17 Classroom Bulletin Board Ideas for Teachers
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Whether you’re preparing for back-to-school season or just looking to change up the look in your classroom, the best unique bulletin board ideas can transform your teaching space and inspire your young learners. Stepping into a new grade, new school, or even just a new classroom can be intimidating, which is why creating an inviting classroom is so important.
Start with how you want your classroom to feel. Do you want to encourage creativity? Inspire young STEM students? Motivate young ones to be kind and confident? From there, think about the play corners and reading nooks you want to incorporate, and make them complementary to your theme. You might consider hanging string lights or using portable lamps to add warmth and comfort, too (those fluorescent lights can be intense sometimes!).
Your bulletin board themes and decor are the backdrop to your students’ learning space! So whether you decide to do a sports-themed board for your high school freshmen or a cute school bus bulletin board for first graders, they’ll be happy to step into a classroom that feels welcoming right from the start. Our ideas keep budget in mind, with print-out illustrations and affordable classroom decor that doesn’t skimp on design. Explore our favorites, from outer space-themes to Western ideas, and even seasonal spring and fall-themed bulletin boards, for an A+ in classroom design.
The Sky Is the Limit
Students of all ages will love walking into a classroom with reminders to dream big, try new things, explore their ideas, and keep learning. Add in cute 3D hot air balloons, flying kites, soaring birds, and other fun figures that take flight. With a blue sky background and plenty of cutout clouds, you’ll have a classroom bulletin board that combines color, creativity, and inspiration all in one.
We’re Going to Have a Ball This Year
Equal parts playful and motivating, you can’t go wrong with a cute gumball-themed bulletin board like this! Go with a punny saying, like “We’re Going to Have a Ball This Year!” or “Wel-Gum to a New School Year!” and decorate the board with plenty of colorful gumballs. You can even go the extra mile and hang multicolored pom pom garlands all over the classroom.
We Have the Bear-y Best Class
Get your little cubs ready for an encouraging, exciting year ahead with this cute bulletin board idea that’s great for elementary school classrooms. Write in your students’ names below the bears, and add in some forest trees, campers, tents, or even mountains for the perfect backdrop. Time to bear down for a fun new adventure!
Teaching Is a Work of Heart
Art teachers, this one is for you! Encourage young artists with a bulletin board that embraces every medium, from painting to coloring, drawing, and more. Customize the saying for your classroom with something like, “Creativity Is a Work of Heart” or “Creativity stARTs Here.” Sweet and welcoming, this bulletin board idea will encourage creativity in the classroom for any young learner. Bonus points if you incorporate their very own art into the bulletin board!
Ride Into Learning
For first graders or kids who are taking the school bus for the first time, an adorable school bus-themed bulletin board is a no-brainer for a simple, versatile classroom theme. You can decorate your door with a custom bus sign that has your name on it, or hang up little school buses on the bulletin board with all your students’ names or birthdays. All aboard for a great year ahead!
Welcome to the Team
If your school takes their sports seriously, what better way to celebrate future game days than with a sports-themed bulletin board? Fall kicks off the football season, so it’s the perfect time to kick that school spirit into gear. Cute sports and cheer decor, including pennants, footballs, and other sports gear with your students’ name on them, will get everyone feeling like they’re on the same team. Talk about a touchdown!
Step Up Into the New Year
Get your cowboy boots on and saddle up for a great school year! Drew and Jonathan’s show, Chasing the West, has us all excited for home on the range, so why not embrace the Western look in school, too? There’s so much you can do with Western-themed decor and cowboy style classrooms—hang up Western paper boots with students’ names on them, throw a rodeo-style welcome party with cactus-shaped snacks, or even host a horseshoe trivia game.
Smart Cookie Crew
There are so many cute bulletin board ideas for the school year, but who doesn’t love a fresh-baked idea like this? Your smart cookies will love to see their name on a yummy snack, and there are plenty of ways to decorate the classroom to give them that warm, welcoming feeling. On the first day, you can even host a cookie party, where each student brings their favorite!
Changing Our Mindset
It’s so important to teach young learners about positive self-talk. How we think determines how we perceive ourselves and the world around us! Positive thinking also encourages understanding, motivation, and curiosity. This bulletin board is the perfect reminder that changing your mindset can change everything. You could also pass out positive affirmations at the beginning of class each week, or have each student come up with their own to write down throughout the year.
Be-leaf In Yourself
When fall kicks in, your bulletin board might be in need of some cozy updates! Encourage your students to be-leaf in themselves this year with a friendly seasonal bulletin board that reminds them to keep up the good work. Add in some autumn-themed pushpins, and go the extra mile by handing out fall leaves that have personalized uplifting notes to each student at the beginning of the season.
Happy to Sea You
For science teachers or just teachers who want their students to dive into learning this year, an underwater-themed bulletin board is perfect. DIY a cute octopus like the one seen here with eight pink paper chains and a big smiley face in a matching color, and hang it on the wall or the classroom door.
Plant Kindness and Everybody Grows
Our young learners aren’t just growing taller—they’re also planting new seeds in education! There are plenty of milestone moments from childhood to teenage years that should be celebrated. Decorate a bulletin board with a garden theme like this one, and add a leaf to the trellis every time your class passes a certain unit this year. By the end of the school year, your garden will be overflowing with their new learning experiences that your students can look back on and be proud of.
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Learning Is a Journey
Encourage young readers and jetsetters by turning a bulletin board into a travel-themed center for learning. Make use of a small map and cutout pictures of the book covers you’ll be reading throughout the school year. When the time comes for your students to start a new book, take a cutout paper plane and stick it onto the book. It’s a fun and interesting way to combine reading with travel and history.
Get In the Groove
Ready to break out your old pair of bell-bottom jeans and daisy flower sunglasses? Don’t worry, you don’t have to go that far—unless you want to, of course! A colorful and cute retro ’80s themed bulletin board can brighten up your classroom and bring some much-needed energy into the space. (Not to mention, add something a little bit fun and unexpected to your learning zone!) Come correct with groovy bubble letters, Volkswagen van stickers, and retro vinyl name tags.
All Are Welcome Here
Every teacher wants all of their students to feel welcome and celebrated in their classroom. A simple way to do that? By making the room reflect those values. Hanging up posters and decorations that incorporate ASL signs, kids of all different ethnicities, and kind words is a small but powerful way to make your students feel safe and welcome. School can be scary for some little ones, so greeting them with an inviting space can truly make all the difference. Plus, leading with kindness will teach children to do the same.
An Out-Of-This-World School Year
Blast off into an out-of-this-world school year! A space-themed bulletin board will surely be a hit among your future astronauts and astronomers. Alien friends, constellation bulletin board paper, and plenty of planets and rocket ships will set the perfect backdrop to a year filled with solar system learning or planetary science. You can even hang some paper stars from the ceiling for added effect.
Get Wild About Learning
Get your students feeling wild about learning with a jungle-themed bulletin board, complete with safari animals, lush forest plants, and plenty of leopard print. It’s a unique theme that can translate well into any classroom—and you can even incorporate some real plants into the room, too. Add faux grass or paper tropical leaves around the board and you’ve got yourself the coolest class in school. (This theme works especially well if your school mascot is the Lions, Wildcats, or Tigers!)
Bree Pulver O'Hagan
Bree is the Senior Digital Editor at DrewandJonathan.com. In the past, she’s worked for publications focused on home improvement and sustainable living. Bree’s Pinterest board is filled with cozy textures; vintage patterns; sculptural furniture; and moody, warm-toned colors. She has a degree concentrated in the intersection of writing and architecture, which influences her passion for exploring creative solutions to unusual home layouts and stylish renter-friendly decor. She’s a self-proclaimed pro at finding the best antique furniture in the most unlikely of places (but her cat Blue can certainly back these claims).
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