Thanksgiving is one of the most fun holidays to decorate your bulletin board for. There are all kinds of different contributions that can be made to your bulletin board that would add to the thanksgiving theme. No matter your budget or resources, there are thanksgiving themed decorating ideas that you can apply to your bulletin board.
A Window Through Time
Thanksgiving is a holiday with some deep rooted history. Most teachers want to take this holiday decorating opportunity to bring out the educational value that decorating a bulletin board for Thanksgiving can have. One idea is to turn your bulletin board into a window through time that looks onto what could feasibly be the first thanksgiving. Two perpendicular strips of black paper form the window panes. Underneath the black strips, attach cut outs of Pilgrim and Native American figures taking part in the first thanksgiving. You can even have the students create the figures that will be displayed in your “window”? by allowing them to use art supplies such as construction paper, feathers, fabrics, etc.
Handprint Art
Handprint art is a perfect art activity for younger classes to participate in around thanksgiving time. Have all of the kids either trace and cut out or use finger paint to create a hand-print. The fingers of each child’s hands create the feathers of the bird and a bird body and head is all that is needed to finish the fun thanksgiving turkey. Display your flock of turkey art pieces on your bulletin board.
Framing
If you want your bulletin board to be framed out instead of filled in with art (For example you need to use the inside of the bulletin board to post grades, assignments, etc) there are all kinds of ways that you can embellish the frame of the board while still maintaining its usefulness for posting important documents. One idea is to trace and cut out each student’s hand print and then have each student write what they are thankful for on their hand. You can also incorporate die-cuts and other fun materials from the craft store such as fake leaves. Pumpkins, pilgrims, cornucopias, turkey, etc. are all examples of border themes that you can use with your bulletin board.
Picture Perfect
Another way to decorate your bulletin board is to include hand drawn or photographed images of the one thing that each of your students is thankful for. They could draw or bring in a picture of their family, a stuffed animal, a certain type of food, etc. Make sure that each art piece or picture has each child’s name on it or play a bulletin board game by leaving the names of each of the children covered and have the whole class write down their guesses for what their classmates are grateful for. Decorate the bulletin board a week or two before your classroom party and see how many students can connect their classmates to their art correctly.
Food Theme
Maybe you are tired of the traditional Pilgrims and Native American’s Thanksgiving bulletin board decorating motif and are looking for something that you can be a bit more creative with. So why not try focusing on the foods of thanksgiving. Everyone likes food, right? Making cut-outs of different types of food such as fruits vegetables, pumpkin pie, turkey, mashed potatoes, etc. is a good place to start. But don’t stop with the more traditional Thanksgiving Day foods. Have the students in your class educate everyone with unique Thanksgiving foods that their family eats. Have these students bring a sample for their classmates to try and make sure to add a cut-out or drawing of that student’s food to the bulletin board.
