As students, we typically spend seven or more hours learning, five days a week. After completing a day’s studies, most students receive homework, because teachers believe it helps reinforce knowledge learned in the classroom.
Rewarding carrying out tasks that originally seem unenjoyable can create a mental link between the once hated activity and a flood of feel-good hormones. This approach is the best way to make homework a more manageable task that you don’t have to dread but can actually train yourself to enjoy.
However, most students I know hate doing homework, and this mindset can negatively affect the educational experience and, from what I have seen personally, causes learning problems in the long run. The most common reason students dislike homework is that it often seems tedious and pointless.
No matter your opinion on whether homework should exist or not, for most students it is a requirement.
So in this post, we go through some ways you can start making homework less boring immediately.
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Why is homework boring for students?
Kids go to educational institutions to excel in their academic goals, and doing homework is an essential part of that process. Nonetheless, kids still consider it a tedious assignment. Here are several reasons why kids believe home assignments are a tiresome endeavor.
- It offers little to no enjoyment as it adds a barrier to students enjoying their free time.
- A huge homework load can cause stress in kids who see it as unpleasant and harsh.
- It can seem repetitive when students keep receiving one type of assignment, such as daily/weekly essays.
So what can be done to make homework enjoyable for the kids?
10 Methods To Make Homework Less Boring
If you feel that completing schoolwork is always tedious, you should consider the following ten techniques to make homework fun or at least less boring.
1. Find a Homework Buddy
Adults primarily work with other colleagues to achieve success in their various workplaces. The same notion applies to any learner or worker. Kids can do homework better and faster when they have a studying companion.
The studying companion can be a parent, family member, or friend. As a parent/guardian, you can sit with your child and do some of your office work while the child does their homework. This way, you can spend quality time, increase the kid’s concentration, and provide a fun and ambient learning environment.
2. Introduce Rewards and Incentives
Since homework rarely brings any enjoyment, you can avoid boredom with some motivation such as an incentive or reward. Children who work hard to complete their assignments can receive additional screen time on game consoles or smart devices.
Such incentives can help alleviate the learner’s boredom and help them to associate homework with fun, enticing rewards.
3. Remove Any Distractions
Electronic media (such as social media) and noise can quickly distract learners’ minds and make them feel bored when doing homework. Therefore it would help if the student avoids noisy areas of the home and electronic devices such as phones and tablets unless they’re using them for educational purposes.
This technique helps to improve mental concentration and allows children to do homework for longer without experiencing boredom.
4. Set Fixed Breaks
It’s easy to experience mental burnout when working on challenging homework assignments for extended periods. With time this leads to homework being associated with strenuous rational thinking and boredom.
You can avoid such an occurrence by splitting an assignment into several learning intervals. As a learner, if you have 20 mathematical questions to complete, you can do half of the first, then take a 5-10 minutes break. Afterward, you can complete the rest of the math problems. Just make sure to set out the specific length of the break before taking it to avoid procrastination.
5. Bring Snacks
Homework is a mentally stimulating activity that uses up your energy quickly, especially when handling complex assignments.
Eating light snacks such as apples, chocolate, bananas, blueberry scones, coconut bars, and muffins before or after doing your homework helps keep boredom and pangs of hunger at bay.
6. Try Using Learning Apps
Nowadays, many children are familiar with electronic and online learning. You can find numerous great apps that offer educational support and encourage learning by providing a fun approach to problematic questions.
Such E-learning apps know how to make homework fun and can help kids simplify their homework. It is often more natural for kids now to carry out work on electronic devices than paper because they are so much more comfortable and used to working in this way. However, parents should always consult their children’s teachers to help them identify which e-learning apps relate well with what the children learn in school.
7. Go Outdoors
Doing your assignments outside is one of the simplest methods to make homework less boring. An outdoor environment provides you with fresh air that can help boost concentration and even set the mood for handling specific assignments such as essays on nature.
Countless academics recall revolutionary ideas coming to them when they were outside on a walk, so it can also provide some great inspiration.
Additionally, you can make develop fun outdoor learning activities such as using pebbles to solve mathematical problems. Playing a quick Frisbee or soccer game between homework tasks can also keep motivation levels high.
8. Roleplay
Students tend to grasp concepts more quickly in a classroom scenario when the teacher or other student explains them. As a parent, you can create a mini-classroom at home and have your child explain concepts to you and how they can use them to solve problems in their homework. If you want to see some of the whiteboards we strongly recommend for all students you can see that article here.
If you have young children, you can set up a mini-classroom using their toys and dolls. This roleplaying approach helps children to develop confidence while also making homework fun to do.
9. Change Your Outlook on Homework
Positive thinking can significantly enhance your mood and help you achieve tasks quickly and effectively. If you can change phrases like ‘I have to do homework’ to ‘I get to do homework’ you can become far more appreciative of how lucky you are to receive such a great education compared to those who are less fortunate.
If you stay upbeat and have a positive mindset towards school and homework, you’ll always be ready and motivated to handle any assignment. Parents who want to know how to make homework fun can assist their kids in having a positive mindset by praising their kids while they are trying their best to complete homework successfully.
10. Get a Tutor
The final resort in this list of methods to make homework less boring is hiring a professional tutor. If you struggle when doing homework and get bored quickly, a tutor can help you grasp concepts better while also making the learning experience more fun.
Professional tutors help improve a learner’s attitude towards learning and can help you attain better academic performance.
How to Make Homework Less Boring for Kids (How to Enjoy Homework)
For younger kids, the best way to promote the healthy habit of homework into something that is no longer a chore is through rewards, both verbal and physical.
Promoting an environment where homework is not looked down on by the adults the child surrounds themselves with but instead seen as something they should take pride in and put their best effort into.
If you place value on your child being the best at sport, academics, chess, or anything else you can think of, that culture in itself makes the child want to succeed to feel like they are pleasing you.
What you as parents are seen to reward and value are the skills that any child strives to develop. So it is important you show them homework is important and genuinely enjoyable. So stop referring to homework as a job or chore but as a tool to help them explore more of the world around them.
Sending these signals to your child can be done by rewarding your child with a ‘well done’ or putting work on a wall, showing you have a genuine interest and see the importance of what they are doing. Bigger things can be rewarded by physical things to mark their achievements and help create a better relationship with homework as they grow up.
Homework Reward Ideas for Kids
Sticker Walls
Schools use stickers to reward students, it’s a great idea for you too! If your child gets a sticker every time they try to do a bit of homework it creates a positive link between completing that action and being rewarded, leading to kids wanting to do more of it to get more rewards.
If you designate a wall or sheet of paper placed in a public place in your house to be used to stick each of their reward stickers, it acts as a public display of how proud you are of the work they are doing. Plus they’ll want to do more to get the happy feeling of earning that reward. You can see the stickers in the image on Amazon here.
If they achieve a milestone number of stickers you can also incorporate a larger reward such as a day trip somewhere or a new toy. Achieving the ultimate goal of turning homework from a chore into an opportunity in the eyes of your child.
Animal Pencil Erasers
Erasers are an everlasting companion for kids of almost every age because they are fun and sends the message that mistakes are fine. They can also be used in a similar way to stickers, as discussed above, with larger rewards like a trip to the cinema or a playdate being granted when they achieve a preset milestone of erasers for successfully completing small tasks.
This animal eraser pack consists of about 70 animals that improve your child’s learning abilities apart from using it to erase the mistakes on paper. Moreover, these animal erasers make the table look gorgeous. Learning new things get easier when they are mixed with fun and play.
The collection includes wild animals, teddy bears, and sea animals. If you are interested in getting some of the erasers you can see the erasers in the image on Amazon by clicking here. Also, each of them is detachable and your children can use them as puzzles that need to be joined to the right structure. If you want to improve your children’s creativity and imagination, you can never go wrong by using these amazing animal erasers as rewards.
Funny Binder Clips in a Jar
These cinder clips have smiling faces that resemble emojis. Meaning your children can organize the loose sheets in a better way. Assorted designs and colors will allow them to categorize their loose sheets better. This pack consists of 80 pieces and comes with a plastic container so that you can store them easily, you can see them on Amazon by clicking here.
But I know what you are thinking, what child wants clips? None.
Paper binding clips may not be the chosen reward of most kids BUT if your child works better for larger rewards over lots of small rewards they can be a great tool. Take an empty cup out of your cupboard and put it in a noticeable place, when your child fills it with binders they get… $5, a new toy, a day trip, or any other enticing reward.
If you give a paperclip for any positive contribution to homework the cup will always act as a motivation as they will always know what they are working for.
Scented Gel Ink Pens
Remember those scented pens that you had while you were at school? Now that you have your kids, make their homework less boring and more fun with these colored gel pens. The set contains 8 colored gel ink pens alongside 8 individual scents that improve your kid’s craft projects. You can find these specific scented pens on Amazon by clicking here.
The scents include black cherry, watermelon, cotton candy, blueberry pie, cupcake, bubblegum, strawberry, and mango. Moreover, the scents last for about 2 years for each pen. Now, your children get the amazing smell every time they use the pens to draw, sketch or write. It is a great way to make homework less boring by engaging as many senses as possible while working.
With these scented pens, your kids would stay engaged and always ready to show their creative work be it at school or home. They add an extra level of excitement to their daily writing activities.
Colored Pencils
Nothing beats a brand new set of colored pencils. So, if you are thinking about how to make homework fun for your children, this colored pencil set should be a great choice. Take a look at these Colored Pencils on Amazon by clicking here.
Whether your children are doing creative projects in the classroom or homework assignments, they will never get bored. The vibrant colors on those pencils feature a creamy texture that’s easy to layer and blend. Choose whatever colored pencils you want for your creative work and make the art stand out from the rest.
In short, they get a fun-filled environment to complete their assignments. This colorful pencil pack includes 36 different color shades for your children to bring creative ideas to life.
Electric Pencil Sharpeners
In automatic mode, all you have to do is press the pencil and the device sharpens it within 5 seconds. But it’s the buzz sound that one of these machines generates that captures any kid’s attention. It may sound silly but there is something seriously cool about one of these in the eyes of any child.
Want one? Check the latest price on Amazon by clicking here.
In Summary
Creating a positive reward cycle is the best way to make homework less of a chore. Unlocking things like social interaction, new toys, or a tasty snack, only after doing a difficult task like homework creates an association that changes your perspective and makes dread the obstacle of homework less.
