Get ready to transform your classroom or hallway bulletin board into an inspiring and interactive space with these creative ideas that are quick and easy to implement and sure to engage your elementary students. You’ll find
- seasonal displays that celebrate the beauty of each time of year
- back-to-school themes that set the stage for a successful academic journey
- music-inspired boards that inform and entertain
- jumping off points to engage and create SEL discussions

Making Fin-tastic Music, Under the Sea
A bulletin board made almost entirely of paper plates! The fish are plates with a cut out triangle for the mouth and the triangle serves as a tail for the fish.

Add a little paper seaweed and some fun additions such as caps, tiaras, headphones, and a microphone. For the bulletin board BORDER, use cut in half rainbow party plates from Dollar Tree. They are so cute and give it that underwater iridescence. Cheap, fun, and a great way to connect to the movie, “The Little Mermaid.”
Other titles:”Making Fin-tastic (Choices, Students, Friends) Under the Sea.” Or “Fin-tastic Students, Learning, Helping, Kindness, etc. Under the Sea.”
Musical Road Trip: Beginning a Year of Adventures
Lay out a highway with a curvy piece of black paper. The route will depend on if your bulletin board is longer in width or height. Use fun titles for your highway signs and car license plates.

The car is made from
- parallelograms with rounded corners
- squares for the windows
- rectangles for the bumper, wheels, and license plate
- ovals for the back lights and door handle.
Other titles: Road Trip!, Ms. B’s Class Road Trip!, Second Grade Road Trip!
Frosty Winter Wonderland

This might be the fastest bulletin board to make EVER!
With paper plates, some construction paper rectangles (scarves and hats), circles for eyes, triangles for the nose, and a magic marker curve for the mouth and you are done!
Add designs on the plates such as music notes, math facts, vocabulary words, etc. Each snowman could be a different theme.
Other titles: Frosty Singing Wonderland, Frosty Adding Wonderland, Frosty Learning Wonderland, Frosty Happy Wonderland.
Save to Pinterest!
Let Music Be Part of Your World

This underwater-themed bulletin board uses paper plates cut in half for the jellyfish with dimensional ribbons and streamers as the tentacles. Each jellyfish has a musical term on it.
The fish are plates with a cutout triangle for the mouth and the triangle becomes the tail. The fish have music notes and rests for the eyes and scales.
Add paper seaweed that is the same shape cut multiple times. The border is also a same-shape time-saving trick with a fish shape, an oval with a triangle attached, and 3 circular bubbles. Production line assembly! Cheap, fun, and a great way to connect to the movie Little Mermaid. Give it a go!
You’re a Shining Star…

Using Earth, Wind, and Fire’s iconic song “Shining Star” helps create a bulletin board that speaks to individual student talents.
It’s an SEL jumping-off point for self-discovery, affirmation, and worth. A great discussion prompt would be, “Which one or more of these stars means the most to you? If the one you’re thinking of isn’t up there, tell me so I can add it.”
Planet Talent is a circle with some dry-brushed white paint (or glitter would be fun). There’s lots of lettering, and then the stars that detail the talent VERBS of music-making. Use aluminum foil for the border and a few other glittering stars.
Classroom teachers could use verbs such as reader, writer, creator, scientist, engineer, designer, problem-solver, and other action items.
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