10 DIY Classroom Themes You Can Create With Ease

August is quickly approaching and it’s time to start planning classroom themes. These ten whimsical classroom themes will add fun and excitement to your learning space. What child wouldn’t love to sit back and read a book while sitting by the ocean or in a cozy nook at Hogwarts? Students will look forward to working under their favorite truffula tree or practicing writing in the galley of a pirate ship. Whichever theme you choose, your classroom will be a colorful and exciting place for your little learners. If you’re looking for some creative ways to jazz up a your learning environment, we’ve got you covered. These themes help to engage your student and inspire creativity.

Classroom decorations are easy to DIY and make yourself so you can afford to transform your classroom on a budget with these ideas. The best and cheapest way to transform your Classroom is to pick a theme and work with it. Pick a theme that is popular for the season so supplies will be affordable. Ask parents to bring something in to add to the theme, for example, old party decorations that fit your theme, parents would only be too glad to get rid of their supplies. Remember if you don’t ask the parents for help there is zero chance of them contributing. Use your parents as a resource for free stuff.

Pick a theme that is easily interchangeable if you plan to purchase items. I love using chalkboards for my party supplies as it enables me to theme a room very quickly with text and sayings.

Remember 90% of the creativity and inspiration in your classroom comes from YOU the teacher! We also found some amazing classroom cuts out such as these

Life-Size Book Character Cutout

Palm tree cutout

Dr Seuss Decorations

Luau Classroom Theme – Schoolgirl Style

Superhero Classroom Theme – Schoolgirl Style

Ocean Classroom Theme – Pixie Chicks

Nautical Classroom Theme – Sailing Through 1st Grade

Harry Potter Classroom Theme – Chamber of Magic

Dr Seuss Classroom Theme – Tangled with Teaching

Buckaroo Classroom Theme – The Creative Classroom

Pirate Theme Classroom – Clutter-Free Classroom

Bee Classroom Decor – Flapjack Educational Resources

Jungle Classroom Theme – Trendy Teacher

When my daughter was younger I would spend a lot of time trying to come up with activities she could do in the car on long road trips and things to entertain her when we were waiting at restaurants and things that didn’t involve screens.

But it turns out there are a lot of great activities you can do with just a piece of paper and a pen.

What Do We Do All Day has a great collection of pen and paper games, including some that can be done with just one person, though they’re all more fun if you have at least two.

There are some classics on here like hangman and dots and boxes, but there are also quite a few I hadn’t heard of before.

I don’t want to spoil the whole list for you because you should definitely click over there and look around, but I will share about the one that you see pictured above.

This game is called Bridges, and you start by making the big random shape and the dividing it into a bunch of sections (the post says 30-50 sections is ideal but I think this one is smaller than that).

Each player gets their own color marker and you take turns drawing bridges from one space to another, crossing a third. Once there’s a bridge, no other bridges can start, end or cross in those spaces. Keep going until no more bridges can be built, and the person who makes the last bridge wins.

Check out the post over at What We Do All Day for more great ideas for no or almost-no prep games you can play with your kids or that kids can play together. I’d love to know if you have a favorite paper and pen game, whether it’s on this list or a different one.

[Photo: What We Do All Day]

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