House of Marbles Marble Reward Jar

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Sometimes I will use cotton balls as an incentive: “if you ____, you will earn an extra cotton ball today.” (Works great for this, but I don’t do this too often because I don’t want it to lose its real purpose.) Offering rewards can sometimes lead to a very unattractive bargaining attitude with kids where they ask, ‘What do I get if I do this?”

As they get older (each year), the rubber band moves higher up as with their increased age comes higher expectations. This happens until they’re around six years old when I remove the rubber band and they simply have to fill the jar. I do not give them out for doing their normal chores (see age-appropriate chore list here). These cotton balls are special and come when they do something that was NOT asked of them. (see number 6)Especially when it comes to younger kids, there are all sorts of little small tokens, trinkets, and toys that get them really excited. Offering tangible rewards for a behavior that should be inherently fun, interesting, or rewarding (like playing nicely with friends) could have more negative side-effects than positive. It was hard for you when you saw your friend crying and upset. I know that makes you uncomfortable, but I saw you take care of yourself by taking deep breaths. I want to put a marble in the jar for you because being kind to yourself makes everyone feel good.” This article will demonstrate the Marble Jar Reward system as a method of extrinsic motivation in your primary to elementary students. While you can use this reward system for every age group, by middle to high school, students should be more intrinsically motivated and may deem behavior reinforcers such as a reward system too juvenile. The most important thing about using a behavior marble jar to encourage your child’s initiative is to focus on rewarding those positive behaviors you want your child to repeat without using the jar as a form of punishment.

One nice thing about a big jar is that you can be generous with your rewards. Dropping marbles in the jar often does several good things: It reminds them that you are always watching, it reinforces good behavior, and it allows you to reward many different kinds of behaviors. What should you reward? Here are some ideas: When they are towards the end (with about 5 cotton balls to go), they will be REALLY trying hard to receive rewards (cotton balls)! As an example, two of our kids had less than two cotton balls to go in their jars before they were filled and they were doing everything to earn them: I saw the way you cleaned up your toys without anyone asking. That was very ‘helpful’! You deserve a marble for being so ‘helpful’ today”.While there are so many types of rewards, we have decided not to use toys or money as a reward. I want it to be something special with “someone” (quality time) instead of with “something.”I’ve shared a list of non-toy rewards here, but I wanted to give you a few more examples to get give you some ideas to get started: CAN YOU RELATE TO THIS POST? BE SURE TO GET MY BOOK, MOM LIFE: PERFECTION PENDING . IT’S A HUMOROUS LOOK AT PARENTING TODAY THAT’LL HAVE YOU NODDING YOUR HEAD, LAUGHING, AND REALIZING THAT YOU AREN’T ALONE. Either way, you’ll need to lay out those expectations when you first introduce the marble jar reward system so students have a clear understanding of what is at stake.

Before you implement the Marble Jar consider how often you want to reward your students. Choose a big jar if you want them to work a long time to earn their reward. Keep in mind that a big jar also merits a big reward, such as a class party. Your students will not be very motivated to fill the jar if the reward is an extra five minutes of recess. If you have a particularly challenging class, consider a smaller jar with small, but more frequent rewards. Otherwise, the goal may seem so far away that it is virtually unattainable. Warm fuzzies are nice, but they don’t plunk! I’ve tried many systems for rewards for kids.This is the best one. We’ve been doing this for more than 10 years. The BEST Reward System for Kids Whether it actually works to reduce the behavior of whining might be another story, but we’ll get into that.) Dr. Kennedy-Moore is a fan of specific, verbal praise. “Children love to please their parents,” she says. “We want to make sure we are pleasable.”)

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For example, rewards and positive reinforcement are often best-used to encourage good or positive behaviors. Pizza & movie night. (I do not encourage screen time as a reward, but sometimes we will rent a new movie and make a night of it.)