House of Marbles Marble Reward Jar

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Perhaps you have a child, like mine that loves to get on the computer, well, believe it or not, there’s an online marble jar tool that you can use as well. While I don’t recommend this for preschool age children, it might be a good idea to keep in mind for motivation for a child that is having a bad day and needs a little extra push to change their negative behavior. Can you use something other than marbles in your marble jar? This means that if the pebbles and the sand were lost, the jar would still be full and your life would still have meaning. Yes! While marbles are what makes the marble jar, you can also create jars full of literally anything as your reward. But, the reason why marbles are so much fun for the kids is because of the PLUNK! sound they make when they get dropped in the jar. However, if that sound drives you nuts, there are certainly plenty of other reward system jar ideas you can implement.

During class, I keep a visual indicator on the board to show the students how they’re doing. I use a smiley face, and when things are going well, I make the smile bigger, add hair, a nose, and other details. When some students are being disruptive, I erase bits and pieces of the drawing. You can also use something as similar as “points,” with a point erased (or added) appropriately. If you’ve filled the Marble Jar once or twice before, and your child’s behavior is consistent without marble rewards. Draw a logo with your child –Decide together what visually represents the behavior you’re targeting and create your own logo for it. Tape it to the jar. The pebbles are certainly things that give your life meaning (such as your job, house, hobbies, and friendships), but they are not critical for you to have a meaningful life. These things often come and go, and are not permanent or essential to your overall well-being. Explain to your students your expectations – what type of behaviour will warrant getting marbles in the jar. Then, explain that there will be two lines on the jar – these are little reward stations. Once the class receives enough marbles to hit the first line, the whole class will receive a chosen reward.One of my favorites is a warm fuzzies jar. You can fill it with pom poms for every time your child does an act of service for someone else in the family. This is a great way to foster family service at home. Never Use The Marble Jar As A Form of Punishment If your child is involved in choosing the reward they are more likely going to want to reach their goal. You could even use a large glass fish bowl for the majority of the marbles, and then move them to a smaller jar as they earn the reward. Each child should have their own jar, too.

Adding Marbles - any positive interaction is usually a marble in the jar but more obvious ones include, empathising, keeping commitments, apologising, complementing and helping. It is important to not overlook the smaller interactions such as smiling, knowing someone's name, holding a door etc as these also add marbles to the jar. Although if you have little ones at home you’ll definitely want a marble jar with a lid. But, you can have your kids help you with the planning of the type of marble jar you are going to use as well. The more you can involve your kids in the planning of the positive reward system, the better. Every interaction with another person is either the addition of a marble(s) or the removal of them! (growth or erosion of the above attributes) Genetic drift has a much greater effect on the allele frequency of smaller populations. For instance if one of the brown butterflies in the population depicted died the frequency of the ''A'' (dominant) allele would change significantly. 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.

Did you know that you can use a virtual marble jar as well? 

Use the “fill” button to add marbles to the jar. Then, use the “total” button to show how many marbles are in the jar. Next, add or subtract marbles from the jar and ask students to determine the new total.