maths lessons after a long summer break. These are summer maths activities the whole class can get involved in, some practising quick mental maths skills, others involving more complex reasoning, plus the odd card game maths activity as well.  

Fun end of term maths activities : We all know that by the end of the summer term the atmosphere in class tends to get a bit overexcitable. Here are some ideas to harness that excitement into some fun and lively maths investigations that recap children’s knowledge from across their year’s work from 2d shapes to averages and algebra.

Fun maths games for kids at home : This might almost be our favourite collection – one to hand out to parents for homework and homeschool; it includes home-made board games, fun ways to practise times tables and lost of fun games that help children with their maths skills and require only a pencil, a piece of paper and a pack of playing cards to get going. Essential for anyone undertaking any kind of home learning with their children. 

We’ve also now extended our maths games collections to include KS1 maths games , KS2 maths games , and even KS3 maths games .

Fun maths lessons for KS2 : a collection of our favourite fun maths lessons, suitable for Year 3 to Year 6 (ideal for after SATs) which include human bar charts, sharing 3D shapes, and planning the teacher’s next holiday! 

Fun maths starters KS2 : 15 of the best maths starters to help you introduce a new topic, consolidate previous work, or just to use as part of a maths meeting with your class, improving their mental maths – includes a printable version to use in school. 

Fun SATs revision games : Even 11-year-olds need a break sometimes, so we asked some fantastic teachers on Twitter what their favourite top tips for keeping SATs revision fun were, and here’s your answer – loads of great ideas in here for anyone teaching Year 6 .  Fun maths club activities : Provided you’re armed with some creative, open ended, and ideally practical maths club activities to give children, maths clubs are not nearly as hard to set up and run as you might first imagine. The benefits are manifold; this article has all you need to get started including several really fun group games specially designed for primary school maths clubs.

Fun maths investigations for topical events

KS2 maths investigations : For many years now, Third Space has been creating maths investigations for Year 6. We’ve now adapted them to be suitable across KS2. In the main, these tend to be open ended maths investigations, focused around key events in the primary school calendar. Some of these are also slightly shorter activities but they all require pupils to do extensive problem solving and reasoning based around events in everyday life. Here are some favourite KS2 maths problems solving investigations from each term:

Here’s our complete list of topical maths investigations for year 5 and year 6.

Autumn Term maths investigations year 6 and year 5

  • Autumn maths activities
  • Halloween maths activities
  • Bonfire Night maths activities
  • Christmas maths activities and Christmas maths quiz

Spring Term maths investigations year 6 and year 5

  • Heart Month Months activities
  • Shrove Tuesday Maths activities
  • Pancake Day Maths activities
  • World Book Day Maths activities
  • International Women’s Day Maths activities
  • British Science Week Maths activities
  • Holi Maths activities
  • Easter/Lent Maths activities

Summer term maths investigations year 6 and year 5

  • Share-a-Story Month activities
  • FA Cup Maths activities
  • Walk to School Week activities
  • Ramadan Maths activities
  • Child Safety Week activities

And if that’s not enough we’ve even got  maths activities  for Year 5 and Year 6 for events you’re likely to celebrate in primary school but don’t come round every year… 

  • Red Nose Day Maths activities
  • World Cup Maths activities
  • Election Maths
  • Jubilee Maths activities

Mixed ability maths investigations

We know most of you now teach mixed ability maths classes so something we’re often asked for is year 6 maths activities with a low threshold high ceiling . Take a look at these open ended maths investigations for Year 6 and the rest of Key Stage 2. You’ll also be able to download one of our favourite free teaching resources – 8 low threshold high ceiling activities including the famous fox chicken grain puzzle. 

We’ve also collected the best KS2 maths challenges here for any of your pupils who are working at greater depth in KS2 maths and need further extension in your maths lessons.

Holiday maths activities

We all know about the summer brain drain and how easily children forget what we’ve taught them but it can be difficult to know what to do about it. These summer holiday maths activities were created with parents in mind, you can also use these KS1 and KS2 holiday maths activities to give your pupils lots of fun maths challenges to do over the holidays. 

  • Year 3 holiday homework: Don’t Forget Your Maths Pack Year 2 to Year 3
  • Year 4 holiday homework: Don’t Forget Your Maths Pack Year 3 to Year 4
  • Year 5 holiday homework: Don’t Forget Your Maths Pack Year 4  to Year 5
  • Year 6 holiday homework: Don’t Forget Your Maths Pack Year 5 to Year 6

National curriculum maths activities for KS1 and KS2

The final way we’ve organised our KS2 maths activities for you is by national curriculum topic. We’ll continue to add to this section so bookmark this page and check back if it’s useful. Get started:

  • 35 times tables games
  • KS1 and KS2 place value games and activities  
  • 3 minute number facts activity  

DO YOU HAVE PUPILS WHO NEED MORE SUPPORT IN MATHS?

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Since 2013 these personalised one to one lessons have helped over 150,000 primary and secondary students become more confident, able mathematicians.

Learn about the emphasis on building a positive maths mindset or request a personalised quote for your school to speak to us about your school’s needs and how we can help.

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FREE 12 Maths Club Activities for Primary Schools (Years 1 to 6)

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Minimal resources are needed for each activity.

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Learn all about the topics covered in KS1 maths, explore our free resources and have a go at some practice questions!

• What do children learn in the KS1 maths curriculum?

• Topic guides and practice questions

• KS1 maths resources and activities

•   KS1 maths SATs: guides and resources

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Number and place value

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Addition and subtraction

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Multiplication and division

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Measurement

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Position and direction

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Fractions, decimals and percentages

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Choose a year group

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What do children learn in KS1 maths?

active homework ideas ks1

In Key Stage 1 (KS1), kids explore a wide breath of content to help develop their knowledge of core concepts and gain an understanding of how maths is used in everyday life. From fractions to shapes, they learn lots of key skills that’ll place them in great stead for KS2!  The main topics they learn about are…    

1. Number and place value: In the KS1 maths curriculum, children learn to count, read, write and represent numbers up to 100. They also learn how to compare numbers and use the place value system.  

2. Addition and subtraction: Children learn various strategies for mental and written addition and subtraction. They also explore number bonds, counting techniques and inverse operations.  

3. Multiplication and division: Kids develop their understanding of multiplication and division and learn how to solve problems using multiplication and division facts, arrays and pictorial representations.  

4. Fractions : Learners discover how to recognise, name, find and write fractions in relation to length, shapes and quantity.

  5. Measurement: In KS1 maths, children learn how to use appropriate units, estimate measurements and read scales, including length, capacity and time.  

6. Properties of shapes: Learners explore the fundamentals of shapes, including how to recognise and name different types of 2D and 3D shapes.  

7. Position and direction: Children  learn how to describe position, direction and movement, as well as how to organise objects into patterns and sequences. 

8. Statistics: In the KS1 curriculum, kids explore how to collect and organise data. They also learn how to create graphs and interpret data using a variety of graphs.

Meet Doodle, the personalised maths app that explores the whole KS1 curriculum!

Created by our team of teachers, DoodleMaths is an award-winning maths app that’s filled with interactive questions and games covering the whole KS1 curriculum.    

Designed to be used for just 10 minutes a day, it creates every child a unique learning experience tailored to their needs, boosting their confidence and ability in maths.  And best of all, you can  try it for free !  

active homework ideas ks1

Frequently asked questions about KS1 maths

DoodleMaths is an award-winning app that’s filled with fantastic maths games for KS1!

From working in a messy bakery to helping a monkey collect coconuts, all of its games are specifically designed to develop instant recall and mental maths skills, transforming learning into a fun adventure.

Best of all, all of its questions feel like a game, with every exercise using interactive activities and explanations to help bring the subject to life!

Create an account today to enjoy a free 7-day trial .

There are lots of ways that you can help your child or pupils to learn KS1 maths:

  • Rather than explaining concepts, use visual representations to explore them, such as number lines and grids.
  • Nothing beats doodling! Encourage your child or pupils to draw pictures to help them understand concepts or have a go at working out the answer to a question. 
  • Use real-life items to explore number, such as Smarties or pebbles. Encourage your child to sort the items into different amounts; doing this will help them understand concepts such as addition and fractions!
  • Boosting their instant recall skills will help them with their mental maths and speed answering questions. Learning times tables in a specific order and using fun activities is a great way to help with this!

An array is an arrangement of items (such as pictures or numbers) in columns or rows.

They let children visualise what happens when they multiply or divide numbers together, helping them master times tables and division!

Reasoning is basically detective work: it’s when learners use what they already know to work out the answer to a question.

For example, if a child knows what 12 – 5 is, they can use this knowledge to work out what 12 – 6 is.

“I know that 12 – 5 is 7. As 6 is 1 higher than 5, the answer must be 1 higher than 7.”

active homework ideas ks1

KS1 maths resources and activities

Looking for even more ways to support your child or pupils’ learning? We’ve got you covered!

How to improve at mental maths

how to improve at ks1 mental maths

Discover our top tips to help any child master mental maths! 

Outdoor learning activities for KS1

outdoor ks1 maths activities

When the sun is shining, there’s nothing better than taking your learning outside!

How to support your child's home learning

home learning ks1 maths activities

Practising maths ‘little and often’ is the perfect way to help kids develop their skills

Discover our top tips to help any child master mental maths!

When the sun is shining, there’s nothing better than taking your learning outside!

Practising maths ‘little and often’ is the perfect way to help kids develop their skills

KS1 maths SATs: guides and resources

In Year 2, children complete maths and English SATs papers. Explore what’s covered in the exams and how you can help your child or pupils prepare for them!

KS1 SATs papers 2024: what's included?

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See what’s covered in KS1 SATs and how you can help your child prepare for them

How Doodle can help kids prepare for SATs

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Our apps cover the whole KS1 curriculum, making them perfect study buddies

How to help your child prepare for SATs

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SATs may seem worrying, but these tips will help calm your child (and you!)

KS1 SATs papers: what's included?

See what’s covered in KS1 SATs and how you can help your child prepare for them

Our apps cover the whole KS1 curriculum, making them the ultimate study buddies

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Try our KS1 maths app for free!

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active homework ideas ks1

Your Career• 3 Min read

6th September 2020

Creative Homework Ideas

How can you create homework assignments that build on the day’s lessons and encourage creative, student-led learning? It’s a challenge for most teachers, especially as motivating pupils to complete homework can add a whole extra layer to your lesson plans. But it’s essential to bridge the gap between teacher and student learning –  the skills gained through independent study reinforces knowledge from your class, as well as a host of other benefits:

  • Extended learning time – outside of the constraints of the school day, students are free to learn at their own pace and in their own environment.
  • Independent learning – vital skills for exam preparation and higher education
  • Teaches students to be resourceful and to overcome challenges independently.
  • Gives students the freedom to be creative in their learning, gain valuable problem-solving skills and confidence in their own abilities.

Tips For Setting Creative Homework

  • Plan independent learning both in and out of the classroom – you can monitor students effectiveness and address issues that may arise in the classroom before they become problematic for pupils at home.
  • Don’t leave homework assignment to the end of the lesson, rushing through the task might leave some students confused which inevitably leads to a lower homework completion rate. Write plenty of time for explaining homework assignments into your lesson planning – read our Beginner’s Guide To Lesson Planning here
  • Homework should to not too easy nor not too hard, offering pupils a challenge that reinforced the topics learnt during the day
  • Give room for creative expression – allowing students to add their own diagrams, decorations or chose their own project topics from a selection. 
  • Try using peer or self-assessment to mark homework – a double whammy of reducing your workload and allowing pupils to take control of their own learning.
  • Include timings and explicit steps for completing more complicated assignments, especially for pupils that you anticipate might struggle. Comprehension of the task is the biggest hurdle in getting pupils to work on an independent basis.
  • Self-driven projects, posters, creative tasks and research are more exciting than standard comprehension tasks and might encourage pupils that find sitting and writing dull or hard to complete the homework set – give students the freedom to learn and be creative in their home study.
  • Provide specific instructions and internet safety reminders for research-led assignments. It’s very easy for children to find research overwhelming with a vast amount of information available online. Provide suggested websites and links in your homework to keep things on track!
  • Don’t introduce a new topic for homework – keep it to topics that you’ve already covered in class
  • Taking note of the subjects that excite and engage your class and set homework accordingly – try keeping dryer topics and  for the classroom so that you can monitor engagement
  • Mark work promptly – essential to keep students motivated to complete work in their own time!
  • Offering students the opportunity to select the homework that they would like to do from a selection guarantees a higher rate of completion. We’ve seen some teachers create grids or sheets of homework assignments for the pupils to select, or offer baskets of activities for younger children to take home and complete with an adult.

Creative Homework Ideas For All Ages

Coming up with innovative ways for students to reinforce their knowledge at home can be difficult – many of these ideas would be suitable for lots of subjects with a little tweaking!

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active homework ideas ks1

20+ creative alternative homework ideas for teachers

active homework ideas ks1

When giving homework, it must always be based on learning goals your students have to reach, just like in your lessons. But it’s sad to see that lots of teachers are using homework as extra lesson time. Of course, as a teacher, you’re on a clock. But that doesn’t mean your students have to suffer from it and keep working on those boring textbooks and worksheets at home.

Consider goals like attitudes, real-life experiences, and practice, physical exercise, social encounters, creative solutions, and philanthropy as crucial as your lesson goals. These are things students don’t just pick up in your classroom. These are things they pick up in life.

In this blog post, I’ll give you some innovative homework ideas that will engage your students more. These alternatives to traditional homework will thereby also teach your students new things that can’t be taught in the classroom. You will find a variety of homework ideas: online and offline.

I will mention homework alternatives for primary school and high school. Some of these ideas can be changed a little bit, so they are the perfect fit for the right audience.

20 Creative homework ideas

You can divide homework tasks into the following themes or categories:

  • Crafts & arts
  • Outdoor activities & outings
  • Games and activities
  • Physical activities
  • Digital or computer activities
  • Philanthropy & social work
💡 Good to know : all the ready-to-use homework activities are created with BookWidgets . You can easily create activities like these yourself or duplicate an activity below for free, edit it if needed, and share it with your students. You can do so in the examples separately, or you can find all the homework examples in the BookWidgets Blog group folder .

Crafts and arts homework

1. prepare a dish from a recipe book.

active homework ideas ks1

2. Make a board game

active homework ideas ks1

3. Create a birdhouse

active homework ideas ks1

4. Transform a fictional book character into a hand puppet

active homework ideas ks1

Outdoor homework activities and outings

5. coupon game.

active homework ideas ks1

Students can also go grocery shopping with their parents. Here, they have to read the ingredients of the products and help their parents choose the healthiest products for the best prices, figure out the best deal between the sizes of items, …

6. Visit the zoo

active homework ideas ks1

7. Visit the local dumping ground or container park

active homework ideas ks1

8. Build a tree house

active homework ideas ks1

Games and activities as homework

9. bookwidgets games.

active homework ideas ks1

10. Minecraft

active homework ideas ks1

11. Play Cards

active homework ideas ks1

12. Play Zoo Tycoon or Rollercoaster Tycoon

active homework ideas ks1

Physical homework activities

13. rope skipping.

active homework ideas ks1

Many rope-skipping songs let your students do different tricks while rope-skipping. This is an excellent opportunity for homework as well. Ask your students to transform a rope skipping song into a song with lesson content. Let them count or spell or even sum up the different states or capitals. To engage their lifestyles even harder, you can additionally give them the assignment to create a TikTok in which they are jumping and singing.

Click here to see how you can get Tiktok more involved in the classroom.

14. Walking quest

active homework ideas ks1

If there aren’t any walking quests in the neighborhood, you could ask your students to create a walking quest like this for their fellow students. What a fun day it will be!

15. Obstacle Quiz

active homework ideas ks1

In order for students to answer the questions, they have to run and pass a challenging parkour. This is a fun homework exercise, and in the end, it’s a great lesson starter or lesson end.

16. Swimming games

active homework ideas ks1

After the activity, they can fill out an Exit Slip:

Swimming games

Digital or computer homework activities

17. create a picture album.

active homework ideas ks1

This teaches them to handle the online software, add pictures and write without spelling mistakes. And of course, creating memories is so much fun!

18. Video job application

active homework ideas ks1

19. Your life in 10 minutes - video

active homework ideas ks1

20. Email pen-pals

active homework ideas ks1

Is it still too complicated? Read the messages from your students, before they send them, and provide them with some feedback.

Email pen-pals

Philanthropy and social homework

21. grow a community garden.

active homework ideas ks1

22. Help in a retirement home

active homework ideas ks1

23. Help at a homeless shelter

active homework ideas ks1

24. Collect litter

active homework ideas ks1

Here’s another homework tip: Don’t call homework “homework”. Call it a challenge. Homework has become a negative word for students, and I bet they start rolling their eyes as you even mention the word.

Still looking for more inspiration? Check out the blog on short films and lesson activities that spice up your Google Classroom . Tip: even if you don’t use Google Classroom, there is a lot of inspiration back here.

Above you have read single assignments. But, you also have the option to involve your homework in a project. Find out more here .

So, as I mentioned earlier, there are many fun alternatives to traditional homework. Now it’s up to you to apply this in the classroom as well. In this folder , you will find all the examples you have come across.

Which idea do you or perhaps your students like the most? Let us know on Twitter . Of course, there are many more alternatives. If you have other ideas, you are always welcome to share it with other teachers in our Facebook group .

One more thing: don’t forget to say hi👋 on LikedIn .

20+ creative homework alternatives

Join hundreds of thousands of subscribers, and get the best content on technology in education.

BookWidgets enables teachers to create fun and interactive lessons for tablets, smartphones, and computers.

active homework ideas ks1

Science fun at home

Science Fun at Home

Animals, Biodiversity & Habitats, Energy, Forces, Light, Plants, Properties & Uses of Materials, Sound, Space, States of Matter

Outdoor Learning, Practical Science, Science Enquiry

5-7, 7-9, 9-12

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Practical activities to support learning science at home or at school.

Science Fun at Home provides simple and engaging practical science activities. Originally created to support learning at home, the activities are equally useful for learning at school. The activities are open ended and adaptable for any age.

Each two-page sheet has activities that are:

  • clear and simple, using household resources
  • accessible and manageable for all
  • fun for children and their families to do
  • linked to follow up activities

The Science Fun at Home resources were created by Ali Eley (Outreach Director) and Tom Holloway (Regional Mentor) working with Science Sparks .

  • Clear filters
  • All Science Topics Animals Biodiversity & Habitats Energy Forces Light Plants Properties & Uses of Materials Sound Space States of Matter
  • All Activity Types Outdoor Learning Practical Science Science Enquiry

Two fish and glass

Energy, Light

National Puzzle Day

Outdoor Learning, Practical Science, Science Enquiry | 5-7, 7-9, 9-12

Two children running

Christmas Special

Practical Science, Science Enquiry | 5-7, 7-9, 9-12

Nose and air spray

Plants, Properties & Uses of Materials, States of Matter

Clean Air Day

National story telling week

Forces, Light, Properties & Uses of Materials

National Story Telling Week

World ocean day activity

Biodiversity & Habitats, Forces, Properties & Uses of Materials

World Oceans Day

World space week activity

World Space Week

Products made from wood

Plants, Properties & Uses of Materials

National Tree Week

Crocodile illustration

Animals, Space

Roald Dahl Day

Liquid science activity

Properties & Uses of Materials, States of Matter

Liquid Science

Rainbow

Light up Science

Two flowers

Science Flowers

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Science & STEM Clubs

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Science for One

Indoor and outdoor practical science activities for one child.

upper primary students observing a science investigation in their classroom

Did you know?

Did you know? resources explain cutting-edge research to children with articles and helpful teacher guides.

Starters for Science

Starters for Science

A series of five-minute videos to support teachers to get started with practical enquiry.

Safety Notice & Disclaimer

PSTT advises teachers to refer to either the  CLEAPSS  website or  SSERC  website for up to date health and safety information when planning practical activities for children.

PSTT is not liable for the actions or activities of any reader or anyone else who uses the information in these resource pages or the associated classroom materials. PSTT assumes no liability with regard to injuries or damage to property that may occur as a result of using the information contained in these resources. PSTT recommends that a full risk assessment is carried out before undertaking in the classroom any of the practical investigations contained in the resources.

All materials are ©Primary Science Teaching Trust (PSTT) and are freely available to download and share for educational purposes. Whilst educators are free to adapt the resources to suit their own needs, acknowledgement of copyright on all original materials must be included. Rights to images included in the resource have been purchased for PSTT use only – as such, these images may only be used as part of this resource and may not copied into or used in other materials.

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Castle Topic Homework Grid

Castle Topic Homework Grid

Subject: History

Age range: 5-7

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

MissPrimary's Shop

Last updated

25 February 2019

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docx, 15.4 KB

16 options for homework relevant to the Castles topic. Suitable for KS1 or lower KS2. Includes english, science, history, art and design.

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Castles Topic year 2

Refers to the national curriculum objectives for history, geography, art and D+T. This bundle includes a terms worth of topic lessons and resources including ActivInspire flipcharts and worksheets with success criteria.

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IMAGES

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  3. KS1 Homework Activity Pack (teacher made)

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  6. KS1 HOMEWORK PACK 2

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COMMENTS

  1. KS1 Homework Activity Pack (teacher made)

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    6 creative homework tasks. 1. Ask questions. Interview a family member about their school days, work, play, food, etc. This develops questioning skills and can be recorded rather than written. Digital dictaphones are available for 20 quid and are within the reach of most schools.

  5. KS1 Homework Activity Pack (teacher made)

    Encourage Year 1 and Year 2 children's creativity with these fun homework worksheets. With bright graphics and engaging content, this pack contains a variety of cross-curricular, seasonal and themed homework activities. They can be used over the course of a series of lessons. The worksheets for 6-year-olds and 7-year olds are designed to engage ...

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    This resource contains a grid of 44 tasks that cover geography, history, science, maths, writing, and reading. Your students can choose which tasks they want to complete and how many they want to do each week. The tasks are designed to be creative, challenging, and relevant to the seaside topic. Some examples of the tasks are: ★ Write a story ...

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    Create a board game. Complete a quiz - you could also ask students to write the quiz in groups and then swap and complete for homework. Write a lesson plan for teaching the topic to a younger class. Teach the teacher - create a poster, Complete a series of exercises. Complete a family tree, real or imaginary.

  11. 20+ creative alternative homework ideas for teachers

    2. Make a board game. This is definitely one of the most creative homework assignments. Let your students come up with an idea for a board game about the lesson content. They have to make cards, and pawns, draw, write, cut, and paste. They have to use their imagination and inventive ideas to create a coherent board game. Click to open.

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    This useful list of activities should inspire you to take maths outside. Plenty of hands-on tasks and activities to encourage you to explore the possibilities of an Outdoor Classroom! Tags in this resource: maths-numbers-times-divide.pngoak-tree-with-green-leaves.pngsticks.pngChalk-2.pngA-Maze-From-Above.pngpurple-and-orange.pngChildren-Playing-Catch.pngshading.pngmagnifying-glass-4.pngSchool ...

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  19. Castle Topic Homework Grid

    Castle Topic Homework Grid. Subject: History. Age range: 5-7. Resource type: Worksheet/Activity. File previews. docx, 15.4 KB. 16 options for homework relevant to the Castles topic. Suitable for KS1 or lower KS2. Includes english, science, history, art and design.