What praise is most motivating for children? 

From an article by Bold

Not all praise is equally motivating for learning.

Julia Leonard, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Yale, researches young children’s learning and motivation. Julia explains that young children are motivated by praise for their effort while older children are not:

We definitely need to understand that kids respond differently to their environment and to what works for them and their motivational systems at different ages.

So the best example perhaps is process praise. So praise for: “Oh wow, you work so hard” versus person praise like: “You’re such a great artist”.  We know that process praise is better for children’s motivation when they’re young, but when they’re older, it backfires because older children, if they’re praised for their effort they’re like: “What? why? Why do you think I’m stupid? What’s like, what’s wrong?” And so we know that the same kind of praise actually has different effects on different ages.

Motivation to achieve in school declines over the school years. Although many people believe children need praise, it can backfire for motivation. 
To raise self-esteem and bring its benefits for academic performance, adults should:

• Help children reflect on their growth over time.
• Give realistic feedback on performance, effort, and strategies.
• Frame failure as an opportunity for learning.

Read the article here.