37 Back to School Bulletin Board Ideas for a Positive Start in 2024

Looking for great back to school bulletin board ideas?  If you are a teacher facing down a new school year, there are many creative ways to liven up the walls in and around your classroom. Whether you long to create beautiful highly visual boards or want to build fun, interactive learning activities, there are lots of easy ways to make a big impact and get the year off to a great start. 

A visually dynamic school environment is important for students at all grade levels, from preschoolers adjusting to their first year, to upper-grade students who can engage educationally with their surroundings. We’ve rounded up some perfect ideas for bulletin boards that are suitable for varying grade levels and subject matter.

Most boards are easy to create using basic classroom elements like borders, rolled paper, construction paper and letter cut-outs. (Note to parents, these elements also make great gifts for teachers or teacher appreciation gifts at the beginning of the year.) 

Jump to Section

• Simple Back to School Bulletin Board Ideas
• Back to School Bulletin Board Ideas for Middle School
• Back to School Bulletin Board Ideas for Preschool

Simple Back to School Bulletin Board Ideas

1. Paper Sunflower “Grow With Us” Board

Create a warm and bright back to school bulletin board with large sunflower blooms. Use a wide blue swathe of paper for the background with long green stems that reach the top of the board. Fill the board with construction paper cutouts of sunflowers with students' names on them. Keep it up through the fall semester and move the sunflowers up the stem as the students learn.  

2. “All About Me” Board

For a great chance to get to know students and for them to get to know each other, create info sheets for each student with details collected on the first day of class, including a photo or self-portrait along with the answers to questions like favorite color, favorite place, pet names, etc. Use this activity in conjunction with ice breaker questions on the first day.

3. Birthday Bulletin Board

For a great way to start the year, create a bulletin board with a giant cake at the bottom. Each paper candle on top can include a name and birthday. Or create clusters of birthdays and names written on paper balloons by the months of the year.  

4. Weird Animal Facts Board

A simple back to school bulletin board idea is highlighting different animal facts with images or paper cutouts of animal shapes. The details can be more specific for older students or more general for younger ones. 

5. Puzzle Pieces “Fit Together” Board

Create a large puzzle with paper and write students' names on them. Reassemble them back into place for a simple back to school bulletin board idea and the message “We fit together!”

6. Race Track to Reward Board

For a fun interactive back to school bulletin board idea, create a race track on the board with a speedway background. Add a car at the starting line and then move it daily toward the finish line as the term progresses and new skills and knowledge are attained.

7. “Get to Know Our Pets” Board

Have students draw or bring a picture of their pet/pets and write down details like name, breed, age and fun facts that help highlight each pet. Students will get to know each other better by bonding over animals with this cute welcome back to school decoration idea. For kids without pets, have them choose or create another animal they know from their extended family or neighborhood. 

8. Kindness Garden

The beginning of the year is a great time to reinforce kindness as a guiding principle in the classroom. Have students write down what kindness means to them on a paper flower and “plant” it in the garden on the board for a meaningful back to school bulletin board idea. 

9. Origami Birds “Soar With Us” Board

Have students create simple origami cranes that you can staple to the board to form a flying formation. Have them write down a goal, a fun fact or a wish before they fold the paper, then attach them to the board to revisit at the end of the semester or year. 

10. Evolving Mural Board

Cover a board or open wall with white roll or kraft paper, then place markers or crayons nearby and allow students to add to the mural daily in small sections as a reward for good performance or good deeds. 

11. Autograph Wall

A great way to kick off the year is to start with a large expanse of paper for students to write their names or fun details about their favorite things in colored markers or crayon. Allow students to add other doodles and drawings as the semester continues and then hold onto the sheet of paper as a fun artifact to display at the end of the year. 

12. Goal Setting Board

This great back to school bulletin board idea allows students to set goals for what they want to learn or do for the year. Have them write their goal and name on a paper arrow and create a grid representing the year. Do a weekly goal check-in with the class and move the arrows across the board as a class. You can also use it to set class goals for the group.  

13. Reading Marathon Board

Use a bulletin board to create a graph of monthly books read by the students in the class, with a construction paper book spine representing every 5 or 10 books. 

Set a goal line near the top of the board and, if students reach it, offer a class reward like a pizza party or special field trip. You could also have students note along the spine which books they are reading or would recommend to other students.  

14. Back to School Photo Booth

Use the bulletin board as a backdrop for a fun photo booth to take pics on the first day of class with cute props like hats, sunglasses, etc. Set up another board at the end of the year for last-day photos for the year, then send them home with the student when the school year closes for a fun memento of your class.  

15. Give and Take Board

Use large envelopes on a colorful board to create categories like “compliments,” “courage,” “inspiration” and allow students to take slips of paper from the envelopes as needed throughout the term. You can also allow students to contribute to the envelopes with compliments, advice and inspirational quotations.  

16. QR Code

For students in the upper grades, add some QR codes to deeper lessons and information on the board and allow them to investigate during scheduled times of the day. Allow students use of tablets or phones during designated times as a learning activity that takes full advantage of multimedia information.

17. Crossword Puzzle or Word Search Board

For another fun and interactive back to school bulletin board idea, create a giant word search or crossword puzzle for students to circle words or follow the clues to fill in the crossword. You can also tie the clues into specific lessons or topics they learn about as the year progresses and have students solve puzzles and identify what they are learning.

18. Blackout Poetry Board

On the first day, give students pages for books, magazines and newspapers and allow them to cross out the page with paint or a marker to create their own poetry through erasure. Use the results as a lesson in this fun style of poetry and creativity and talk about the results.  

19. Polaroids Wall

Fill an empty bulletin board with Polaroid photos of students and class activities as the year progresses, including group activities, art-making and other classroom moments. At the end of the year, allow students to take home their photos for a fun keepsake. 

Back to School Bulletin Board Ideas for Middle School

20. Fun Activity Advent Calendar

Create a monthly calendar grid with pockets or envelopes containing a fun activity for the class to be enjoyed on a given day as a surprise like a party, a film viewing, art project, class guest or a fun treat. This is a great board to use with spirit week ideas or a special kids lunch idea combined with an activity.

21. “Reading Takes You Places” Map

Post a large US or world map on the board. Print out book covers from different countries, states or regions and then use a marker to draw a line or use a piece of spring to link the book cover with the geographic locale it was written about or takes place in.

You can also allow students to populate the board with a selection of their favorite books or summer reads.  

22. “Who Am I?” Game Board

Learn facts about famous people like world leaders, performers, musicians and others. Write quotations or info about them on one side of the board, then list the names and photos of famous personages on the other side. Allow students to create connections between the names and details for a fun back to school bulletin board idea for middle school.

23. Banned Books Board

Create an educational back to school bulletin board idea by highlighting books that have been challenged across the country and why they have caused controversy. Print out book covers and information on the titles.

24. Geography Matching Game Board

For another fun map-related back to school bulletin board idea for middle school, have students match sheets with famous historical events with the star on a real map by drawing a line or stretching a string across the map. 

25. Blind Date With A Book

Get students reading books they may not otherwise encounter by wrapping the books in paper. Write a brief description on the wrapper and allow kids to choose books based on the details they can see. This is a great back to school bulletin board idea for a library or media center or for a classroom with a small library of books that students can take home. 

26. Inspirational Figures Silhouette Board

Draw and cut out the silhouette of famous historical or scientific figures that will be covered during the year and allow students to identify the profile with the information they are learning or create information sheets as a class assignment as they learn. 

Back to School Bulletin Board Ideas for Preschool

27. “Give Us a Hand” Board

For a cute back to school bulletin board idea for preschool, have students draw tracings of their hand. Cut them out and use them to create patterns and designs on a colorful board with a personalized touch. This board makes a great welcome back to school decoration idea

28. Crayon Pack Board 

For another cute way to put students' names where they can be seen, create a box of colorful crayons with students' names on the labels instead of color names. You can also create a background with swathes of color for each crayon shade. 

29. Animal Alphabet Board

Introduce preschoolers to letters and sounds with a cute animal alphabet board with the letters and images of each attendant animal. This will help kids not only identify the animals, but also help them recognize them as they learn to read. 

30. Color Lessons Rainbow Board

Having a reference for colors is a great back to school bulletin board idea as preschoolers learn about them. Create a bright multi-layered rainbow of colors with the names on each different shade. 

31. Under the Sea Board

An underwater scene creates a dynamic and colorful back to school bulletin board idea perfect for starting off the year. Write the names of students on the fish and undersea creatures for a fun way to personalize it. 

32. Image Puzzle Board

Blow up a fun image like a cartoon still, book page or busy landscape and cut it into puzzle pieces. Pin them to the board and daily allow students to guide you to assemble the finished image over the course of the month. Add a new image each month. 

33. Silhouettes Board

Create silhouettes with a bright light and a wall tracing. Add student names to the silhouettes and line them up in a grid on the bulletin board. You can also have students include a fun detail on the silhouette to help you get to know them.

34. I-Spy Game Board

For a fun interactive back to school bulletin board idea, blow up a large, detailed scene. Each day, have children identify something in the picture as a fun I-spy activity related to the things they are learning.

35. Musical Notes Board

Draw several lines across the middle of the board to create a place to add musical notes with students names written on them for a cute welcome back to school bulletin board idea for preschool. You can also use the board as an intro to how music is created.  

36. Mr. Potato Head Board

Create a large cutout in felt of Mr. Potato Head and his various facial features and accessories. Use velcro to add the features to the potato, changing it out periodically as a fun interactive welcome back to school bulletin board idea for preschool.  

37. Collaborative Coloring Project

Create a large coloring book page and allow pre-schoolers to fill in the images with crayons or markers over the course of the first month. You can use images that are simple or complex, then change them out when the coloring is completed.

These cute back to school bulletin board ideas are sure to make your classroom both visually stunning and a perfect learning environment for students of all ages. 

For even more fun decoration ideas, check out other experiences happening on Classpop!