Students are beginning to recognize their names in print at the preschool age. Their eyes often light up with they spot their names among the names of their classmates. On a bulletin board lined in blue paper, place a large frog with your name written on it. Cut a green, lily-pad shaped oval for each student in your class. Write the name of each student on a lily pad. Staple the lily pads throughout the board under the words "Leap Into Preschool." Another bulletin board idea for students to find their names is a puzzle picture. Cut a large square of bulletin board paper. Draw black lines over the square to look like a puzzle. Cut a few puzzle pieces out from the edge and staple these near their spots. Write each student's name on a puzzle piece. Staple the words "We Fit Together" above the large puzzle.
Tracing his own hand print and cutting it out is a good fine motor challenge for a preschool student. Instruct your students to trace their hands on gold, red, orange or yellow paper in the fall. Ask each student what he is thankful for and write the response on his leaf. Staple the leaves to a tree trunk made of brown paper to create a Thanksgiving tree. Hand prints traced on green paper can be stapled to a bulletin board facing downward and arranged like a triangle. Decorate this frilly Christmas tree with ornaments around Christmastime. Draw a large heart on a bulletin board lined in white paper. Staple hand prints traced and cut from red, white and pink paper in random directions inside the heart. Around the heart write a quote by Robert M. Persig in a red marker: "The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands."
Celebrate how unique each student is with a special student bulletin board. Write a student's name on a yellow star in the center of the board. Ask the special student to cut out pictures of favorite animals, food, colors and toys from a magazine to staple next to the star. Take a picture of this student doing a favorite activity at school. A few other possibilities for this bulletin board are to interview this student about her favorite stories, favorite TV shows and favorite restaurants. Ask this student to draw a picture of her family. You can ask about each family member's name and label each person. Include a drawing of a special pet or favorite animals this student has.
Share in the excitement of each student's birthday with a variety of bulletin board ideas. Line a board in black paper. Staple a large yellow star in the center of the board. Write the name and birthdate of each student on a smaller star. Staple these stars throughout the bulletin board. During each month, remove and tape the stars with the birthdays to be celebrated in the large star. Replace them on the black paper when the month is over. Staple the words "A Star is Born" on the top of the board. Another possibility for a birthday board is to cut one red, paper apple for each student. Write the student's name and birthdate on each apple. A big, brown paper basket can be placed in the center of the bulletin board lined in blue or green. Staple the apples to the board with the words "A Basket Full of Birthdays."