I am a big fan of letting children put their stamp on their classroom. As much as I love the cute packs of printed posters and the pre-made, pre-cut room decorations, I think that child-made art is much more powerful in the classroom. I went through a transformation with this last year. One thing that we made was a mobile.
I got a bunch of cardboard circles from a scrap store, but you could really use anything. I had the children draw themselves on their circle. I modeled this first, so that they could see how I carefully added details – clothes, hair, hands and feet, etc. Whenever I draw in front of my students, I find that they work much more carefully.
Then I let them make their own. The last step was to put them together into a mobile. I used sticks from the backyard that I tied together, since this fit with our “natural” motif.
The kids love seeing themselves and their art in the classroom, and I find that they take more ownership over the classroom when they participate in decorating it.
What is your thinking behind classroom decor? How do you decorate?
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