One of my favorite times of the year is classroom decorating season! (It should be an official season because it is so magical!) I love picking a classroom theme and watching my vision come to life! Choosing how to decorate your classroom requires you to think about different aspects of you physical classroom, the content you teach, and what items you already own to make your life easier!
As exciting as it can be to choose a theme for your classroom, it can also be overwhelming! Instagram is full of so many different options for a theme. Pinterest is full of classrooms that seem so perfect – do those classes even have kids that ever act up? To cut through the overwhelm, I have five tips for you today to help you pick the perfect classroom theme!
I want you to create a space you feel proud of and love to visit daily! Transforming your classroom to a home away from home with the perfect classroom theme will make you love walking into work every day! As a bonus, your students will love being in your classroom too!
When picking your theme, you must find a design style you love!! Maybe you adore bright colors, or you gravitate towards rustic farmhouse items. Regardless of your decor taste, thinking about the style of things you like is the perfect place to start!
This is the step where you can be selfish! Think all about YOU! What colors do YOU like? What are YOUR hobbies or interests? What makes YOU happy? What decor accents do YOU like? What kind of vibe do YOU want to create when your students enter the room?
If you are reading this and do not know your design style, don’t worry! I have created a two-minute quiz for you to take and find out! Seriously, it only take 5-7 questions and you’ll have the perfect personalized classroom theme just for you!
The quiz is your guide in determining what colors, styles, and vibe you want in your room. It is a fantastic tool to help start your brainstorming process so you can make decorating your classroom easy and fun!
When picking the perfect theme for your classroom, think about the vibe or feeling you want to create when your students are in your room.
Do you want it to be bright and inviting? Do you want it to be calm and simple? Do you want it to feel like you are out in nature? Do you want a rustic, boho, or tropical vibe in your room?
What you put on your walls, bulletin boards, and students’ desks matters! Your students will look at the quotes, color schemes, and other decor items daily. You want to pick things to encourage your students to do their best and show that you believe in them! It is easy to create a positive environment with the right classroom theme!
For example, I made an affirmation station in my Retro Decor Bundle that matches the color scheme and fits the retro vibe with the font and daisy floral decor. The affirmation station matches the classroom theme while creating an intentional space that prompts students to “affirm” or encourage themselves to tell themselves how fabulous they are!
Your classroom decorations should help enhance your design vision and create an inclusive and safe place your students look forward to coming to each day. You want your classroom theme to help create an environment where students feel encouraged, inspired, and motivated to learn.
Every wall, open space, and nook does not have to be filled with decor! Heavily decorated classrooms can be distracting and overwhelming to your students. Having blank space accentuates the classroom decor and prevents the overwhelm!
When you pick a classroom theme, stick to one and do not combine multiple color schemes. It can be a sensory overload! Look at your classroom and see if you have any open areas. Is every wall covered? Is there clutter on your shelves? Are there too many colors? Keeping things organized and simple will also help create a less stimulating classroom.
Trends come and go, and styles are constantly evolving! It is hard to know what trends will last, but you want to do your best to pick a classroom theme that you and your students will love for a while! You spend so much time, money, and hard work creating a beautiful, inviting, and prosperous space for learning, so you want to ensure you have a theme that will last you for a long time!
Sometimes, doing a bulletin board or picking a classroom theme based on something trendy that year is fun, but be careful! Trends can end quickly. For example, having a fidget spinner board (“spinning into fourth grade”) may be cute and fun for the year it was popular, but now kids aren’t really into those anymore.
It is also important you pick a classroom theme that you love! You will be going to your class five days a week! You want to walk in smiling because you love being there!
I suggest choosing a classroom theme that can be viewed as “timeless” or something that will not go out of style! For example, black and white is always trendy! I use black and white as a staple in my decor bundles and then pop with colors! Check out my Cactus, Farmhouse, and Boho Farmhouse decor bundles to see how I make a classroom theme pop using simple colors!
When selecting a classroom theme, you want to pick one that helps you set up and create your whole classroom space! You want to ensure your cart labels, name tags, posters, calendars, jobs display, and birthday board are all cohesive! You could even be a little extra special and make your teacher planner and welcome letter match the classroom theme, too!
Finding all the items that match your theme can take time and effort. You could spend hours finding what you want to put together your own classroom them. Sometimes, you get frustrated and buy some premade set you see on Amazon. Then you sadly realize only some of the items you want are included in that set, or you can only use it for one year if you write on it.
When I saw many teachers struggling to find all the necessary items to make their dream classroom, I created my decor bundles! I have thought through all the items you might need to make your classroom sparkle! Each of my bundles is unique, editable, and printable! All the items coordinate with a classroom theme, making your room aesthetically pleasing, functional, and easy to use!
My classroom decor bundles make decorating your classroom as simple as hitting print! With everything you have to do as a teacher, making your classroom look good should be easy!
I hope you find my five tips helpful and something you can implement next time you pick the perfect classroom theme! The big things to remember are to select a classroom theme that YOU love, make sure your room isn’t overstimulating, and pick a classroom theme bundle with all the items you need to make your dream classroom come true!
What’s your all-time favorite classroom theme you’ve used? Is there a classroom theme you want to try, but there are a few items for it? Let me know below! I would love to hear your ideas and see what decor items you dream about! I always want to help teachers create their most fabulous home away from home!
