14 Creative Whole Class Reward Ideas + Tips

Looking for whole class reward ideas? Whole class rewards can serve as a great motivator and is fun way to celebrate successes with your class.

Whole class rewards usually:

• provide a fun motivator to work hard in class
• are more fun to give out than prizes for just specific students
• show students that you want them all to achieve and be reward, and don’t favour anyone
• allow you to get a chance to bond with your class
• don’t interfere with intrinsic motivation or a growth mindset the way individual rewards can

These rewards systems encouraged them to work as a team, and they could also celebrate as a team.

While I don’t think relying on rewards is the always best classroom management strategy, sometimes it might be the one that works best for your class.

I worked as a public school French teacher for many years in elementary, which means I had six different classes a day, with an age range of 9 to 13 years old. The kids weren’t always keen about French, and the whole class rewards worked as a powerful motivator.

In addition – I want to focus on class rewards that are easy on your wallet, to avoid you having to spend a lot of your own money.

So, let’s jump in – whole class reward ideas that you and students will love!

Fun and Creative Whole Class Reward Ideas

1. Pyjama Day

Cost to you: Free

Students (especially junior grades I find – 9 to 13 years old) love pyjama day. I’ve seen it done with all age groups, from even pre-school up to high school. You can even let them bring in their favourite stuffy as well.

Be sure to communicate the pyjama day plans with parents in advance if your students are on the younger side.

2. A fun (but secretly educational) game

Cost to you: Free

This is a reward that will definitely have your principal‘s approval. There are many games that kids love, but they still have an educational component to them. Here are some educational games and activities that I masked as “rewards”:

• Kahoot, Blooket or Gimbit – create quizzes for them, and have whole-class game period. You can even hand out candy to winners, if you want to (but don’t need to.)
• Duolingo – for language learning. It felt like a game, but I was tracking their progress. The ‘reward’ can be a computer period where they get to play Duolingo
• A board game day – you can even focus on boardgames that have some educational skill to them, like Bananagrams
• Prodigy – I’m not a huge fan of it, as a parent or an educator but kids love it. It has a small math component to it, so it could be used as a reward

3. A non-educational game

Cost to you: Free

Sometimes its fun to play games that are just that – fun. And they aren’t a complete waste of time either, if you ask me. They’re a huge source of encouraging socialization for kids.

Spending 10-15 minutes playing a game is more of a ‘small’ reward, that they can earn that same day. For example, you could say “If all of the papers are handed in by 12:30, then we can spend the last 15 minutes playing _____ (game name.)”

Here are some games that were popular for kindergarten through Grade 8 (age 13.)

• Head Up Seven Up
• Silent Ball
• Night At The Museum (my students loved this – we played it very similar to the link described, except we didn’t choose a theme.)
• Capture the Flag (works much better outside)
• Four corners in the classroom (this can get loud, I will warn you but its a fun way to practice new vocabulary and get them up and moving)

4. A Bravo draw

Cost to you: $10-$15 on candy

As a French teacher, I used to give out “bravos” to kids who I heard speaking French, or who were actively participating. You could call the bravos anything you like, and give them out for participation, and good behaviour.

When they get a bravo, they write their name on it, and collect them.

While this sounds like an individual prize system, I turned it into more of a whole-class reward by holding a special “bravo draw” period once a month, where we put all the bravos into a bucket and I pulled dozens and dozens of names and they got to come choose a candy every time their name was called.

I always made sure everyone’s name got called at least once. This worked really well for ages 9-13 years old. It encouraged students to want to earn bravos.

Pro Tip: I usually brought in non-gelatin jube jubes (vegan friendly, and preferable for Muslim students who avoid pork.)

5. A movie

Cost to you: Probably free

A movie is always a nice reward – for the students, and for the teacher who can get a chance to catch their breath while the kids are entertained.

The challenge for the movie will be deciding on one (you can pick one, or you could do a class vote) and making sure that it’s on the “approved” list if your board has one.

A movie can be done anytime throughout the year, but makes a good last day of school party idea too.

6. An extra gym period

Cost to you: Free

An extra gym period goes over really well for elementary students especially. Depending on your class, you could structure it to be a “dodgeball game day” or you could just give them free time in the gym.

I usually found it was better to plan something fun and simple for extra gym time if my students were older, such as dodgeball or capture the flag (for outdoor gym) so that you don’t have some kids just sitting around.

However, if you know that most of your class will be active – don’t worry about planning something. There are so many benefits to unstructured play for kids.

7. An extra recess

Cost to you: Free

Students between the ages of 6 and 13 would love an extra recess. Get the approval to make sure it’s allowed, and book the soccer fields if you need to.

An extra recess is a bit easier for you than an extra gym period, because you don’t need to ‘plan’ or run anything for an extra recess. The idea is to just give them free time outside. This benefits them physically, but also mentally too.

8. Sit wherever you want for a day

Cost to you: Free

If you normally have assigned seating, then a reward can be that they can sit wherever they want.

It works well for any age with assigned seating, and is ideal in classes where there all kids generally get along. Just be aware of any social issues may arise, so that no one feels left out.

9. A themed ‘dress up’ day

Cost to you: Free

This would be a fun reward for younger grades (8 years old and younger – I don’t this would be as popular for older students.) Younger students however, find it fun for everyone to dress up a certain way.

A pyjama day is one example. Here are some other ideas:

• Wear crazy socks
• Dress like its a beach day (Hawaiien shirts, hats, etc)
• Twin Day
• Dress like their favourite character or animal
• Costume party

10. Free time Friday

Cost to you: Free

I would not recommend making Free Time Friday (or any of these ideas) unless they’re earning for a small amount of time.

For example, you could have them ‘earn’ 15-20 minutes of free time during the last period on Fridays, or you could do an hour the last Friday of every month.

Younger kids may need the sooner, more frequent rewards -whereas older kids (ages 9 and up) are usually motivated to earn it once a month.

Pro Tip: You’ll have to make the best judgement on whether ‘free time’ includes their cellphones or not, but I would recommend saying phone-free. They may not know it, but free time will be more rewarding and community-building for the class if they can interact with their friends face to face

11. Candy or popcorn for the whole class

Cost to you: $10-$15

Candy and popcorn can be bought for pretty cheap, but they make an exciting prize for students.

I would hand it out for them to enjoy during the last 5-10 minutes of class on a Friday, or you could hand it out for them to enjoy with their lunch.

12. Bring your pet to school day

Cost to you: Free

I wouldn’t have thought pets at school would work until I saw it happen. A grade 8 class (13 years old) at my school earned a ‘bring your pet to school’ day, and they had a blast being able to meet everyone’s pets.

You would need the right support from admin, parents and responsible students (and probably no pet allergies in your class) to pull it off – but if it works, it can be very fun and huge motivator for students.

How it worked was the parents brought in the family pet at specific planned times throughout the day. Since we live in a rural area, there were all kinds of animals that came through – cats, dogs, sheep, goats, and even small animals like lizards and hamsters.

The other classrooms sure were jealous, although I didn’t see any other teachers following suit. I would probably only recommend this option to experienced teachers under the right circumstances.

13. Pizza or Ice cream party

Cost to you: More expensive than average

Pizza or ice cream parties are a lot of fun, and probably get you remembered forever by your students, but can get a bit expensive for the teacher.

Personally, the only time I ever threw a pizza party for my class was when I worked in a private school and only had 10 kids. You could of course throw it for a class of 30ish kids, but be prepared to spend around $50.

The trouble with ice cream is having a space to safely store a few different buckets of it.

Pro Tip: Also, be sure to make sure there aren’t any dairy allergies or intolerances in your class. If so, vegan pizza and ice cream is pretty easy to find.

14. A class potluck party

Cost to you: $10-$15 (depending on what you bring in)

Each student bringing something for a class potluck party is a fun way to bond and build community in the class.

If you want, you could even tie the potluck into something in the curriculum – for example, as a French teacher, I could call our potluck “class café” and ask the students bring in bread and baked goods while I provided hot chocolate.

I find a class potluck is a bit better suited to older students who are responsible enough to bring the food to school safely and independently (and even make some of it themselves.)

How To Structure a Whole-Class Reward System

So, you may have an idea what kinds of prizes you like from the above ideas – but how exactly is your class going to earn them? Here are some ideas below.

1. Classroom Store

My daughter’s teacher does this, for 10-12 year olds and it goes over very well. While I’ve never done the classroom store idea, I’ve heard great things about it.

How it works is students are paid out “bucks” or “dollars” (or whatever you want to call the currency), and they save it up. Once they earn it, they can’t lose it.

Then, once a month or bi-monthly, you can open up your classroom store where they can use the classroom currency to purchase things. Obviously, the more money they have, the better prizes they can get.

The classroom store is best for older kids who don’t need frequent rewards. They have the capacity to think far ahead. It can be a bit costly to gather up a variety of prizes, but you only need to open the store once every couple of months.

Pro Tip: Be sure to include some free (but valuable) prizes in your classroom store, to go easier on your wallet! A good example of something ‘free’ they can buy is 15 minutes of free time.

Additional pro tip – I’ve seen some middle school teachers call the classroom store ‘classroom economy’ and connect it to math. This article walks you through how to do that.

2. Marble jar reward system

Have a jar that you keep in your desk. Put a marble in when you’re seeing good behaviour, but take one out when you’re not.

(Usually just picking it up and shaking it sends the alert to students to buckle down, so they don’t lose a marble.)

At the end of the month, count up the marbles – if they have at least 10 marbles (you can choose a different number if you want), they earn the prize.

The prize for the marble jar reward system can be any of the ideas on this list of class reward ideas.

Whole Class Rewards FAQ

Here are some of the most commonly asked questions about rewards for the whole class

How do you reward a whole class?

You can reward a whole class in many ways – it could be with free time, extra gym time, a movie, party, or food. In general whole class rewards are allowing them something that they aren’t usually able to do.

Final Thoughts on Class Rewards

Whole class rewards were often one of my favourite ways to reward my students. Even if a class doesn’t ‘need’ the extra encouragement, some of these whole class reward ideas are very simple, provide great ways for the students to socialize and bond, and its an extra something fun to do at school.

If you find that your class reward system isn’t working, it may be that it needs some tweaking, or that your students are struggling with being intrinsically motivated. Some of the classroom management books I recommend give tips on how to move away from being reliant on rewards, and teach students to be more intrinsically motivated.