Bulletin Board Ideas
The great thing about designing and making bulletin boards with your kids is that each theme presents new opportunities to enhance language skills, fine motor skills through arts and crafts, social skills as the children build together, and so on. What's more, you don't even have to have a wall to hang them on. Simply tuck it behind the couch if you lack space and bring it out just before the kids arrive or during special activity times during the day.
Building a Cultural Community Bulletin Board
Materials:
* An empty bulletin board
* 8 ½" by 11" sheets of various coloured paper
* Crayons, markers, non-toxic glue
* Various cultural magazines such a National Geographic, Life, etc. that may be cut up
Directions:
Talk with the children and make a list of the different cultures that the children of your centre or home make up your. If there is no diversity in your group, borrow books from your library that depict children of various ethnic backgrounds. Next, let each child pick a culture they would like to be part of if they are not already. Have them cut out pictures that represent their culture and past them on to the paper. Help them label their culture using the crayons or markers. Have the children cut out as many flags as they can to use as a boarder for your board. Finally, discuss with the children a possible name for the new community board you have just designed. For an additional activity, you could have them choose a particular character from their cultural sheet or make one up, and write a story each character and what makes them so special as a human being.
Friendly Notes Bulletin Board
* An empty bulletin board
* 8 ½" by 11" sheets of various coloured paper
* Crayons, markers, non-toxic glue
* Various colours of Post-It Notes
Directions:
This bulletin board can be designed as a fun place where the children can post little friendly notes to each other during the course of the day. Have each child design their own special place using the coloured paper. Help them make up a series of special notes that can be stuck all over the board so they can grab them and give them out at will. These notes can be friendly notes, thanks you notes, or kind saying directed towards another person. In order for this to help promote reading, writing, and good social behaviors, build this sharing of the notes activity into your weekly or daily planning. This is a wonderful way for each child to learn to appreciate all the good qualities in each of the other children.
Fire Escape Bulletin Board
Materials:
* An empty bulletin board
* 8 ½" by 11" sheets of large square graph paper (enough for each room in your home or centre)
* Crayons, markers, colored pencils
* Various magazines that may be cut up
Fire safety begins with fire escape planning. To help the children learn how to get out of the facility or home should a fire occur, work with them on the bulletin board using the graph paper using one sheet to lay out each room in your home. Put the sheets together as to depict an architectural drawing of your home. This is a great learning experience for the children on a number of fronts such as engineering, architecture, etc., along with the safety learning. Have the children cut out beds, dressers, doors, windows, etc, that will go into the rooms on the board. When the rooms are complete, use brightly coloured arrows drawn in market to show the children how to leave the room in the event of a fire. Nest, you can go online or contact your local fire hall for pictures that demonstrate how to "Stop, Drop and Roll, and other important safety tips. Place these around the board. (Visit our Oct. Newsletter for links to Sparky the Fire Dog and and the NFPA Web site.)
To emphasize what is being learned with the map, practice the escape drill with the children regularly, along with the crawling out of the building and stop, drop and roll techniques.