Teach your students about the animals they may encounter on a safari by decorating your bulletin board with tan and black paper as a backdrop. Purchase a bulletin border with cheetah or zebra print to further emphasize the colors and patterns that make each animal unique. Use stencils of monkeys, giraffes, lions and cheetahs to make cutouts for the children to color before placing them on the board. Add paper labels underneath each animal to reinforce animal names and familiarity with letters. Staple a large cutout of a safari jeep in the center of the bulletin board; add a Velcro strip to the bulletin board near the driver's seat of the jeep to attach pictures of the children (ask their parents to send in photos). Each day of your lesson about jungle animals, change the "driver" on the bulletin board to give each child a chance to tell you about his favorite safari animal.
Bright colors and interesting textures are the main features of a bulletin board that showcases tropical animals. Purchase cutouts of tropical animals, such as frogs, monkeys, birds and sea creatures, from the local teacher supply store and place strips of paper underneath each animal so students can write down facts about them. For instance, under a picture of a long-tailed monkey, a student can write something like "long-tailed monkeys like howlers live in Central and South America." Use bright green strips of construction paper to resemble the grass and leaves in the rain forest, and help the students create tree trunks from paper towel rolls to add onto the bulletin board. Add a border in a bright color like purple or orange and hang small stuffed monkeys, toucans and snakes from the corner of the board for additional visual appeal.
Present a lesson about animals that live in the forest with a "furry" bulletin board. Add small samples of plush rugs, or rugs that have the texture of animal hide, for an interactive bulletin board students will enjoy. Post information underneath the fur samples; for example, "deer fur is short and coarse" or "rabbits have soft fur." Include enlarged photos of these animals, along with small posters of birds like finches and robins, and pictures of squirrels and chipmunks. Staple a small Ziploc bag of "food" on the bulletin board to show children what creatures in the forest eat, e.g. a bag of acorns for squirrels.
Animals associated with holidays make visually appealing bulletin boards that serve as an effective teaching tool. For instance, a board dedicated to the Easter bunny is attractive to children, particularly when you add a pop of color like a large satin bow tie in blue or yellow, or costume bunny ears to the top of the rabbit's head for added texture. Staple a basket made of thin wood to the bunny's head and fill it with plastic eggs in varying colors. Teach young children about colors by allowing them to choose one egg from the basket each day during your color-centered lesson plan. When the child guesses the right color, allow her to open the plastic egg and enjoy the prize inside, like stickers or jelly beans.