Tired of spending a fortune on trinkets for your classroom prize box? Annoyed with the amount of space that treasure chest takes up in your cabinet? Fed up with finding the prizes discarded all over the place like trash? TikTok has come through with an option that solves all those problems: desk pets!

What are desk pets?

TikTok teacher Marissa Begay introduced the world to desk pets a few days ago. The post has well over five million views already!

She picks up packs of tiny erasers in the dollar section at Target. They come in themed bags, such as animals, unicorns, mermaids, or holidays. Each bag has around 60 erasers for a dollar. This means each student prize is less than two cents!

The key is, she doesn’t tell students they are erasers. She calls them “desk pets.” Her students earn them and then make little habitats to display them in or on their desks. The kids LOVE it!

Brilliant right?!

Mrs. Begay has made several additional videos answering questions she’s received in the comments about desk pets. She’s shown her students’ reactions to the newest addition to the collection – the holiday line featuring Santa, penguins, snowflakes, foxes, Christmas trees, and more. It’s available in the dollar section at Target now. She’s also dueted other teachers sharing the cool habitats their students are making for desk pets. One class used plastic eggs to create space ships for tiny astronauts!

We’d love to see how you implement this in your classroom. Tag @BoredTeachers on social media with your photos.