Back to School Bulletin Boards

My mind starts brainstorming about the next school year in June. I wish I could turn my teacher brain off sometimes, but it seems to always be on my mind. At our school district, we put up a back to school bulletin board. I'm not crazy about premade bulletin boards in a package sold from teacher supply stores. Many teachers do use them and they are perfectly okay to use. I just try to have the something that pops a little more. 

Elements can be added to a bulletin board to help them really stand out. Come of these elements include: using 3-D elements, textures, multiple borders, and varied letter fonts. 


One of my loves is GLITTER! I love adding a little sparkle to my bulletin board. 




I incorporated glitter paper to make the leaves on this board. Glitter was added around the edges of each grape to add a little sparkle and texture. Another element used was incorporating pipe cleaners giving the board a 3-D element. 


I also added glitter to the hexagons that made the beehive pop as well. The sparkle draws your eye from down the hallway. 

Using a varied font in varied sizes helps emphasize the title. I also love to use puns in the title. It makes the bulletin boards fun. PUNS ARE FUN! The photo below shows the use of different colors in lettering to emphasize the title. 

Adding multiple layers of border also helps make your bulletin board POP! Play around with the different borders you have and you might find interesting boards combinations you didn't know you had. Black is a great color to add with other color combinations.  



Adding tissue paper can really bring your bulletin boards out and give that 3-D element. The flower added a little pop of color along with texture and dimension.  The googly eyes on the bees also gave a little more pizazz.


A few years ago, I constructed a surfing theme bulletin board. I wanted to be able to place my store bought surfboards on and in the waves. To make this happen I knew I needed to bring in a medium and I knew tissue would work perfectly. Tissue is easy to manipulate. Below you will see a photo incorporating tissue on the board. 

Add fabric to give your bulletin boards some texture. I added velvet to my bulletin board this year. The result was stunning in my opinion. 

I also added lights to liven it up even more. The addition to an element above the board brought interest as well. Do not limit yourself to the bulletin board space. Use the space around the bulletin board to allow room for more student work or larger elements such as the marquee or velvet curtains. 

Check out my earlier post about back to school photos. I am planning on using my back to school bulletin board as my back to school background for the first day of school photos. I made a movie clapper as the prop to go with my bulletin board theme. 

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