7 Fun Ways to Boost Teacher Morale In Your School

Looking for fun ways to boost teacher morale in your school? You’re in the right place.

Morale in any workplace is important, but its particularly important in schools. Teaching is rewarding, but it can sometimes be an isolating field to work in. Having good teacher morale benefits not only the mental health of teachers, but the whole school community.

When teachers feel a sense of community and belonging at work, they are happier to be there, communicate better, and perform their jobs better. It’s win-win for school staff members, as well as the students.

Having worked as an elementary school teacher for 10 years, some of my fondest memories are the moral-boosting activities that we did as a staff.

I now enjoy providing resources for teacher morale and wellbeing, and supporting teachers and the education system where I can.

Here are some fun ways to boost teacher morale in your school that you can start implementing today.

Pro Tip: Keep in mind, that the activities below do not need to be reserved solely for the teachers at your school. Other staff members can be included too. We had the principals, educational assistants participate and it a great to way improve the morale for all school staff members.

Fun Ways to Boost Teacher Morale

There are many pros and cons to being a teacher, but one of the biggest upsides is the people you get to work with. Here are ways to connect, have fun and bond as a school staff

1. Staff socials

Staff socials are the most obvious, but also an important way for teachers to connect, get to know each other and build community in the school.

Since most of the school day is spent with students, its important to have opportunities to interact and make connections in a fun, low-key setting.

Even introverted teachers benefit from having extra interaction with their colleagues.

Some school organize socials sporadically, and some of them aim for a certain schedule (for example, last Friday of every month.)

The most basic staff social idea is drinks or appetizers after work, or a dinner out. I recommend having this once a month.

Other fun staff social ideas are:

• Bowling
• Axe-throwing
• A backyard BBQ at someone’s house
• See a lost of other unique staff social ideas here

I recommend having apps and drinks after work as a monthly staff social, and the above ideas are sporadic throughout the school year. Everyone was invited; teachers, support staff and even the principals.

Pro Tips: At our school, we coded our monthly staff social “choir practice.”

2. Treat days

Treat days are like a potluck, where anywhere from 2-5 staff members (depending on how big your school is) bring in snacks, finger foods and treats to share with the staff.

Treat days can be weekly, biweekly, or even monthly. The frequency might depend on how large your staff is and how many people want to participate.

Here’s how to organize treat days:

1. Gather the names of everyone who is interested in participating in treat days in advance. (It should be voluntary, not mandatory.)
   
2. Have a sheet listing the dates for every Friday or every other Friday (you choose the frequency) throughout the year.
   
3. Assign all the names of teachers and other staff members wanting to participate in treat day to the dates that there will be treat days
   
4. Post the treat day schedule in the teacher’s lounge, and send it out in an email, so everyone knows what dates they are assigned to bring in treats. They collaborate with the 1-2 other people about who will bring what on their day.

Treat days are a great way to for staff members share and connect – who doesn’t love food? Having some yummy eats in the staff room also makes a nice pick-me-up on busy days at work.

Pro Tip: One school I worked added Monday staff meetings as one of the treat days, so that we would have snacks to enjoy at staff meetings

Generally, people who opted not to participate in treat days shouldn’t take advantage of them, however – its not something that I would recommend policing.

From my experience, treat days usually have a high participation rate, so most staff members are likely to want to pitch in.

3. Mental health partners

Mental Health Partners was one of my favourite activities for boosting teacher morale at our school.

Mental health partners (MHP) was like a secret santa. Everyone who opts to participate is assigned to another teacher, and they leave little treats and gifts for them throughout the school year.

I recommend starting MHP at the start of a school year, but it can be started any time of the year, and continue on until the end of the year.

To run Mental Health Partners at your school, there will need to be at least one person who volunteers to facilitate to it.

Here are the steps on getting MHP up and running at your school:

1. Gather the names of everyone interested in participating in Mental Health Partners (hopefully you will get an even number so that you can participate yourself)
   
2. Match each person up with someone else. People should not generally have each other. It’s like a secret santa where everyone has someone else.
   
3. Have each person who is interested fill out a simple questionnaire. The questionnaire should have them answer what their favourite snack is, favourite chocolate bar, favourite drink, any allergies/dislikes, hobbies and things like that. (This helps their partner find good self care gifts and treats for them.)
   
4. Distribute the names as well as the questionnaires. Each person receives the name, and the questionnaire of the person who they’re assigned to.

There is no spending or frequency requirement for the mental health partner gifts and treats. People generally leave little surprises whenever they can.

Overall, at our school, I would say we aimed for 1-2 times per month to leave little treats for our partner. You could offer this suggestion as a guideline to everyone participating in mental health partners at your school.

Pro Tip: If someone were to go on leave or quit unexpectedly for some reason, then the person who runs the program could fill in so that their recipient isn’t left without a mental health partner.

If you decide not to run MHP at you school, then you could also consider running a Secret Santa before the holiday season if there is enough interest.

4. Warm fuzzies

Warm fuzzies are a great way for teachers and other staff members to give compliments and brighten each others’ days.

Personally, it was always one of my favourite teacher morale boosters, because it reminded me (even though I couldn’t always see it) that I had friends at work who appreciated my personality and my contributions to the school.

Warm Fuzzies will be something that will take place over 2 weeks at your school. Here’s how to run it:

1. Hand out paper bags and have each teacher write their name on them (and even decorate it a bit if you want.)
   
2. Hang all the paper bags up in the teacher’s lounge or staff room, and leave out a stack of small papers, with a cup of pencils or pens.
   
3. Remind staff members that the paper bags are up, and encourage them to leave little notes, compliments and words of praise for other members of staff. It can be anonymous or not – the purpose is to show their appreciation for people that they work with, or whose hard work they’ve noticed.
   
4. Leave the paper bags up for about 2 weeks to give everyone a chance to say the words they want to say.

It is so heartwarming to get these words of praise and complaints from other staff members.

Teaching can be a thankless job at times, and this fun way to boost teacher morale reminds them( and other staff members) that their hard work is noticed and appreciated.

5. Hire a yoga teacher

One of the most unique and fun ways to boost morale in a school that I’ve ever seen is having a yoga class after school for staff members.

One of our teachers took it upon herself to organize hiring a yoga teacher. Those who were interested in doing yoga once a week after school pooled together money, and the yoga teacher came to our school to run an after-school class in the library.

This was a fun way to calm our minds, refresh and destress after a day of work. We had a lot of interest and turn-out – even the principal decided to do the yoga class with us!

When you hire a yoga teacher, ensure that:

• you can agree on a time frame (such as, once a week for eight weeks.)
• you have enough interest to cover the payment for the yoga teacher for that time frame

If yoga isn’t a huge interest among the staff at your school, you could also consider another type of class, like Zumba.

Pro Tip: I recommend reminding the staff a few days before the first yoga class to bring comfy clothes for yoga class, as well as a matt.

6. Start a staff book club

A book club is a really fun way for teachers and other school staff to connect with eachother, and read for fun – something that many teachers may not make the time to do otherwise.

A teacher at our initiated starting a book club. We read a different book every month, and met once a month at someone’s house, or virtually on Zoom (during the pandemic.)

It can be hard to get a book club going at work, because you have to figure out the logistics of how books will be chosen, where you’re going to meet, and how they will be run.

I was a member of my school’s book club, book clubs outside of school, and I also once started a book club from scratch so I know it isn’t always the most straightforward thing to do.

Here is how I’d recommend getting a book club going at your school:

1. The person who is initiating the start of the book club puts the announcement out there and invites every staff member to join
   
2. Once you have a group of confirmed interested people, the person who initiated nominates a few books and everyone participating votes on them. The winning book is the first book you will read.
   
3. Give at least a month from when the book is selected before you have your first meeting. You want everyone to have more than enough time to read the book.
   
4. The person who nominated the book prepares some questions to guide the discussion (although, book clubs also turn into a social as well.)

You can meet at someone’s house, after school, virtually, or at a local café for your meetings. Finger foods and snacks pair well with a book club meeting.

Pro Tip: At first, you may only have a handful of people show up to the book club meets. It’s very important that you keep the invitation open to the rest of the staff to join the book club at any time. It’s possible that others will want to be a part of it once they see how much fun you’re all having!

7. Staff game in the gym

One of the most fun ways to bond as a staff is to feel like a kid again. Organize a staff volleyball game in the gym for after school or in the evening.

You could make these happen once a month, or even once a semester. Our school district had an event called Bump-Off, which was volleyball games of teachers from different schools. It involved volleyball, snacks (and some booze.)

Whether you’re playing against teachers from other schools, or just your staff- playing sports is a great way to boost those endorphins and get everyone in a great mood.

8. Have a hearts and flowers committee

There’s nothing more important in a community than people coming together to help each other and celebrate life events.

A Hearts and Flowers committee at school is responsible for recognizing life events for staff members, such as birthdays, retirement, marriage and the birth of a baby.

They also provide a card or flowers for staff members who are going through a hard time, such as illnesses or deaths in the family.

If you work in the private sector, these kinds of events are sometimes organized and provided by the corporation. With most teachers being public servants, these things are not covered and its important for school staff members to set up this kind of committee on their own.

Starting a Hearts and Flowers fun can be a bit tricky, because it does require the financial contribution of many staff members, and you don’t want to place extra pressure on them.

But you want to help spread joy and build community among staff members, and that will require contributions.

Here is how I recommend going about establishing your school’s Hearts and Flowers fund:

1. Request (not require) that staff members donate towards the Hearts and Flowers fund. I strongly recommend giving them a suggested range, such as $10 to $30. Veteran teachers are usually in a better place to contribute than new teachers but everyone’s situation is different. Make it clear that any amount within that range would be appreciated.
   
2. Staff who contributed to the fund will receive a gift and card for the events that will be celebrated/recognized. (As the fund organizer, you will have to determine which events are recognized and how much money is allocated towards them.) Those who opted not to contribute can still receive a card for those occasions.

Tips for running a good Hearts and Flowers committee

• Remind the staff that contributions to the Hearts and Flowers fund is completely voluntary, but is appreciated
  
• Remember, that the purpose of a Hearts and Flowers committee is to boost teacher and staff morale. You don’t want to put added pressure or stress on people if they can’t afford it.
  
• Events to consider recognizing are: marriage, birth of a baby, illness for longer than 3 days, birthdays, staff leaving the school, death of a family member, etc.
  
• In addition, I would also recommend having people sign a card for birthdays. But only if your staff is on the smaller side (under 20 people.) Beyond that, birthday cards for everyone might be too much

Pro Tip: Sometimes peculiar things can happen to people outside of the standard life events. If a teacher is going through a particularly rough time, then you could also consider asking staff to contribute to do something nice for them, such as a gift card, a meal train, or flowers. This could be separate from the standard Hearts and Flowers fund.

3 Tips for Boosting Teacher Morale

1. Invite all staff members to participate

As I mentioned earlier, the ways to boost teacher morale mentioned above don’t have to just be for teachers- and I would recommend that they aren’t.

These teacher morale boosters are more effective if other staff members are invited to take part too; including support staff and the admin.

Regardless of everyone’s position in the school, we all work together for the same common goal.

Getting to know each other in different capacities can improve the relationships at work, which benefits staff morale as a whole, and the school.

Pro Tip: All staff members can include the principal too. We had our principals participate in book club, staff socials, and even yoga class.

2. Participation is always voluntary, but keep invitations open

No one should feel obligated into taking part in any of the above activities.

Teachers who are going through a particularly stressful time, or are struggling to hold their head above water may not feel up to doing anything extra.

At the same time though, keep invitations open to everyone who has not yet joined, if your morale booster is club or group based. It’s important to remind staff that they are always welcome to join in the morale-boosting activities.

Nothing is more of a morale-killer than having some staff members feel excluded, isolated or left out.

With the exception of Mental Health Partners, and a pre-paid extracurricular class, all of the above ideas can continue to have invitations open for as long as they are going on.

People may have a change of heart about participating, especially after they see how these ideas are boosting morale and helping other teachers and staff members bond.

4. Try to have different times available

As you know, a teacher’s plate is often pretty full (which is part of why I think its great that you’re looking to boost morale.)

Teachers who live close to the school probably prefer morale boosting events to happen in the evenings, whereas teachers who live far probably prefer right after school or virtual.

There’s not usually a way to make everyone happy in terms of time.

The best way to go about this is for whoever is organizing the activity picks the time that works for them, or can put out a poll and go by vote.

The schools with the best morale have multiple ways for teachers to get involved – you as one person can’t do it all. Encourage your coworkers to run some of the teacher morale boosters that interest them – the more people that take the initiative to run a morale booster, the more options and opportunities there are for everyone.

Final Thoughts on Fun Ways to Boost Teacher Morale

If you’re reading about fun ways to boos teacher morale, I want to commend you. You’re taking the time out of your busy schedule to try to facilitate ways to improve the morale at your school which is such an important and beneficial thing.

Staff working in schools, particularly teachers, are more burnt out than ever, for many reasons- lack of support and funding, and student behaviours. Staff morale in schools so important in order to maintain a positive work environment. It’s part of teacher survival in this challenging profession.

In addition, because of a strict schedule and structured day, school staff members don’t have the same flexibility during the day to connect with their coworkers. These staff social and teacher morale boosting ideas will help spread the joy in your school, and help people get to know each other and maybe become friends in the process.

I hope that you found some ideas and guidance in this article for good ways to boost teacher morale!