It’s never relaxing to take your kids from one activity to the next, only to arrive home and discover that they have homework due the next day. When everyone is already tired and cranky, getting your youngster to pay attention and do homework can be a trying task.
Fortunately, there are a few ways that you can turn homework from a chore to a fun activity. Not only will you save yourself a nightly fight, but your child will likely reap the benefits of homework, both in the short and long term. Here are five easy ways to make homework fun for your young kids.
1. Set up a reward system
Set up a system with your child where they can receive tokens for completing their assignment without any whining or complaining. Your child could get different rewards for completing their homework, not complaining, and working independently. At the end of the week, allow them to redeem those tokens for a trip to the playground or a small toy.
2. Spend time with them
Instead of turning your young kids loose to do their homework on their own, make it more fun by working through it with them. Go the extra mile and make up fun activities, games, or quizzes to help them study and complete their tasks. Turning homework into an exciting activity that you do as a team will help them to stop viewing homework as a chore.
3. Make goals
Don’t make homework the final goal. Instead, frame it as a part of the larger goal of getting good grades. Give them small rewards for good grades and show them how those scores relate to the homework they completed. Associating homework with a broader goal will help them to better understand what homework is all about and why it is crucial to their success in school.
4. You do one, I do one
If you have a child who is super tired and spent, then play the “you do one, I do one” game. Let them do a homework problem alone, then help them do the next. The game allows you to reason through the material together, and they will feel like it is more of a community effort.
5. Play word games
If your young child has a seemingly endless number of words to memorize, play word games to increase their proficiency and their ability to remember. Make word associations by working together to find rhyming words to help their memory. Or, if spelling is the task, help them by making up spelling songs that you can sing together until they have it memorized. Homework doesn’t have to be about sitting still and doing worksheets – songs and rhyming are a great way to spice up memorization.
Homework is an essential part of learning, but if you have a little one who isn’t into it, you can help them by making homework time more fun. Find a way to add some pizazz to their work by creating a song game for word association or making it a community activity.
If your child needs a little extra motivation to sit down and complete their homework, check out Step2’s range of desks and organization centers. Your child will love working in their own learning space!
