Have lots of wall space but no bulletin board?
Then I have the perfect solution for you! While getting my tour of the school the AP told me about some teachers at a school he used to teach at making Styrofoam bulletin boards for their rooms. I instantly starting thinking of all the ways to make the boards, how to use them in my room, what fabrics to pick and planning my trip to Joann's. As I started making my boards I thought it would be a perfect "How to" post for fellow teachers so below you will find my tips for making your own bulletin boards for your classroom.
First I would like to show you a few of the decorations for my classroom because I just LOVE them!
Vinyl table cloth for the room. Adds lots of color and easy to keep it clean.
I know it's upside down but due to time constraints I don't have time to get back on my phone, edit the image and reload it to the blog. If you turn your head just a tad to the left or right it looks much less upside down! :) Either way I got these (as well as most of my decor) on clearance after the 4th and am not 100% sure how I will use them but they will certainly find a home in my room. :)
This is a table runner of 4 stars. I got myself 5 of these on clearance and I will be using a few of them as window valences and others simply as banners for the room. I love to add as much COLOR as I can to my room to make it feel homey and to make students feel comfortable. While my classroom is certainly not as stark as many I have seen I still like to provide my student with a room that feels warm and inviting instead of cold and bland.
Ok now it's time for the "How to" portion of the blog!
Here is a photo of the finished product to get us started so you can get an idea of what the heck I am even talking about.
As you can see the theme continues for my room! :) Now if you will notice that this board is quite large which I am very pleased with as far as the size goes. It is roughly 5' tall and is made up of five 3'x1' Styrofoam boards. I am sure that you can find large pieces of Styrofoam somewhere but at your run of the mill craft or fabric store this is the largest you can get them. Now the foam does come in varying thicknesses however for cost effectiveness and the actual use of the boards I chose to use 1/2" thickness. It saved me about $30 in the end as each 1/2" board was $6 and the 1" boards were $9.
Things you will need to make one foam board will be:
2 Large Cardboard boxes (You really only need one if you only have one)
Specialty Foam glue
4-6 3'x1' foam boards
Fabric of your choice
Light Quilt Bedding
Short sewing pins
Tacky Craft Glue
To start you will need to use specialty foam glue like this one here.
Now you don't have to use this brand or if you already know of something that works great for gluing foam then you can use that too. Through some online research after I started gluing boards together I found people who said that E6000 glue was great to use but it had a horrible smell so I decided when I ran out of glue I would just continue to use the Foam glue instead of trying something different.
Before you start gluing make sure that you either have a surface you don't mind glue getting on or lay out the large cardboard box so that it sits flat. You can use this same cardboard box later if it is of the right size or you may use a different box.
The first thing you want to do is glue the boards together using a generous amount of glue but not overloading the edges.
Then you need to gently push them together using as much pressure as you can without breaking or damaging the boards.
Next you will need to place a few heavy, but not too heavy, items on top of the boards to hold them in place. We used random stuff we had laying around but we tried to keep things with a large base when possible to avoid putting too much pressure on a small spot.
After it sits for an hour or two take the items off and tape the seams so that they are held together. Once you tape the seams run a piece of tape down the left and right sides vertically to help pull the boards together. We started off using painters tape but for the second board we ended up using Gorilla Duct Tape Extra Sticky.
You will need to let the boards sit overnight for a stronger hold as it allows the glue time to dry completely. The next day you will wrap the boards with the bedding and then the fabric. The Styrofoam acts as a Velcro to hold the bedding in place and makes it a little tricky to smooth out the wrinkles. Be sure that the wrinkles are smoothed out on the bedding before covering with the fabric. We found that the best way to do this was to turn the boards over so that the taped side was facing down. You will need someone to help you flip the boards over. We then put the bedding over the boards and smoothed it out. Next we did the fabric and did our best to center it and ensure it was as straight as possible. The large size and fragile nature of the boards makes it difficult to ensure the perfect alignment. If something like that would bother you I recommend using a solid fabric or one with a random pattern that would not show the imperfections. Once we had it covered we very carefully lifted the boards up on their side and while he held it I made sure the fabric wasn't going to get stuck and then helped him gently set the boards back down.
The bedding may stick out more than the fabric but all you need to do is trim it down before gluing.
After you do that you will need some help again with pulling the fabric tightly. While one person holds one side in the middle the other needs to pull tightly. Again being mindful of the fragile nature of the foam, you don't want to pull too hard and break the boards. Once you feel that you have it tightly pulled place a short sewing pin or two to hold it in place. When placing the pins to ensure that they hold and that the fabric doesn't just pull them out start by putting the pin in straight down and then pushing it at an angle towards you so that it is pushed in at a 45 degree angle. This helps keep it from just popping off and making you start all over again. Then you can do that side opposite of the first one and pin it in place. You will repeat the same process for the other two sides.
After you do that to all 4 sides you will start on one of the longer sides and work your way from the middle of the side down one way and then the other. You will use the Tacky Glue in generous amounts as you go placing the glue about 1/2" from the edge of the fabric. Be sure you aren't gluing over bedding because that can compromise your hold to the foam.You will need to push down really well to make sure the glue is securing the fabric to the board and you will continue to place a short sewing pin every 1-2" as you go. This will hold the fabric in place while the glue dries. You want to stop about 2-3" from the corners so that you can do those after all of the sides are done.
Once you finish one of the long sides you will need to do the other long side. You do not want to do one of the short sides until both long sides are done or you will most likely end up wrinkling your fabric or pulling it off center. When all sides are done you will go back and do the corners. I ended up folding almost all the corners differently as I worked to find the method that worked best. What I found works best is leaving the fabric straight from both ends and only trimming off where it would hang over the edge of the board. I then tucked one side under the other after adding some glue to the back of the fabric, pulling tightly, and pined it in place so it wouldn't move. I then took the other side and added glue to the back of it and pulled it tightly in place trimming any fabric as needed then pinning it down. After I got it where I wanted it I used glue to seal the edges to ensure a tight corner.
I also made sure to add a pin to the point of the corner to create a sharp corner.
I let it sit again for a few hours as the Tacky Glue dries much faster then I took out all of the pins. After I was done with that I cut a large piece of cardboard and glued + taped it to the back of the boards to add some stability and to help keep it all together. I simply squirted the glue all over the cardboard without over doing it then taped the edges. I went back and added in some more tape to the corners and along the edges for added strength.
After that you are done and can enjoy your homemade bulletin boards! I am hanging mine up in my room using command Velcro picture hangers.
Hope you enjoyed! Please leave some LOVE!
Mrs. Highfill
