Bright Ideas: Making Bulletin Boards Pop

Hey everyone!

Here I am once again, joining in the Bright Idea fun!

Sometimes I hear teachers shudder when they talk about bulletin boards. Personally, I love them. There is so much potential in what you can do!

My bright idea(s) that I'm sharing today are tips on how to make those bulletin boards pop!

Like I said, I have a perverse pleasure of helping with bulletin boards. Sick problem. I even came in one summer to help my friend in her class so I could do the bulletin boards because that's her least favorite part. I ended up doing 3!  I used some of these tips as I pieced her boards together.

Whether the background of the bulletin board is a pop of color with plain border or the border is the pop of color, color is eye catching.

I also like the layered look...above is the example of layered scallop under the chevron. The background pops out and so does the title.

I thought these would be hard, but they're easy! Use tissue paper, plastic tablecloths, or butcher paper with ease! You just kind of fluff around and staple here and there and bam! Scrunchy borders...and it makes it pop! Here's one I did for a different friend...her bulletin board hadn't changed in months and it was ripped and just sad looking.

I think this whole thing may have taken about 1/2 hour to put up the scrunch? It's outdoors, has an old frame, so I had to work with what I got. I added a pop of color and paired that with the scrunch for this eye catching display. I'm not even joking that within it being up, kids from the afterschool program were going up to it and looking!

Make it 3-D by adding a few features. For example, this bulletin board I helped put up for yet another friend (see, I told you I have an obsession), we added fake marsh reeds for the pond, moss, and bubble wrap with beads hot glued to mimic frog eggs. You can see the frog eggs below.

And this bulletin board has many things going for it. It's got a painted background, 3-D stuff, kid work, real pictures and cartoon pictures (kind of like mixed media which I love), and color. It also has interactive flappy frogs (no relation to Flappy Bird), which brings me to my next tip.

One of my all-time fave boards I've made was an interactive one when I was student teaching. I had to take a Dr Who Shall Not Be Named book for a contest (no, not the Feline in a Fedora, it was a riddle one) and I made cards that riddles and could be opened, pulled, or flipped up. The kids loved guessing the riddles and playing with the bulletin board. (P.S. I won first place).

What do I mean by details? If you have student work hanging up...frame it.

 Or add colorful clothespin tacks that you've seen floating on pinterest. Have a title.  Mix it up by having real photos and cartoon.  Just add a twist and the boring board is more interesting.

I even put a title below on my hypothetical bulletin board. And those tacks, so cute! Now if this bulletin board would only come to life!

If you liked these ideas, come check out my FB and Instagram pages, I post ideas there too!


For more bright ideas, check out these bloggers!

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*Background and border by Ashley Hughes, bee by TeacherScrapbook, Letters by LittleRed, pushpins by Mr. Magician, and frames by Bubbly Borders and More.