Need a bulletin board?
You can use a large thick sheet of styrofoam or cardboard in a pinch.

Are you tired of butcher paper for the backdrop?  Try these for a change:
*Cover your bulletin board with newspaper.  This is especially fun when hanging children's creations having to do with the alphabet.
*Buy fabric pieces from a thrift store to use as a backdrop.  Selections are endless.
*Try aluminum foil around holiday time.  (The cheap brand from Wal-mart works great)
*Try brown paper bags (opened up and cut into large sheets).  Very October-Novemberish!

To make butcher paper backdrops more exciting, you can:
--let children paint them
--cover them with colorful netting
--cover them with colored cellophane

Border tips:
Here's a great idea given to me by Eileen, a gal I once worked with in Cocoa Beach, Florida: Take strips of brown construction paper and accordian-fold them before hanging.  They look so neat -- kinda' like rusted metal.  Great for a Fall border.

*Here's a great idea from Beth V., Margate, New Jersey who says, "I back my bulletin board with plastic table covers I buy at the Dollar Store!!!"

*Sheryl Bauer says that gift wrap is great for backing bulletin boards with too.  She also says, "Part of one of the walls where I work is similar to cork board (but gray in color).  I cover it with various colors of paper for bulletin boards and can add borders to make as many indiviual boards as I want."

*From Penny, in Spencer, West Virginia: For an inexpensive bulletin board border I use wall paper borders.  At our local Dollar General Store I get them for $1.00 a roll.  They have lots to choose from.  The children seem to enjoy them too, and when it's time to make a new bulletin board, they are always eager to see what the new border will be.

*From Jo Conde, Miriam College High School, Manila, Philippines:
Dear Stromie, I work as the resident artist of our high school.  I have found a nice way to cover a bulletin board since I do lots of them: First, cover it with butcher paper, then use Japanese papers (the colored ones they use for lanterns) as backgrounds.

*From Gini:
A Real Time Saver: I saw the most wonderful bulletin board at another school, (and I plan on using it myself).  A teacher used packaging cardboard (the kind that looks like wood) for the background.  She then stapled a cute looking clothesline to it, complete with colored clothespins.  Since this is where she displays the children's work, she leaves it up all year, only changing the artwork and border to fit the season or the unit they are studying.  Changing the children's work is so easy as all she does is clip it to, or unclip it from, the "clothesline."  It's timesaving and adorable!

*From Mary Sergeant, in Cairns, Australia:
Recycling Backdrops: I have a great suggestion for backdrops.....recycle them for other units.  For example, I use hand-painted backdrops again.  Another time, I cut an old backdrop which depicted the six Aboriginal seasons into Christmas trees for a Santa mural.  This practice is easy, quick, and saves time.

*From Melinda, in Ontario, Canada:
Here's a great tip I was given: Use florescent colors or silky fabrics for your bulletin board background, with black letters.

*From Liz, Head Start Teacher, Massachusetts:
Crepe Paper: I use crepe paper (the stuff decorative party streamers are made from) as my bulletin board borders.  I find such a variety of colors and patterns to go with almost any theme we happen to be working on.

*From Amy Maricle, LSU-Alexandria Children’s Center, Louisiana:
Butcher Paper: I use a big strip of butcher paper for borders: First, I lay it out on the table and the children paint it with the colors for the season or theme I'm doing.  When it dries, I cut the paper into 3 inch strips using decorative cutting scissors.  The children love it!

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