A Rainbow bulletin board is one of the most versatile and popular options for teachers of all grade levels. The primary colors appeal to young elementary students, and the positivity associated with the symbol reaches even apathetic high schoolers.
But when you are short on time and energy, coming up with unique ideas that combine a fun aesthetic with function can be difficult.
A study by Sharapova Gulshan Sharafovna and Mirxodjayeva Mahliyo Islomovna on “The Importance of Visual Aids in Learning and Teaching” concluded that “using visuals aids as a teaching method stimulates thinking and improves learning environment in a classroom” (p. 93). However, students benefited most when the visuals provided “some direct relation to the course content” (Sharafovna and Islomovna, p 93).
Most studies agree that having good visual aids in the classroom is essential for students’ long-term retention of information and overall success and enjoyment in the classroom environment.
So how do you create a good rainbow bulletin board for your classroom?
What makes a good Rainbow Bulletin Board
The most crucial aspect of creating a good rainbow bulletin board is balancing the colors and visuals. It is easy to make a Rainbow bulletin board with so many colors too stimulating in a learning environment.
Many students benefit from visuals; the primary colors are perfect for all learning environments. However, cluttered boards deter learning rather than foster it. Consider the needs of students with learning differences sensitive to over-stimulation.
Use a solid color background and ensure plenty of ‘blank’ space around the visuals to create balance.
To avoid a distracting board, consider its purpose before you start. Decide what information you need to communicate and then shape the colors and visuals to match.
Here are 29 ideas to help you create a beautiful rainbow bulletin board that combines fun, beauty, and function.
Table of Contents
- What makes a good Rainbow Bulletin Board
- Rainbow Bulletin Board Ideas
- Rainbow Bulletin Board FAQS
- Create Your Own Unique Rainbow Bulletin Board
Rainbow Bulletin Board Ideas
- Be a Rainbow in Someone Else’s Cloud From Teach Simple
This board by The Simplistic Teacher features the quote, “Be a Rainbow in Someone Else’s Cloud” by Maya Angelou.
Rainbow bulletin boards are an excellent opportunity to display encouraging quotes. This board can also quickly turn into a classroom activity for practicing kindness. Students can fill in the raindrops to represent the kind acts they have performed or have seen performed by others.
2. Best Work Ever From Mrs. B’s Beehive
This Rainbow bulletin board creates an organized and visually appealing space to display student work. Students are encouraged and motivated by the opportunity to show their progress to their peers, parents, and visitors when they come by the classroom. Show your excitement for their efforts with a rainbow student work board.
- A Rainbow Of Friends By Little Miss Glamour Goes To Kindergarten
This Rainbow bulletin board by LittleMissGlamourGoestoKindergarten features a rainbow background with different illustrated children.
With this board, you can create a unique opportunity for students in your classroom to get to know one another. They can interview each other, add details to the images, and then be proud and impressed when they hang them in the classroom. It is visually appealing and fosters classroom building. The rainbow theme helps foster an appreciation of diversity.
- Throw Kindness Like Confetti From
Celebrate kindness with this rainbow idea by MIHumble Decor. It features the quote “Throw Kindness Like Confetti,” and a border of confetti in rainbow colors surrounds it. Substitute these scaps with sticky notes with ideas for acts of kindness to get students involved in paying it forward.
- Rainbow Sight Words Wall From Happy Little Kindergarten
Happy Little Kindergarten has created a beautiful rainbow sight words wall for her classroom.
This board provides an excellent example of form and function. It is visually appealing but serves an educational purpose and is not too cluttered. The words are easy to read in a clear font, and the color coding helps emphasize sorting words by the first letter.
- Rainbow Rhyming From Teaching Expertise
Teaching Expertise shared this rainbow idea to create a connection between words that rhyme. The clouds feature the primary term, and each color beam from under the cloud features a word that rhymes with the primary word.
Students can benefit from the visual reminder or engage by pinning the rainbow on the cloud to reinforce their learning.
- Pot Of Goals By Jenna Long
Jenna Long celebrated St Patrick’s day with this fresh approach to the rainbow and pot of gold motif. The rainbow stretches to the pot of ‘goals,’ along with information on student objectives and progress—another example of great fun and function.
- Fraction Mania By Tunstall’s Teaching Tidbits
Tunstall’s Teaching Tidbits used this rainbow theme to help display student work on Fractions. The colorful display is attractive without being too chaotic. She combined student work from several different activities to show the progress they had made right around progress reports. These visual reminders of activities also help reinforce long-term retention.
- Eat A Rainbow Every Day From Wic Works
Encourage your students to diversify their foods like Guylaine Labbe. This rainbow features foods in every color category to encourage students to make their meals colorful and nutritionally rich. Great for a home-ec class, health class, cafeteria, or even to celebrate nutritional awareness, this visually exciting board is both educational and inspiring.
- Rainbow Classroom Language Aids From Srta Spanish
Srta Spanish provides great bulletin board examples with her resource to help students learn Spanish. The colorful visual aids help remind students about high-frequency verbs, question words, and more.
- All About Me Rainbow From Supply Me
This activity is a great way to start the year with a vibrant and interesting board. The clouds feature student names, and the colorful beams hanging down from the clouds feature qualities or facts about them they want to share with their peers.
- Helping Hands: Classroom Chores Board From Teaching Cave
Create a rainbow of responsibilities with this beautiful and functional board by Teaching Cave. Have students create handprints with their names in different colors (or have them premade and write their names if pressed for time). Then you can hang the handprints under the chore they are responsible for from week to week. Easy to switch around and easy to create community responsibility and organization.
- Growth Mindset From Glitter meets Glue
One of the most popular trends in education for the last several years has been fostering a growth mindset in our students. This board by Glitter Meets Glue shows the stark difference between a fixed and a growth mindset. Encourage your students to reframe their understanding of mistakes and learning with this powerful visual reminder.
- Reading Rainbow From Rainbows Within Reach
Foster a love for reading like this reading rainbow! This incredible display has grade and school-appropriate book covers organized by color. Encourage your students to try something new by appealing to them visually.
- Diversity Matters From Learning Attic
Create a classroom environment that supports and encourages diversity with this board by The Learning Attic. Featuring the quote, “The beauty of the rainbow lies in the diversity of its color,” and featuring student-made images. Students can participate by personalizing their glyphs, and everyone can begin to appreciate both the similarities and differences they have with one another.
- Show Your True Colors By Eileen Oviatt
Emphasize classroom culture and values with this paint rainbow by Eileen Oviatt. This fun take on painting a rainbow shows an expectation with each stripe of color. Classroom culture is essential to long-term classroom success throughout the year, so start with making your classroom rules or values a daily visual reminder to your students.
- Portraits Of The Rainbow From smART Class
smART Class creator Natalie put together this beautiful collection of self-portraits from her Art students. It’s a fun take on a traditional art project that makes a stunning decoration for the school. Have your students create their portrait rainbow in your classroom by drawing themselves in an assigned color for them to hang on the wall.
- Rainbow Affirmations From Teach Simple
Another way to add positivity to your classroom is with a board of rainbow affirmations. This set includes the words “In this classroom you are…” with positive descriptions in various rainbow colors. Help your students imagine their best qualities with a rainbow bulletin board of affirmations, and perhaps have each student choose a word to describe themselves for that day, that week, or even that quarter.
- Count Your Rainbows, Not Your Thunderstorms From Teach Simple
Help your students practice gratitude with this Boho Rainbow board. The banner says, “Count Your Rainbows, Not Your Thunderstorms.” Great for any time of year, this rainbow bulletin board can support your desire to foster a sense of appreciation for life’s blessings with your students.
- Boho Rainbow Growth Mindset Board From Teach Simple
This Boho Rainbow board set has a more muted approach to a rainbow theme. It works with different color schemes and may appeal to older age groups. The provided sayings help students compare and contrast fixed and growth mindsets, which will help them recognize when they are in either. Great for an administrative office, a counseling office, or any classroom, this allows students positively reframe their inner thoughts.
- Class Expectations Rainbow Board From We Are Teachers
Keep your classroom expectations engaging with this set from We are teachers. Great for an elementary classroom, the colored cards remind students what to do with their whole body at any given time.
- Keyboarding Rainbow Board From We Are Teachers
Do your student struggle with their typing? Help them remember which finger to use with this clever rainbow keyboard. The keys are color-coded to match the finger they should use when typing. It is large and easy to see, which will help them when they are struggling.
- Rainbow Weekly Focus Wall From The Super Teacher
This rainbow weekly focus wall is a visual reminder of the focus and goal for the week. It is simple but colorful and lays out the letter, number, shape, color, and sight words of the week for preschoolers. This method could be adapted to higher subjects as well!
- Find The Gold At The End Of The Rainbow Math Board From Teaching Expertise
Use this creative equation rainbow to create an interactive activity during spring to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Each section has a function, and students much solve each to determine the ‘answer’ that unlocks the pot of gold!
- Rainbow Birthday Display From By Teacher Created Resources
Keep a running visual reminder of classroom birthdays with this display. Each month has a color, and the names create the ‘candle.’ This rainbow bulletin board helps both you and the students remember to celebrate their special days!
- Take What You Need From Ripple Kindness
There are days when students are discouraged. This rainbow bulletin board gives them a chance to take an encouraging word, a joke, a reminder, an inspirational quote, or anything you can think of to lift their spirits. Students can also contribute by keeping the board stocked with their own jokes and inspirational sayings to practice kindness and encouragement.
- In Case No One Told You Today From School Bulletin Boards
Remind your students that they are seen, wanted, and loved, even if they don’t realize it with this rainbow bulletin board. It says, “In case no one told you today… Hello! Good morning! You belong here. You’re doing GREAT! I believe in You!” Add your own encouragement and personalize it to your students’ needs.
- Inclusive Rainbow From Okien Studio
Show recognition for the unique qualities of your students and the beautiful rainbow of the human race with this diversity-focused rainbow bulletin board. Create a culture of acceptance and appreciation of differences through decorations focused on inclusion.
- Interactive Rainbow Matching Board
Help students learn the colors of the rainbow or synonyms for different colors with this interactive Rainbow bulletin board. Students can also match fruit and other objects to the rainbow to learn colors in early grades.
Rainbow Bulletin Board FAQS
You can put anything on your Rainbow bulletin board! But if you’re struggling to come up with an idea, start with student work. Students love to know you are proud of them and wish to show their progress.
Another thing you can do is put an inspiring quote on the board or list out students’ names–particularly at the beginning of the year.
Make your Rainbow bulletin board meaningful by getting the students to help you create it. While students enjoy and benefit from a perfectly designed board, they will invest deeper in a board they had a part in creating.
Whether cutting out their handprint to create a rainbow or writing on the board, they will enjoy pointing out their contribution to peers and family members.
But if you’re struggling to come up with an idea, start with student work. Students love to know you are proud of them and wish to show their progress.
Another thing you can do is put an inspiring quote on the board or list out students’ names–particularly at the beginning of the year.
Create Your Own Unique Rainbow Bulletin Board
The truth is, a Rainbow Bulletin Board could do anything. It is a versatile and visually engaging option for any classroom and all ages. Begin with the purpose in mind, and let your imagination fly!
