These fun and unique classroom rewards could leave your students begging for more (work, that is).
I absolutely love that you are here, as an educator, researching ways to incentivize and encourage your students – and bringing some fun into your classroom.
I’m a parent, too, and educators like you are SO appreciated!
Below, find some seriously cool and unique classroom rewards ideas to help you along.
And, keep rockin’ all that you do!
Classroom Rewards Ideas
Below, you’ll find a mix of classroom-wide and student-specific rewards that are sure to get your mix of kids more interested and engaged in the learning process.
1. International Snacks Tasting Experience
Oh my gosh, kids & teens alike love to snack…amiright?
Go to an ethnic food store or the international food section of your own grocery store, and pick out some international snacks to try.
Then, set up stations around the classroom for different countries or areas of the world, and a snack to taste from them.
Hype this up as a classroom-wide reward for students, perhaps at the end of the semester, during holiday festivities, or end of the year – that you’ll set up snack foods from around the world around the classroom, and let kids taste test them.
Hint: Add in a pair of chopsticks for everyone for some extra fun, or chaos…and play some fun music from other countries. What a fun incentive for students!
2. Color in a Piece of Coloring Table Cloth on the Wall
Have you seen those huge coloring table cloths available now?
Flip them around and hang them on your wall.
Reward students throughout the year and build a classroom mural everyone can be proud of at the same time by allowing them to color in whatever spot they’d like.
Just think of their class pride when they see what they’ve created together come May/June!
3. Online Factory Tour + Sampling the Product
There are lots of online food factory tours, and allowing the classroom to choose from a list of them, plus fill out these free online factory tour printables, would be such a fun reward.
Especially if you keep some of the product by your desk and give each student a sampling of it in a paper cup during their online tour.
They’ll learn some about business, how some of the products they’ve seen on grocery store shelves are produced, AND get a yummy treat, too!
Here are a few you might consider offering (all around 10-15 minutes long):
- Lay’s Potato Chips Process Tour
- How Marshmallows Are Made Process Tour
- Nutella Factory Process Tour (from Farm to Factory)
In fact, if they like this a lot, you can reward them with it again, and they get to choose a different factory tour off the list next time.
4. Would You Rather 20 Minutes of Play
Would You Rather questions are absolutely fun and hilarious, and such a good time – you can reward your students with 20 minutes of just asking each other these silly questions.
Hint: Here are Money Would You Rather questions (for middle school, and for high school) that’ll teach kids more about their own Money Habits and Money Values…in case you want to keep things educational, too.
5. Set Up the Magic 8 Ball Station
Last year, I bought a Magic 8 Ball as a part-nostalgia, part-business purchase.
It sits near my desk, and I have YET to meet a child who, upon seeing it, doesn’t pick it up immediately and ask it questions.
Hint: The most common question? Is almost always a variant of “will I be rich someday”.
You can use a really fun tablecloth, a Magic 8 Ball, and a timer. Set it up in a corner, and reward students with 5 minutes of Magic Time to ask their most juicy questions.
6. Let them choose a Positive Vinyl Sticker
Vinyl stickers are SO trendy right now. They are pretty easy to remove, and teens love to stick them on folders, cups, notebooks, smartphones, backpacks…really anywhere.
Did I mention they’re cheap?
Here’s a fun set that works well. You can pile them all on a small table in the corner of your room, and periodically gift them as a reward to students.
Incentive for your students + a positive message they’ll see throughout their day = a win-win in my book.
7. Spin of the Group Prize Wheel
I’ve got kind of a fun way to get your students engaged in earning classroom-wide incentives.
At the beginning of the school year, assign a color to each student in the class, creating 3-4 groups.
Such as yellow, red, green, and blue.
Get one of these cool, cheap prize wheels, and make it so that every two triangles are the same color (cut out colored paper for this and tape it on there – OR, just keep the same colors around the wheel and make the groups accordingly).
Here’s a list of 23 small prize ideas for students.
Each time the class has won a classroom-wide prize, one student (or the teacher) gets to spin the wheel and see who the group winners are.
You determine how many spins the classroom has won, by the way, meaning one group, two groups, etc., could win something each time.
Then, the winning group’s colors are taken off the wheel and replaced with the color next to it that hasn’t been chosen yet (increasing their odds in the next round and creating a bigger motivation for a new class prize). When all groups have been chosen, start over with each color getting equal representation on the wheel.
Pick one of these classroom rewards ideas, try it out, and see how your students respond. You know them best, after all! You can also just try one out for one or two semesters, then choose a new one for the second half of the year.