It’s a word that students dread (and frankly, you probably do, too), but it’s a necessary evil: Homework. After a long day at school, your students may not have much enthusiasm for homework, especially if they have to fit it in around sports, extracurricular activities, and family time. Still, it’s important that students practice and review concepts at home. Lucky for you, we’ve rounded up a few innovative homework ideas, giving you inspiration for alternatives to traditional homework.

Updating Math Homework

Perhaps more than any other subject, math homework helps reinforce concepts you’re teaching in class. Try these fun games with your students as an alternative to math worksheets.

Math is all around us every day, so use real-life examples to help students practice math skills. Assign homework that requires your students to bake something (measuring is math!) or send them to the mall with an imaginary $100 to record how much they could buy.

Alternatives to Traditional Reading Homework

Reading at home helps students build literacy skills. According to the Children’s Literacy Foundation, children and teens who regularly read for pleasure score better on standardized tests than their peers who read less. They also score better on writing tests as well.  Encourage your students to become lifelong readers by emphasizing the joy of reading for pleasure. Let them choose their books based on subjects or genres that interest them. Remind students that you can read anywhere. For a fun homework assignment, have students record the wackiest places they’ve read this week. Take a cue from this school and turn it into a competition.

For young readers, reading aloud can have immense benefits. For homework, partner with a local animal shelter and have students read aloud to the residents. If this isn’t possible, encourage your students to read to their pets (or stuffed animals if they don’t have pets) at home. Pets are great listeners, and they don’t judge!

Innovative Writing Homework

You may have had a pen pal when you were in school, but chances are your students have not. Encourage writing practice by pairing students with pen pals near or far. You can find school matches here, or you can think locally and pair students with people at a nearby retirement community.

Have students keep a journal as homework. Check out these fun writing prompts. Not only will they practice writing, but you’ll also get to know more about your students.

New Ideas for Social Studies Homework

Help students become good citizens by fostering an understanding of how government works. Use resources like this magazine to prompt them to create posters charting the branches of the government as homework.

Bring history to life by creating a living wax museum in your classroom. For homework, students can research their historical figure and gather costume supplies.

Having Fun with Science Homework

Assign your students the task of looking up…into the sky, that is. Print out a star chart for each child and have them explore the night sky with their parents. Have students report back on their findings—could they locate constellations? Planets? UFOs?

Hold a class science fair. Help students choose a project and complete it as homework. They can create a poster of their results to present to the class or demonstrate their project if applicable.

Help parents understand why you’re assigning homework and how to support their children with our parent guide.

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