40 Interactive Bulletin Boards To Engage Your Students
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!
1. Wordle it up
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.
Learn more: Wordle Bulletin Board
2. Punch out your goals
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!
3. Scan QR codes
Teach your students about insects with an interactive bulletin board where students can build insects on magnetic boards and then scan QR codes to learn more.
4. Code and learn
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.
5. Ask “Would You Rather” questions
Oh, your students will love this one! Post new questions regularly to spark hilarious classroom conversation.
6. Crack the code
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.
7. Discover inspiring figures in history
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!
8. A-maze your students
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.
9. Tell your story
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.
10. Keep track of reading progress
Encourage independent reading and strengthen reading fluency skills with this bulletin board that students can color after they’ve finished reading books.
Learn more: Interactive Bulletin Boards
11. Encourage students to brag a little
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.
12. Match up vocab terms
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.
13. Get to know one another
This interactive board gives students the opportunity to think about their fellow classmates and to see how much they actually know about one another.
Learn more: Who’s Who Bulletin Board
14. Pit music against poetry
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!
15. Create a coloring corner
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.
16. Provide a place for burning questions
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.
Learn more: Burning Questions Bulletin Board
17. Challenge them with sudoku
Need something for kids to do when they finish a little early? Sudoku interactive bulletin boards might be the answer!
Learn more: Sudoku Bulletin Board
18. Compare and contrast
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.
19. Scan and learn
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!
Learn more: QR Code Bulletin Board
20. Bring on the Boggle math
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.
Learn more: Boggle Math Bulletin Board
21. Sort colored pom-poms
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.
Learn more: Color-Sorting Bulletin Board
22. Name that genre
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.
Learn more: Name That Genre Bulletin Board
23. Build a giant word search
Word searches are an engaging way to practice spelling and vocabulary. You can change up this board to match new subjects throughout the year.
Learn more: Word Search Bulletin Board
24. Play “I Spy”
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.
26. Take what you need
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.
27. Turn a paper roll into a Q&A
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.
Learn more: Q&A Paper Roll Board
28. Match mittens
Help little ones learn letters, numbers, sight words, and more with a cute and fun interactive matching board.
Learn more: Mitten Match
29. Give reading recommendations
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.”
31. Spark joy
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.
32. Compose pushpin poetry
It’s like magnetic poetry, just using a bulletin board instead! Cut out words and provide a container of pins. Students do the rest.
Source: Residence Life Crafts
33. Play peekaboo!
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.
Source: @playtolearnps/Peek-a-Boo
34. Fill a timeline
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.
35. Connect 4
There are lots of ways to put an educational twist on Connect 4, and making it into a bulletin board is even more fun!
Learn more: Giant Connect 4
36. Pop countdown balloons
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!
Learn more: End the Year With a Bang
37. Relieve stress
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.
Learn more: Feeling Stressed? Interactive Bulletin Board
38. Give someone a shout-out
Kids grab a shout-out card, write a shout-out to someone, and post it on the board to make someone feel special.
Learn more: Shoutout Board
39. Go shopping
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.
Learn more: Grocery Store Interactive Bulletin Board
40. You Try, I Try
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.
