Need summer bulletin board ideas?
We’ve got 51 colorful, eye-catching bulletin board examples that reflect the spirit of summer to share with you today.
Children learn about the world through what they see. When they’re young, we should do our best to make their environment ideal for stimulating their visual senses.
If you work with little children, you know that how a room is arranged can greatly affect a child’s mood, attention, and motivation. In addition to adding to the physical arrangement of a classroom, a bulletin board can be used for decorative appeal.
The Importance of a Classroom Bulletin Board
Bulletin boards can also be a great teaching tool that introduces and reinforces lessons, values, goals, and visions.
Furthermore, bulletin boards can foster communication between teachers and students.
If you want children to know that you appreciate them, letting them contribute to the design of a classroom’s bulletin board is one way of showing your appreciation.
To channel children’s (and even teachers’) pent-up energy for the fast-approaching summer vacation, you might want to enlist students’ help in designing your bulletin board for summer.
Read on for 51 awesome examples that can provide inspiration for your classroom’s bulletin board.
1. Time for Summer
For this bulletin board idea, the creator used printable cutouts, fabric leis, and dollar-store flip-flops. The materials may already be available in your supplies closet.
Assembling the board is quite simple, but the effect is cheery and fun.
2. It's O-Fish-Ally Summer
The creator of this bulletin board used simple materials, such as:
That’s the beauty of designing a bulletin board—you don't need fancy materials to create a wonderfully designed one.
3. Undersea 3D Art
This 3D bulletin board features an underwater scene. It can be time-consuming to create a board like this, and it requires a special paper-crafting technique to create the 3D objects.
Nevertheless, the effect is stunning and makes for a truly memorable board.
4. Bee Craft
In this example, you crumple and twist appropriately colored paper and assemble it on your board. You can use this design to complement a lesson.
5. Summer Vibes
Bulletin boards and memo boards are also very useful for homeschoolers. This fabric magnetic board is appropriately decked out for the summer and ready for displaying notes, classwork, and reminders.
6. Summer Sky Birthday Board
Looking for ideas for a birthday board?
Use this example to display the names of students whose birthdays are celebrated in summer. This board was created by hand-painting the background night sky.
The names, marshmallows, and bonfire are paper cutouts glued to the board's surface.
7. Hello, Summer
You can use different-sized picture frames to create a unique bulletin board celebrating the arrival of summer. For this board, an arrangement of white picture frames is assembled on a classroom wall.
The creator used printables, tag punch, card stock, and colored paper to create this charming board.
8. The Smore You Read, The Smore You Know
This board provides a summer reading list. The book suggestions are written on brown paper cut into squares to represent s’mores. A bonfire blazes at the center of the board, evoking evenings spent outdoors during summer.
9. Countdown to Summer
Counting down to summer break? This example is a great idea for a countdown. You can pop a balloon for each day that passes.
10. Look on the Bright Side
This vibrant bulletin board idea uses various colored handprints (cutouts) as a border. A colorful poster brings attention to the center of the board.
11. Pop Into Summer
When your whole class is counting down the days until school is out for the summer, here’s a bulletin board idea to get everyone excited for summer while still reminding them that, as their teacher, you truly care about them.
12. Sailing Into Summer
Here is another idea for your summer bulletin board that brings the ocean scene into your classroom. Again, it's made with materials that can easily be sourced from your school supplies cabinet, such as crepe paper, and colored card stock.
13. Turtle-y Cool
The turtles' shells in this cute welcome-back board are made out of green paper plates. They are then glued onto blue paper for a budget-friendly underwater scene.
14. Soak Up Knowledge This Summer
This bulletin board was created using board paper in the colors of a beach in summer. If you're worried that a beach scene will make your students antsy, you might want to use this design on the very last week of the school year.
15. At the Seaside
This bulletin board uses beach- and ocean-related vocabulary words. It also has engaging visuals that are quite helpful for young learners or those who are learning English as a second language.
16. Say Aloha
Papercrafting is the main component used to create this bulletin board. It features tropical scenery, complete with a palm tree, umbrella, tropical flowers, a surfboard, flip-flops, and a bright sun in a blue sky.
17. Let's Flamingle
This board features a couple of flamingos surrounded by pineapples and smaller paper flamingo cutouts. The main materials used for this board include board paper, glitter paper, and pink feathers.
18. What's the Scoop?
To give the kids a cheerful welcome for the new school year, you could incorporate some ideas from this cool bulletin board.
The ice cream cones were cut out from a printable, and the children's names are written on the ice cream. Butcher paper cut into strips were stapled together to create a clean ruffle border.
19. Flamingos Say Hello
Say hello to summer with a couple of flamingos frolicking on a tropical backdrop. With a little paper craft to create the flowers and cut out the rest of the décor elements, your summer bulletin board will help create a sense of excitement in the classroom.
20. Have a Sweet Summer
Images of watermelon slices and ice cream cones evoke the feeling of summer in the classroom. It's a cool way to decorate your bulletin board right before the school year ends.
21. Fun at the Beach
If the circumstances do not permit your class to go to the beach for the summer, this bulletin board might be the next best thing. The children get to participate in the creation of this board by adding their footprints to yellow construction paper.
The board also features glittery beach creature cutouts. You might also want to incorporate some beach-related items such as shells, starfish, and pebbles for a 3D effect.
22. Summer Countdown Board
Here is another example of a summer countdown bulletin board. The creator used popsicle cutouts to represent the remaining days until summer break.
What image would you use, instead of popsicles?
23. Learning Is Sweet
Keep your students motivated while you count down the days to summer vacation with this bulletin board display. For the lollipops, you can use small paper plates wrapped in colored cellophane sheets.
24. What a Sun-Sational Year!
If your students are getting antsy about summer, why not harness that energy into some crafts?
For this activity, the students got to personalize sunglasses to go with their self-portraits and a background to go with their writing.
25. Take a Bite Out of Summer
Watermelons are a quintessential symbol of summer. This bulletin board example uses red and green sheets of colored paper cut into the desired shapes for a jumbo watermelon.
Black paper is used to create the “watermelon seeds,” with the number of days left in the school year written in white ink.
26. Bees Will Buzz in Summer
A lot of young children love Olaf from Disney’s animated film Frozen. He seems to be the only snowman that looks forward to summer!
In this example, the creator used colored paper cutouts, some letter art, and a rainbow border to place Olaf in a summer scene.
The kids will understand that this is one happy snowman.
27. Under the Sea
Here is a summer bulletin board inspired by underwater scenes. In this example, a 3D octopus is the focal point of the eye-catching design.
Some of the materials used for making this board include spray insulating foam, pool noodles, and a couple of googly eyes.
28. Blazing Sun
If you don’t want to include the entire solar system in your bulletin board design this summer, here’s a concept that only features the sun.
The creator used crumpled, balled up paper to make the sun, which was then painted with the appropriate color.
For the sun rays, cutouts from sheets of orange and yellow poster boards were used.
29. Stargazing
This charming bulletin board design is actually a collage. It features pictures of the students, yellow triangles cut out from colored paper, and star and tree cutouts glued to a background of blue paper.
30. A Ship of Adventure
Awaken the adventurous spirits of your learners by creating a three-dimensional display for your bulletin board, such as the one above.
You can achieve the effect you want by using paint and some realia, such as the notebook (aged to match the theme).
31. Dancing With Fireflies
Here is another bulletin board design where the teacher asked students to trace their hands. Instead of producing crabs, as in #16, they created wings for fireflies and flames for their campfires.
32. Don't Desert Your Studies
In the desert, it always feels like summer. If your class loves puns, this theme, which reminds them to not “desert” their studies, will be very much appreciated.
33. Up, Up and Away to Summer
This bulletin board takes inspiration from Pixar’s animated film Up. It features cutouts of the main characters, as well as the iconic house. The members of the class pop a balloon each day until summer break.
34. Sailing Into Summer Interactive Board
This interactive bulletin board features sailboats where students can explore different textures.
The board can be used to reinforce lessons in preposition. For example, right in front of the board is a set of guide questions to get students talking about where each sailboat is located on the board.
35. End of Year Shape Crafting
This bulletin board displays students’ shape work with a summer theme. The teacher used a geometry kit, printed out the shapes on yellow cardstock, and let the kids cut out and form their summer-themed creations.
36. Summer Bucket Board
This bulletin board features a bucket list of activities to do during summer.
Each activity has an envelope that the class can fill with pictures and other memorabilia. It is a fun and exciting way to create wonderful class memories.
37. We Had a Groovy Year
Summer vacation is right around the corner and it’s time to reminisce about what a school year it has been. This bulletin board sums up the overall class experience for both the teacher and students.
38. Countdown to Summer Break
Here’s another idea for your bulletin board if your class is counting down the days ‘til summer break.
Prepare a number of balloons equal to the number of students in class. In this example, the class has 22 students so the teacher set up the bulletin board exactly 22 days before summer vacation.
A student pops one balloon per day right until the last day of school.
39. Cool Summer Countdown
Still looking for inspiration for a summer countdown bulletin board? Here’s a cool one.
This summer break countdown board cards with popsicles printed on them, with the corresponding number of days until summer break. A built-in pocket in each popsicle card contains an activity card with a suggestion for a fun or silly class activity to do.
40. Lemonade Board
This bulletin board features a refreshing theme to reinforce lessons and display students’ work.
In this example, students’ haiku creations about lemonade are displayed on a bulletin board made to resemble a lemonade stall.
41. Staying Cool for the Summer
Lemonade is one of the most popular drinks during summer. Here’s another bulletin board idea featuring glasses of lemonade.
In this example, the glasses will eventually be showcasing the written works of students on the topic of lemonade.
42. Ready to Level Up
It’s the end of the school year, and students will be moving up to another grade level. This bulletin board celebrates the students’ milestone by featuring cutouts of hot-air balloons, signifying their leveling up.
Each balloon has a unique design and bears the name of a student.
43. Sweet Sweet Summertime
This bulletin board uses watermelons and sunflowers as inspiration. The colorful board was created using colored poster paper cutouts.
This board evokes nostalgia and excitement for carefree summer days.
44. This Year Was Sweet
This bulletin board features students’ output from an activity where they wrote down what made the (school) year sweet. Their answers, written on paper cutouts shaped like pineapples, were then displayed on the class bulletin board.
For the writing paper, you can choose to use cutouts of other symbols associated with summer.
45. Beach Balls and a Dolphin
The beach is one of the symbols most associated with summer vacation. Here, we’ve got a bulletin board created using different colors of construction paper cut and assembled to create a cool beach vibe scene.
46. Making Time for Mindfulness
Need something interactive for your bulletin board this summer? Here’s an example that uses QR codes that, when scanned with a smart device, provide suggestions for mindfulness activities.
There are a lot of things you can share through QR codes. For example, they can contain suggestions for take-home activities for the summer, links to useful websites, and class reminders.
47. Toasts
This bulletin board is designed for college students and includes a reminder not to get burnt out. It is interactive and features suggestions written by students on how to handle stress. These suggestions are written on pieces of paper shaped like toasts that you can pin onto the board for others to read.
48. Stay on Target
This bulletin board serves as a countdown and reminder for students to stay focused on schoolwork—not an easy feat for some when summer draws near.
The board features several bull’s eyes, with encouraging phrases about studying and managing one’s time well.
49. An Un-bee-lievable Year
Here are several end-of-the-year bulletin board ideas featuring crafts and writing done by students.
These bulletin boards have a two-fold purpose:
- Showcase students’ works
- Allow students to reflect on their experiences during the school year
One of the boards features a cute bee-themed design. Students wrote about their favorite in-class experiences and accomplishments on bee-shaped paper. These were then posted on the bulletin board for students and parents to see.
50. Make the Days Count
A sun with multiple rays is the focal image of this board. The rays represent the number of days remaining until school’s out and the header of the bulletin board says, “Make the Days Count.”
Although this bulletin board has a simple design, it has an impactful message about staying focused even as summer vacation approaches.
51. Scuba Diving Wall Art
Summertime is often associated with the sea and underwater sports. Here’s some scuba-diving-themed wall art you can adapt for your bulletin board this season. It’s created using colored construction paper cutouts assembled to look like a group of scuba divers, as well as printouts of different underwater sea creatures.
Final Thoughts on Summer Bulletin Board Ideas
There you have it—51 bulletin board ideas for the summer.
Have you found a design that you want to try for your classroom?
If you’re looking for other bulletin board design ideas, you might want to check out this post featuring growth mindset bulletin boards. (You can also check out these growth mindset posters to inspire kids and students.)
For more bulletin boards examples, check out the following roundups:
- 25 Best Growth Mindset Bulletin Boards
- 35 Winter Bulletin Board Ideas & Examples
- 42 Creative Fall Bulletin Board Ideas
Looking for more ideas? Maybe this list of summer goals can give you some inspiration.
