Gumball Machine Motivation

My school is a PBIS school. That stands for Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports. 

You may have heard of it, you may not have. Either way, I came up with an idea to help encourage my students' positive behavior that can be used whether or not you're a PBIS school.

I give you, the gumball machine.

The gumball machine is filled with purple glitter "gumballs" (from Hobby Lobby, here) and colorful paw print beads (from Oriental Trading, here).

 

When I introduced the gumball machine last month, we decided what each item's prize would be. My students chose rewards that THEY wanted. 

Throughout the week, my students earn Grayhound Pride tickets for showing exemplar behavior by being respectful, responsible, and safe. 

Every Friday, I draw 2 of these tickets. They cross everything they have, hoping to be drawn!

They're the cutest.

These students earn a coin for the gumball machine. They come up, put their coin in, and BOOM!

 Out comes their reward(s). Sometimes they get one, sometimes two, sometimes several.  They earn every prize that comes out.

The paw beads are smaller than I had hoped, so sometimes they come out in groups, and of course the kids love when that happens! I love the bright colors of the paws and how perfectly they fit with our new mascot, grayhounds. My district did away with individual mascots and colors this school year, so now all 5 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and 1 high school are purple and gray grayhounds.

They're SO excited to see what their peers get.

 The most common is the purple gumball.

Do you see how excited he is?! I love it!

Kids are more excited about the paw beads than they are the purple gumball. I think it has everything to do with the fact they chose what the prize would be. The only thing that costs me money is the sweet treat, which is just their favorite candy, so it's not too expensive, and keeping the prize box stocked.

I hope that this inspires you and gives you ideas of how you can reward positive behavior in your classroom! Please comment or email me at thrivingin3rd@gmail.com if you have any questions!

I was provided these products featured in this post from Oriental Trading for review purposes. All opinions are mine alone and based off of the experience I had with the products I reviewed.