Dressing room lights connote the excited, anticipatory atmosphere of the area just behind the wings. Take off on the backstage theme, making the bulletin board a motivational, beginning-of-the-year display that reads "Ready to go!" Post photographs of each of the students from the first day of school. Next to each photo, write what the students say makes them feel the most ready to do something new. You can incorporate pictures or photographs from magazines to illustrate the students' ideas. For example, if one student feels prepared after eating breakfast, post a picture of a cereal box. For a student who likes to warm up by doing jumping jacks, post a photograph of an athlete.
Dressing room lights can also bring to mind the many roles that actors bring to life and the costumes they wear. If your preschoolers are learning about costumes and cultures from around the world, use the bulletin board as a visual reminder of various traditional forms of dress. If you have access to foreign clothing, such as kimonos, ponchos or saris, have the students model the various garments as a lively circle time activity. Use photos from the dress-up activity to decorate the bulletin board.
Turn your bulletin board into a giant dressing room mirror, lining it with aluminum foil. Provide simple drawings of each of the students' faces and let them color them in. Mount the faces all over the mirror as if the students were seeing their own reflections. Next, provide students with a large pile of interesting photographs, clipped from magazines. Have the students select the photos that best represent their favorite things. Finally, have the students glue the photos to cartoon-style speech bubbles or thought bubbles, which they can mount beside their faces on the board.
Extend the dressing room lights into a Hollywood theme, providing a large cut-out of a star for each student. Have the students write their names on their individual stars. Then, using washable ink or finger paint, let all the students stamp their hand prints on their individual stars. For an added touch of pizazz, line the stars with sequins or sparkly glitter.