If you’re a teacher who enjoys creating fancy science bulletin boards or hallway displays, this post might hurt your soul. I’m sorry!
But if you are a science teacher who is creatively-challenged and you just need a science bulletin board that can go up quickly and easily, THIS POST IS FOR YOU!
As for me, I’ve been teaching for 26 years, and somehow I’ve managed to escape doing science bulletin boards for about 20 of those years.
Then, we had a principal whose sole mission in leadership was to ensure that every teacher created a bulletin board. Not disciplining kids. Not curriculum. This admin’s priority was bulletin boards. You know the type.
So there I was, with my “get out of doing bulletin boards” luck run out, suddenly needing to create hallway displays. And let me tell you – I had zero desire to spend my time cutting out fancy borders and laminating every piece of paper in existence.
I needed bulletin boards that looked decent but didn’t require an art degree or an entire week’s prep time.
I’m not sure if you’d call this laziness or sheer genius, but I’ve come up with three bulletin board ideas that are actually doable for us regular humans who just want to teach science without becoming Pinterest influencers.
Headlines to choose from: “Pet Parade,” “Our Furry, Feathered & Finned Friends,” “Animal Academy,” “Pawsome Pets,” or “The Critter Collection”
This one is great because the kids do most of the work! It’s so easy – just ask kids ot bring in pictures of pets. They get so excited to share the animals in their life that you won’t even have to ask twice.
I also ask all the teachers, aides, and admin to bring in pictures of their pets, too. Everyone loves to share their pet pics, kids and adults alike!
Dogs, cats, hamsters, bunnies, horses, a kid’s aunt’s chicken, my picture of my rescue mule, Orion – it all goes up.
The students love seeing their pets displayed, and I literally did nothing except wield a stapler.
Here’s a tip: Because not all kids have pets, I always say, “Bring in pictures of the pets in your life” so that kids can bring in pictures of their own pets OR grandparents’ pets, cousins’ pets, friends’ pets, etc. I even had a student bring in a picture of the squirrel in his yard.
And if your admin asks, “Why pets?” you can simply tell them that this is a relationship-building tool. Sometimes the best connection moments happen when you just let kids share what they care about!
Headlines to choose from: “Weird Science Wonders,” “Bizarre But True,” “Freaky Facts,” or “Did You Know…?”
We all know that kids love weird facts, and there’s an endless supply of bizarre science trivia out there. Every few weeks, I find some new ones, print them out in a silly font, and then staple them to the board with a piece of colored paper to frame them. Voilà – done.
I use fun science facts like this:
Luckily, weird science facts are easy to find, but if you need a few sources to get you going, try these: BBC Science Focus, Parametric Studio, Reader’s Digest, or Science for Kids.
What’s fun about this one is that I’ll often catch my students (who have learned more about the statements on their own) explaining the facts to other teachers!
Headlines to choose from: “Scientist Spotlight” or “Science Superstar”
Another easy one! Simply print out some facts about a scientist in a cool font, cut around the words to look artsy-like, and then add them around the board. Find a graphic of a movie/theater spotlight online, print it out, and then arrange it to look like it is shining on a picture of the scientist.
If you want to get fancy, there are lots of premade stars and Hollywood-themed bulletin board decorations on Amazon.
Then, just rotate through different scientists each month. Boom, done.
Look, I’m never going to be the teacher with elaborate themed bulletin boards that look like they belong in a magazine. But these simple displays I’ve come up with do actually serve a purpose – they get kids interested in science, they’re truly conversation starters, and they make my corner of the hallway feel alive without killing my prep period.
The best part is that once I have the templates, I can update them quickly. And, I save the graphics year-to-year and reuse them.
✅ I hope these ideas help you easily check bulletin boards off your to-do list!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a scientist spotlight to print for next month’s scientist feature. Because apparently, I do bulletin boards now!
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
