60+ Classroom Reward Ideas

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Rewards can be a great way to motivate students, but that’s not their only purpose.

When done right, rewards recognize and celebrate success and inspire us to keep working. Just be sure to pair them with intrinsic motivation. For example, instead of just handing a student a piece of candy, say, “Wow, I noticed you worked so hard on ______. Here’s a piece of candy to celebrate.”

Sometimes, however, we teachers are stumped as to what exactly we can use as rewards. I mean, it’s not like we have hundreds of extra dollars lying around to give away. So what can we do?

Fortunately, there are a ton of free or inexpensive rewards you can give your students. I’ve recently been inspired by my son’s 1st grade teacher who has over 40 creative awards he gives when students reach their AR goals. 

So, we’ve assembled a list of ideas that can be used incentives or given as surprise rewards. Some work for younger students, some for older, and some regardless of age (you might be surprised how much teens enjoy seemingly “juvenile” rewards ?).

And with Christmas coming, these make great gifts for your class, too! (You can use this template here to make a tangible card to give your students.

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ideas for individual student rewards

1. A note (or email) of praise (written to the students)
2. Positive note/email sent home to parents
3. Homework pass (get to skip one assignment)
4. Skip the odds pass (get to skip the odd-number questions on an assignment
5. Delayed homework pass (get an extra day to complete an assignment)
6. Piece of candy
7. Dress down pass (get to wear casual clothes instead of school dress code/uniform)
8. Jeans day pass (get to wear jeans instead of school uniform)
9. Hat day pass (get to wear a hat)
10. Bonus points
11. Bake sale (buy students an item at the next school bake sale or fundraiser)
12. Slippers (get to wear slippers to school)
13. Teacher’s chair (students get to use your chair for the day/class)
14. Other special chair (any unique/flexible seating chair they get to use instead of their regular one)
15. Favorite shirt (students get to wear their favorite shirt instead of dress code/uniform)
16. Go first all day (student gets to go first in everything that day)
17. Lunch with the teacher
18. Treasure chest (pick a prize from a prize bin)
19. Favorite chips (you buy them a small bag of their favorite chips)
20. Sit with a friend (student gets to sit by their friend of the class/day)
21. Soda/juice (you buy them a can of soda or juice)
22. Play a game with the teacher (during recess, free time, etc.)
23. Stickers (teens enjoy these, too, even if they don’t admit it ?)
24. Pizza Hut personal pan pizza (Use their free Book It program to reward reading goals)
25. Award Tokens/Charms from Fitness Finders
26. Learning buddy (get to bring a stuffed animal as long as they are on task and not playing with it)
27. Scatter spots (get to work/read wherever you’d like in the classroom as long as they are focused)
28. New pencil
29. Invite a friend to eat lunch in your classroom
30. Write with a gel pen/special pen for homework
31. Get to use your special pen for the class/day
32. Classroom store (stocked with items from the dollar store and awarded for a certain number of classroom bucks. Or, ask families to contribute)
33. Teacher’s Desk (sit at it for one hour/class)
34. Show and Tell
35. Peppermints
36. Gum (either give it to them or simply allow it for one day)
37. Play a computer/tablet game
38. Go to recess (or be dismissed from class) 2 minutes early
39. Listen to music (allow music/headphones during independent work time)
40. Decorate a section of the class whiteboard/chalkboard
41. Have work displayed in classroom
42. Help the librarian/media specialist
43. Help one of the specials teacher
44. Get to choose which learning activity the class will do (from your list of choices)
45. Invite a parent or other adult to join them for a portion of the day
46. Go to the library to select a book 
47. Be a helper in another classroom
48. Choose music for the class to listen to together
49. Name on marquee outside school (or special spot outside classroom in hallway)
50. Read the morning announcements
51. Read to a younger class
52. Take home a class game for the weekend
53. Free entrance to school ball game or event
54. Earn chance to assist at sporting event
55. Dress up as the school mascot for a game
56. Introduce starting line up for a home game
57. Special parking pass for the day (reserved spot)
58. Custom medals (if a sports meeting or other competition is held, custom medals can be awarded to students who have performed well)

ideas for class rewards

1. Free seating day (everyone gets to choose where they sit)
2. Have class outside
3. Extra recess
4. Free time (even 5-10 minutes is appreciated)
5. Dance party
6. Play a game 
7. Bring in / make food for the class
8. Fun Friday (do something fun together as a class)
9. Movie during lunch

give as a christmas gift

Want to give one of these as a Christmas gift? Click the link below to request your free editable template. The default gives students a free homework pass, but you can modify the template to say anything you'd like.

Request your free Christmas gift template

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*This post is sponsored by GSJJ and Alchemy Tuition.*

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