The autumn tide brings crisp mornings, changing trees, and new ideas for creating classroom decorations inspired by fall. The theme of trees and leaves are central to the fall season and can be re-created in a variety of classroom decorating ideas.
Falling for a Classroom Tree
Garland Home
A classroom tree works equally well on a large wall inside the classroom or for classroom door decoration. Create the trunk and branches of a large tree out of brown construction paper or a large piece of cardboard. Have your students participate by embellishing the tree trunk and branches with crayons, markers or colored pencils, adding lines and other accents to the tree.
Then, have your students cut leaves out of green, red, orange, yellow and brown construction paper. Encourage them to experiment with gluing two or three different colors together to make the leaves appear as though they are in the midst of changing color. Attach the leaves to the tree using glue or tape and then write each child's name on a leaf. By adding names to the leaves, the classroom tree becomes like a family tree, which may lead to a classroom discussion about this topic.
Inspiring with Watercolor Leaves
Watercolors, with their soft, dreamy tones and the gentle bleeding of one color into another, lend themselves perfectly to autumn classroom decorating. One idea is to invite your students to create large watercolor paintings on both sides of thick paper, allowing them to dry in between. Then cut the watercolor paintings into leaf shapes and hang the leaves from the ceiling or tape them to the windows.
Smaller leaves can also be strung together to create a garland around the bulletin board or blackboard. Mix the watercolor painting leaves with construction paper leaves to make the garlands more dynamic. If you or your students cut extra large leaves, they can be used as a background for fall poetry.
Decorating With Words
Since fall is the time when students return to school, a good way to get their minds moving (while also creating classroom decorations) is by brainstorming. Ask them to think of words that remind them of autumn. Once you have a good selection of autumn themed words, use large stencils to draw them onto different colored construction paper. The words can then be cut out and hung up around the room or used as classroom door decorations.
Enjoying Small Pumpkins and Squash
Create a lovely display with arrangements of small pumpkins and winter squash or gourds placed either on shared tables or a side table in the classroom. These veggies will last a long time and bring the bounty of nature into the classroom, as well as enhance your classroom decor with their colorful skins.
These classroom decorating ideas will help get you started on creating an autumn classroom cornucopia. Use bright fall colors combined with leaf and pumpkin themes to make classroom decorating interesting and fun. Involve your students by having them make watercolor paintings, cut leaves, and share inspirational words.
4 Simple Fall Themed Classroom Decorations