How to Create a Halloween Bulletin Board

Allow your classroom to go a little batty this fall with a variety of Halloween bulletin board ideas designed to highlight the excitement of every little ghost and goblin’s favorite time of the year. The students in your classroom will have a frightfully good time creating a spooky assortment of Halloween crafts featuring bats, pumpkins, glittery fall leaves and sugary-sweet candy corn to create "boo-tiful" Halloween bulletin boards.

Things You'll Need

• Purple butcher paper
• Store bought cobwebs
• White school glue
• Black paint
• Paint brushes
• 7-inch white paper plates
• Black construction paper
• Safety scissors
• Glue
• Tape
• Orange and black construction
• Brown butcher paper
• Orange paint
• Paint brush
• Green paint
• Tape or glue
• Small photo of each child
• Pre-cut leaf shapes
• Green paper twine
• Stapler
• Blue butcher paper
• Green butcher paper
• Large leaf cut outs
• Red and gold glitter
• Pre-made Halloween owl cut outs
• Candy corn
• Small orange gum drops
• Small black gum drops

Instructions

1. Cover the bulletin board with purple butcher paper and attach the cobwebs to the butcher paper with white school glue. Provide each child with a paper plate, black paint and a paint brush. Instruct the students to paint the plate black and set aside in a safe place to dry. Show the children how to use the safety scissors to cut a sheet of black construction paper into eight equal strips. Fold the paper accordion style to create legs. Add the legs to the spiders and tape them to the bulletin board. Cut out letters to form the words "Happy Halloween" from orange and black construction paper and attach to the top of the bulletin board.

2. Lay brown butcher paper on the floor or other flat surface and ask the children to come up one at a time. Use a paint brush to apply orange paint to the palm of each child’s hand and press the palm onto the brown butcher paper. Then dip the child’s index finger in the green paint to create the stem and leaves on the pumpkin. Once the pumpkins are dry, tape or glue a small photo of each child in the center of the pumpkin. Staple the butcher paper to the bulletin board and add pre-cut leaves and green paper twine to form vines.

3. Visit a school or office supply store to look for Halloween bulletin board materials. Many of these establishments sell numerous pre-made bulletin board kits that contain everything you will need to create a spooky and creative bulletin board for the kindergarten classroom.

4. Staple blue butcher paper on the top half of the bulletin board, and cover the bottom half of the board with green butcher paper. Twist brown butcher paper to create two tree trunk and branches, and staple one tree on each side of the board. Provide each child two large leaf cut outs, glue and red or gold glitter. Instruct the students to apply the glue to the leaves and sprinkle with the glitter. When the leaves are dry, add them to the trees and attach an owl to each tree.

5. Provide each child in the class with a sheet of black construction paper, candy corn, small orange and black gumdrops and glue. Instruct the students to glue the candy assortment to the paper and set aside to dry for 24 hours. Once the collages are dry, tape them to the bulletin board for the children’s parents to admire.

Tips & Warnings

• Check with the children’s parents before painting their hands as some children may be allergic to the paint.

• Be sure to provide enough candy corn and gumdrops for the children to snack on while making the collages.

• Do not allow the children to use scissors or glue unsupervised.

Resources

• The School Box for more classroom ideas
• Lakeshore Learning for more classroom tips