Class Fish Tank
A classroom aquarium where every student has a fish that grows as they earn points. The teacher runs it from a laptop or a phone, and the tank goes up on the board.
The idea is simple: make effort visible, and make it a little bit silly. A teacher built it for her own Grade 2 class, and within a week parents were hearing about fish at dinner and kids were doing extra work to feed them. There are no student accounts, no ads, and only first names. It’s worth borrowing even if you only take the idea into a one-on-one session.
Jin, X Tutoring
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What it is. Each student gets a fish. When you reward good work, the fish eats and grows. A daily leaderboard crowns the top three, and the tank resets at midnight so every day is a fresh start.
Why it works. Points on their own are abstract. A fish that is visibly bigger than yesterday is not. The daily reset matters too: nobody falls so far behind that they stop trying.
How a tutor might use it. Even with one student, a small visible reward for finishing practice problems or trying before asking can change the tone of a session, especially for younger kids.
Worth knowing. Free, works on any screen, in English, Spanish and Uzbek. Use nicknames if you’d rather not show names, and you can delete a class list at any time.
Made by a teacher and her family · Spotted on LinkedIn