11 Unique Rewards/Prizes

One of the ongoing discussions in children’s ministry is whether or not to reward kids for doing what we want them to do. And even if the leaders in your ministry agree that rewards are a good thing, we sometimes struggle with what those rewards should be. (How many candy bars can a kid eat in a year?)

Here are 10 suggestions for out-of-the-box prizes/rewards.

1. Make it a group thing. Instead of rewarding individual points for verses said or friends brought, add up points. When the group as a whole reaches a certain number of points, the entire group receives a taco party or a night of bombardment or whatever it is that motivates your kids.

2. Help out with the Large Group Lesson. The child/children who win get to help out with the lesson by reading Scripture, taking part in a skit, holding up charts with the lesson outline, doing an object lesson etc.

3. Get to work with the younger kids. Many kids in the older elementary/middle school age group like working with little kids. Have your older clubbers earn points for the privilege of spending 20 minutes in Cubbies, helping with the craft or passing out snack. (Be careful that child protection guidelines are met).

4. Buy a supply of something unique and fun. Purchase t-shirts, water bottles, pencils with the name of your church or children’s ministry. Kids who reach a certain goal or the winning team (after adding points for several months) are rewarded with the prize.

5. Get to be line leader. Younger children love being first in line. Something as simple as earning the right to be line leader can be fun.

6. Allow the child to help out with passing out awards or taking the attendance sheet to the office … anything a kid likes to do.

7. Make the reward be an experience –  a trip to the zoo or the park or bike riding. (Always have multiple amounts of kids and leaders at the outing.)

8. Eat lunch with the leaders. Again make sure you have more than one child and more than one leader at your outing. Or you could take the child and his/her parents out to lunch.

9. Choose games, songs etc. The child with the most points gets to choose what you do at your next meeting.

10. The limo. This one is a lot of fun and does cost a little money, but is very motivating for kids. Rent a limo from a limo company. (The church who originally did this had a limo driver in their congregation so it cost them nothing. Our church also did this and when we explained what we were doing to the limo company, they gave it to us at a reduced price, so it wasn’t costly.) Limo drives up at the beginning of club and takes the winner and his family to a nearby ice cream shop for a treat. When we did it, we actually had a leader dress in an “official-looking” black suit, go into the restaurant and “case the premises” before allowing the kids to walk in. That way everyone thought they were VIPs.

11. Picture on the wall. This year in Sparks, we add up the team points for a month. When the month is over, the kids on the winning team get their picture taken with the Sparky doll. The pictures are then hung on the wall.

Be creative. Walk away from the same ‘ole, same ‘ole and do something different.