Love them or hate them, bulletin boards are standard classroom decor. Make yours more interesting and engaging by trying some of these interactive bulletin boards. Students can contribute, learn, de-stress, and more. Plus, lots of these boards are easier to create than you might expect. Take a look and find something new to add to your walls!
The hit game makes an awesome bulletin board! Use it as a bell ringer or to fill in a few minutes at the end of class.
Use rubber bands to cover the tops of cups with tissue paper and attach them to your board. When students achieve a goal, they get to punch through the paper to find a treat or reward inside!
Give kids practice learning the basics of coding with this idea. It’s easy to create and you can set new challenges whenever you like.
Oh, your students will love this one! Post new questions regularly to spark hilarious classroom conversation.
Send a hidden message that requires students to solve equations to crack the code. This is another one that’s easy to change out regularly.
Use this idea to learn about scientists, authors, world leaders, and more. Kids research the person and write a fascinating fact on a sticky note to add details to the board. Everybody learns something new!
Students will get a kick out of racing each other to the finish line with this easy idea. Laminate the mazes and provide dry-erase markers for kids to use.
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Use this board at the beginning of the year for students to introduce themselves, or try it as the year draws to a close for students to reflect on what they’ve learned and experienced.
Encourage independent reading and strengthen reading fluency skills with this bulletin board that students can color after they’ve finished reading books.
Create a simple, colorful grid that students can use to display their best work for all to see. Add their names if you like, or leave it blank, but encourage every student to display something regularly.
Use rubber bands to match the terms (also marked with pushpins) with the parts. This board has tactile elements incorporated, making the terms more memorable and accessible to all students.
This interactive board gives students the opportunity to think about their fellow classmates and to see how much they actually know about one another.
Poetry can be a hard sell for some kids. Help them relate to it by challenging them to determine if quotes are by a famous poet or a famous pop artist. They’ll be surprised by the answers!
Interactive bulletin boards don’t have to take a lot of time or effort. Just pin up a giant coloring poster and have students use their crayons or markers to color. Coloring is a well-known anti-stress activity, plus it can actually help focus the mind on the subject at hand.
Also known as a “parking lot,” interactive bulletin boards like these give kids a low-key way to ask questions they have about material you’re covering. Look it over daily to see what you might need to review, or save questions to be answered in a future lesson. Remove the sticky notes as you respond to them.
Need something for kids to do when they finish a little early? Sudoku interactive bulletin boards might be the answer!
Did someone say giant Venn diagram? I’m in! Post any two items you want students to compare and contrast, and have them write their answers on sticky notes to fill in the diagram.
Bring interactive bulletin boards into the digital age with QR codes. In this example, quotes from famous women are displayed on the wall. Students can scan the free-to-generate QR code with their phones or tablets to learn more about each one. This idea can be adapted for so many different subjects!
Game-based learning has so many benefits. This Boggle math board is based on the classic letter game, with a numbers twist. Learn how to play at the link below.
Little ones love interactive bulletin boards. Paint empty paper towel tubes with bright colors and set them up with coordinating buckets and pom-poms. Kids get hand-eye-coordination practice by dropping the right pom-poms through the tubes.
Lift-the-flap cards can be used for so many different interactive bulletin boards. This board helps kids identify literary genres with examples and descriptions.
Word searches are an engaging way to practice spelling and vocabulary. You can change up this board to match new subjects throughout the year.
Grab your hot-glue gun and get to work! This board provides the perfect opportunity to play a quick game of I Spy when you have a few spare minutes at the end of class.
This is an easy idea for a fall bulletin board. On the back of each card, have a student write what they’re thankful for. Each day, turn one over and share. (Find more fall bulletin board ideas here.)
You’ll find examples of interactive bulletin boards like this one all over Pinterest. The concept is basic: Post notes with encouraging and kind words on a board for students to grab when they need to be lifted up. Provide paper for them to add their own kind words for others too.
The terrific thing about interactive bulletin boards made with rolls of paper is that they’re easy to switch up. Learn how to make this board (this teacher used a door, but it would work for a bulletin board too) at the link below.
Help little ones learn letters, numbers, sight words, and more with a cute and fun interactive matching board.
The teacher who created this board says, “Students use sticky notes to write the title, author, and genre of the book they’re reading. They use dry-erase markers each day to update the page they’re on and their rating (out of 5 stars). This will let me see how much kids are reading and give students a place to refer to when looking for new book recommendations.”
When you “catch” students being kind, give them a “warm fuzzy” pom-pom to put in their bucket. Periodically empty the individual buckets into a class bucket to work toward a reward. (Learn more about the bucket-filler concept here.)
Such a simple concept: Spell out a word in large letters and have students fill it with their thoughts on that word. You can easily change this out to fit various seasons or subjects.
It’s like magnetic poetry, just using a bulletin board instead! Cut out words and provide a container of pins. Students do the rest.
Post a pic of a student under a flap with their name on it to help students learn their classmates’ names and faces. This is geared toward younger kids but could be tweaked for older students too.
This board starts out simple, but you’ll add to it as kids learn. It works for any timeline you might be studying, so it’s easy to customize for your own class or unit.
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There are lots of ways to put an educational twist on Connect 4, and making it into a bulletin board is even more fun!
Kids go wild for the chance to pop balloons! Use this as a countdown to winter break or the end of the year. Tip: Put one student’s name inside each balloon. As each student’s name bursts out of the popped balloon, take that day to celebrate them and their achievements!
This interactive bulletin board includes multiple ways for students to deal with their anxiety, like sensory tiles, mazes, coloring pages, and fidget toys. Students will be drawn back to this one again and again.
Kids grab a shout-out card, write a shout-out to someone, and post it on the board to make someone feel special.
What a fun way to practice money and budgeting skills! Fill a board with various items and prices, then challenge students to “go shopping” within various budgets. This is a fantastic activity you can return to again and again.
This is so clever, and it’s a brilliant way to allow even timid students to ask for help when they need it. On one side, students write a word they need help spelling, giving it their best possible try. Then, the teacher can come by and write the correct spellings as time allows.
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Jill Staake is a Contributing Editor with We Are Teachers. She holds a B.S. degree in Secondary English Language Arts Education and has taught in both middle and high school classrooms. Her background also includes vocational training and performance support, curriculum design and development, and museum education. She’s written hundreds of articles across the web on a vast array of educational topics including her top passions: reading, writing, and science. You can reach her at jill.staake@gmail.com.
