Unique Classroom Reward Ideas Your Students Will Love

In my classroom I loved using an economy system for behavior. Of course a perfect world would consist of students making good choices and doing their best simply because it’s the right thing to do. Oh, how I wish. Teaching would be SO much easier if that was the case.

But we’re in the real world where students don’t do what they are supposed to do. And this is why I love using a classroom economy. Instead of focusing on the bad behaviors I love to reward the students who make the good behaviors.

Instead of using a “treasure box” full of trinkets and prizes I like to use prizes and rewards that don’t cost a lot of money. I mean it’s not like you have just extra cash lying around as a teacher. I used Star Bucks in my classroom. Click HERE to see how I used my Star Bucks.

UNIQUE INDIVIDUAL PRIZE IDEAS

Stinky Feet

My students LOVED to take their shoes off during class. Not sure why but I took advantage of that. You get to put the limits on it….can be for the whole day, half the day, an hour, etc.

Happy Time

Getting to do whatever you want (within reason of course) for 15 or 30 minutes sounds like a dream, right? A student who loves art can draw. A student who loves to read can read. A student who loves time on the computer can play on the computer.

Parent Email or Phone Call

For students who don’t get a lot of good notes or phone calls home this is a special one. Send home a note or call saying what a great kid they are. They might even have a suggestion or two for you. I remember one particular student who chose this got THE BIGGEST smile on her face when we called her mom. She just loved it, and it made her feel so proud.

Sit in the Teacher’s Chair

I always had one of those super comfy rolling desk chairs in my classroom. And it was a big deal for one of my students to get this as a reward. I had to use their chair for the day. They would act like the king or queen for the day in my rolling chair. So fun!

Student Store

One year I had this idea to let my students bring in things from home and open up their own store (I had Fridays set as my day where students could trade in their for their prizes and rewards). To my surprise they loved it! Books were a popular choice to bring. I also let them choose how much they would “sell” their items. I realized they were receiving bucks for selling their items, but I also recognized how much they were learning in the process as well.

I have these reward ideas along with many others in my Fun Classroom Rewards & Prizes. I printed them out and laminate them so I could use them year after year. My students looked forward all week long to Fridays when they could redeem their bucks.

What are some of your favorite classroom prizes? I would love to hear your ideas!