"educational exercises, schoolwork," 1923, American English, from activity.
Entries linking to activities
activity n.
c. 1400, "active or secular life," from Old French activité, from Medieval Latin activitatem (nominative activitas), a word in Scholastic philosophy, from Latin activus "active" (see active). The meaning "state of being active, briskness, liveliness" is recorded from 1520s; that of "capacity for acting on matter" is from 1540s. As "an educational exercise," by 1923.