Are you fed up of seeing the same drab bulletin boards in your classroom? Maybe it’s time you redecorated them to add some color and excitement to your classroom.
If you need some inspiration to help you decide how to decorate your bulletin board you have come to the right place.
We have put together this list of the best ideas for bulletin boards to make your classroom more exciting.
Inspirational Bulletin Boards
You can use the bulletin board in your classroom or corridor to inspire your students. It is important that children feel supported at school, and that they want to do their best every day.
Seeing an inspirational quote on a colorful board can help students to get into the right mindset.
Love
This bulletin board encourages students to be kind to each other which creates a better learning environment for everyone.
The colorful flowers are beautiful and eye-catching, and can be made with various different materials.
You can get the students to help you by asking them to make their own flowers to add to the board.
Kindness
This bulletin board features some flowers with an abstract design. You can choose whichever colors you want, but pay attention to how the colors transition into each other if you want to achieve this smooth effect.
The quote will inspire students to be kind together, no matter how big or small the act of kindness is.
Beleaf In Yourself
Sometimes students need a bit more self-confidence. Self-belief can get you very far in life.
This lively bulletin board uses a play on words to work in a plat theme, so you can use vibrant greens.
You can use whatever types of plants you like, but this succulent design is sweet as you can create different shaped pots for each plant.
Bee Brave
Bees are positive creatures, and the happy yellows are very uplifting. This friendly bee is showing children that they can be brave and kind.
It also shows that being a friend to someone is very important. Using your bulletin board in this way can help to reduce bullying and create a kinder atmosphere in the classroom.
Watch Us Soar
This is a great idea to get the children involved in. They can each create their own feather to add to the wings – you can use the children’s names, or get them to write down their achievements or their goals.
Make sure you use lots of different colors to create the angel wings, and blend them together.
Back To School Bulletin Boards
When the new school year starts, it is nice to update the bulletin boards with fresh decorations and notices.
You want the students to feel welcome, refreshed, and ready to learn. Here are some ideas you can try on your bulletin boards at the start of the new term.
Welcome Back
A simple idea is to create a welcome back bulletin board. This is the perfect way to welcome the students back after the holidays.
Make it as bright and colorful as possible. You can choose any theme you want to make your board come to life. Use a nice border to really make it pop.
Bright New Year
This board uses light bulbs for the play on words – welcome to a bright new year. This encourages students to go with their ideas, to shine bright, and to feel positive.
It has a simple design which is really easy to replicate. You could even use a black background if you wanted the lights to stand out more.
Picture Yourself
This is a fun idea which allows you to incorporate photographs of the students into your bulletin board.
You can welcome the students into their new class by using their photographs in frames on the bulletin board.
Use a black background and bright colors to make it eye-catching and funky. Don’t forget a nice colorful border.
Quack Quack
This idea is perfect for younger students. The rhyming words will make them laugh and also make a memorable phrase for them to use in their first week back at school – quack quack welcome back.
You can use lots of vibrant yellow ducks in various sizes along with butterflies and bees.
You can also add frogs on lilypads or whatever else you want to add to your pond. You could even get the students to design their own ducks.
Kindness Confetti
The start of the new school year is the perfect time to remind students to be kind to each other.
This simple phrase encourages students to be enthusiastic and generous with their kindness, which will help them to make new friends.
The brightly colored squares on the black background look very vibrant and positive.
You can use any shape you like for the confetti – square, heart, circle – or even a mixture of shapes to make it even more interesting.
Mental Health
It is more important than ever to support students with their mental health.
Making a mental health themed bulletin board breaks the stigma and lifts the silence, making the students feel seen and heard.
Here are some ideas for mental health bulletin boards you could try.
Mindful Monarchs
Each monarch butterfly on this bulletin has a different message about mindfulness. You can include ways to be mindful, mindfulness tips, or positive affirmations for students to focus on.
Use lots of different colors for the butterflies to create a really beautiful and calming bulletin board. You can use a stencil to make sure that the butterflies are all the same size and shape.
Make Time
This bulletin board encourages students to make time for mindfulness. It includes QR codes which will direct the students to online resources about mindfulness that they can read in their own time.
This is great for older students who have Smartphones. You can use whatever background you like, but try to think of a calming scene that looks serene.
Mental Health Matters
It is important that the students know that their mental health is important to the teachers. This mental health matters bulletin board is ideal for this.
It can include positive messages and encouragement as well as statements of validation. You can also add information about any support available such as student counseling or any other resources that you can signpost the students to.
Let’s Talk
You can make a let’s talk bulletin board to show your students that it’s okay to talk about mental health. You can use the green ribbon that represents mental health, or any other colors that you choose.
Add mental health advice and support in speech bubbles on the board. You could even create silhouettes of two people talking using black paper.
Bee Kind To Yourself
It can be helpful for students to have some positive affirmations to repeat to themselves on difficult days. You can create this sweet honeycomb design with a positive message in each space.
The bright yellow color has a happy feeling and the sweet bees flying around add to the overall design.
It is important for students to be kind to each other, but they also need to be kind to themselves.
It’s Okay To…
Validating feelings is an important part of improving your mental health. You can create a bulletin board that validates how the students feel.
Use big letters to spell out ‘It’s Okay To’ and then add different things around it on colorful squares.
It’s okay to feel sad sometimes, it’s okay to have hard days, it’s okay to cry, it’s okay to feel lonely etc etc.
Interactive Bulletin Boards
Interactive bulletin boards can be a really great way to support students or add an element of fun into the classroom.
There are so many great ideas for interactive bulletin boards, but these are some of our favorites.
Take What You Need
A take what you need board lets the students pick positive messages based on what they feel they are lacking.
If a student is feeling under-confident they can take a message of confidence, if they are feeling hopeless they can take a message of hope etc.
All of the messages are short and sweet and offer words of encouragement. All the messages are kept in envelopes that are attached to the board.
Coloring
Sometimes students get overwhelmed and overstimulated, and they just need a little break. A mindful activity like coloring can be a welcome break, helping them to concentrate better when they return to their desk.
You can create a mindful coloring bulletin board very easily. Use a colorful border, then add a black and white pattern. Make sure some pens or pencils are closeby – you can even put them in a folder and attach it to the board.
Connect Four
Why not turn your bulletin board into a game? This connect four is easier than it looks to make, and it will give the students lots of fun.
You can draw out the empty connect four board, then create sticks on discs to fill the gaps.
You could divide the students into two groups – one for each color- and add their names to a disc of that color. Each day they get to take turns to play their discs and see which team wins.
Take A Chance
The take a chance board gives students fun challenges to complete. Inside the envelopes are ideas for activities.
It could be ‘say something kind to a friend’, ‘take a walk in the park’, ‘speak to someone new at lunch’, or ‘give up your free time to help someone in need’.
You can choose whatever activities you think will be relevant to your students.
What Brings You Joy?
Students love to be able to get involved and to express their opinions. Why not create a bulletin board that allows them to do this?
All you need is a dark background, and then lighter colored paper to spell out a feeling.
It could be joy, fear, love, anger, sadness, excitement – you could do a new emotion each month. Keep a pen attached to the board on a piece of string.
The students can write down what makes them feel that emotion within the letters as a collaborative project. They can also read each other’s answers to give them a new perspective.
Fun Bulletin Boards
If you want to make your classroom more exciting then you should create a fun bulletin board. The students will appreciate something fun and happy to look at while they are in class.
Full Bloom
This bulletin board is very vibrant and colorful. It uses pretty flowers and insects to create the appearance of a garden, which represent the students blooming as they learn more.
It is a simple idea but one that is easy to make and very effective. You could even include some gardening tools made of colored paper, like a rake and a trowel.
Under The Sea
This fun bulletin board has an ‘under the sea’ theme which is full of color and excitement.
You can create your own octopus using a paper plate and lots of paper rolls, all painted in blue or green. You can add suckers by sticking on pom poms.
Choose a different color for the fish, the seahorses, and any other creatures that you want to include.
Don’t forget to add coral and some sand on the bottom of the ocean. You can even get the students to make their own shells to add to the board.
Amazing Things
The rainbow letters on this bulletin board make it really fun. The three dimensional flowers on the top make it pop and each one is a different but equally vibrant color.
Make sure you use lots of layers of petals to give the flowers their shape, and add some green foliage in the background.
Put the words on a black background to contrast the bright colors. You can choose whatever inspirational message you want for this board.
Reach For The Stars
This encouraging bulletin board is fun for the students because they can get involved with the arts and crafts.
You can get the students to trace around their hand and arm and cut it out, each one using different colored paper. You can also get them to create their own star.
They can write their name on their paper hand, then write their goal on their star.
This is a really good way to visualize themselves reaching for their goals and staying focused on what they want to achieve.
Movie Themed Bulletin Boards
Most students love watching movies, so why don’t you try and use this idea in your bulletin board design? There are lots of different ideas you can try that the students will enjoy.
Cast List
You can use photographs of the students next to their names to create a cast list. Decorate the board with stars, oscar trophies, popcorn and other movie related pictures.
A black background works best, but you could also use a bright color like red.
Book Adaptations
There are probably lots of movies that your students have seen that they didn’t even realize were based on a book.
You can educate them using a fun bulletin board which shows the movie poster next to the book cover.
This will encourage your students to read more. This will work even better if the books are in the school library and easily accessible.
Star Wars
The Star Wars franchise is really popular with students of all ages, and the teachers too!
Why don’t you choose some star wars characters and use them to create a fun Star Wars themed bulletin board that everyone can enjoy. R2D2 is an easy character to make using colored paper.
Harry Potter
There are so many ideas for a harry potter bulletin board. You could use the Hogwarts houses and split the class into teams.
They can earn points with test scores, good answers in class, or acts of kindness. At the end of each term, the winning team gets a prize.
Try to make the groups out of students who don’t usually work together, as this could help them to make new friends.
Marvel
The Marvel universe includes so many different movies and tv shows. There are plenty of characters to choose from, and your students will love seeing their favorite superheroes up on the bulletin board.
You can use this board for awards, for upcoming events, or whatever information you need to display.
If you choose the Avengers, you can also use the board to encourage the students to work together as a team.
DC Comics
Your students might prefer DC to Marvel, in which case you can use the characters from the DC comic books and movies to decorate your bulletin board.
This includes characters like Superman, Wonderwoman, Batman, the Flash and more.
Use bright and bold colors, and you could even use the classic comic book text in spiky speech bubbles to fit with the comic book theme.
Bulletin Board Borders
Bulletin boards look best when they have an artistic border. This can make the board stand out and make it look neat and colorful.
You might be running out of ideas for which borders to use for your bulletin boards. Here is some inspiration.
Layered Borders
Layered borders are easy to make and look very effective. Choose three different colors and place them upside down. Layer them on top of each other, leaving a gap of about an inch.
Once you have stuck them together you can flip them over and see the effect. You will be able to see all three colors, creating a layered and interesting border.
Sneakers
If you’re looking for something a little different, you can try these sneakers. Use different colors and place the sneakers so it looks like they are peeking out from behind the frame.
You can create this type of border using different items, not just sneakers.
Patterns
If you want something really eye-catching, why not try an extravagant pattern? Something with lots of color and several different shapes would work really well.
Summary
There is no point wasting your bulletin board space with a drab display. You should utilize this space and create an exciting and colorful board that the students will love.
You can make it inspirational, fun, supportive, or interactive. These ideas will help you come up with a design that is right for your classroom space.
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