Use bulletin boards to enhance your reading curriculum themes. If you read "The Gingerbread Baby" by Jan Brett, create a scene on the bulletin board with a path and houses, as depicted in the story. Attach the characters next to the path in the order they appear in the story. Use the bulletin board when you retell the story to help children determine the beginning, middle and end. Children can also use the bulletin board to retell the story to parents.
Display art related to your current theme or unit of study on the bulletin board. Perhaps you are studying dinosaurs. Ask the children to draw a dinosaur that represents them, such as a Jason-asaurus or a Lacey-adon. Mount the children's paintings on colorful construction paper and hang them artistically on the bulletin board for an instant art exhibit. Take a digital photo of each child and enlarge it on copy paper. Hang the photos up, along with self-portraits done by the children.
Take a cue from the Reggio Emilia preschools of Italy, and use your bulletin boards to document what is happening in the classroom. Combine enlarged copies of photos, art work, work samples and charts detailing projects and conversations to make informative and attractive bulletin boards. Children love seeing their work displayed this way and parents gain a better understanding of the learning occurring in the classroom.
Make interactive learning games for the bulletin board, similar to the concept of pocket charts. If you are discussing winter, read the poem, "The Three Little Kittens." Fashion a clothesline out of construction paper and yarn and attach it to the bulletin board. Cut 10 mittens out of paper, and write a number one through 10 on each mitten. Ask the children to attach the mittens to the clothesline in order using clothes pins. This activity teaches number recognition and sequencing, and develops fine motor skills. Adapt any learning activity to a bulletin board. Place the bulletin board close to the ground so children can access it easily, and laminate all bulletin board pieces for durability.