Create a friendship train by tracing each child's hand onto a piece of colored construction paper. Help each child write his name in the middle of the hand and glue black wheels onto the bottom of the hand. Then, laminate the hands and ask a parent helper to cut them out. Staple them to the bulletin board in the shape of a train, using strands of yarn to connect the hand "cars." Finally, create an engine and caboose out of construction paper, and come up with a title for your bulletin board, such as "Chugging Our Way to a Great Year!"
For most school districts, the start of the school year occurs during the summer. Welcome the sunshine in along with your students by creating a summery bulletin board. Cover the board with bright blue paper, and add a large, smiling sun with sunglasses. Then, on the first day of school, take a picture of each student wearing sunglasses. Hang the photos on the bulletin board, with the name of each student printed underneath her picture. Finish the bulletin board with the title, "The Future's So Bright, We Gotta Wear Shades!"
Frogs are a great theme for a bulletin board. Most children love them, and if you have a real frog in the classroom, you can make him your mascot. Cover your bulletin board with ocean-blue paper, and create a frog and a lily pad out of green construction paper. Label the frog with the name of your classroom frog, or use your name. Over the frog, write "Look who's jumping into preschool!" Next, give each child a piece of paper with a frog to color. Help each child write her name on the frog, and then cut the frogs out and place them on the bulletin board. See the link in the resource section below for a frog template you can print out.