Math seems to be something that is just there all the time. We first encounter numbers in preschool, and it features every year to grade 12. Then comes adult life outside of school, and numbers are still all around us.
Yet, math is often thought of as being difficult, boring and even irrelevant. Fortunately, we have the opportunity to change all that with math bulletin boards.
In this post, you’ll find 52 different math bulletin board ideas and some points about how to go about using them. I have also picked out some things to remember when you look for or create a board.
Table of Contents
- What to look out for in a good math bulletin board
- Resources to help you with math bulletin board ideas
- Math Bulletin Board Ideas
- What to remember about math bulletin boards
What to look out for in a good math bulletin board
The content of a good math bulletin board must be appropriate for the grade. This means the theory and principles must come out of the core curriculum for that grade. Make sure that the level of language used in any explanations is also grade appropriate. We don’t want to confuse the students with complicated wording.
Don’t use a bulletin board for differential teaching. There may be capable students in your class who just ‘get’ math and need extension activities. This should be done individually. A bulletin board is a whole class asset and reference.
Conversely, don’t put exercises and practice work on the board. Keep that space to demonstrate rules and principles – and to give examples.
Try to let your kids have some kind of representation on the board so they have a sense of ownership. This could be as simple as including them in setting up or decorating the board. They could also solve problems either individually or in groups. These can be written on cards and put on the board for reference.
The content of a good math bulletin board must be easy to read. It is not the space to put up sheets and sheets of fine print, even if it is important. Use posters, or at least barge print, so the content is visible.
Make the board attractive. Use color, shapes and different fonts to give it some appeal.
Keep the bulletin board relevant. You could keep the basic, universal points that are always relevant. Change some of the content, though, to reflect the section of work being done.
Resources to help you with math bulletin board ideas
- Yellow Number Line Bulletin Board Set By Our Strange Class
This Yellow number line bulletin board set will help you to make a bright and useful display of numbers on a math bulletin board. You can use it for all basic match processes, such as adding, subtracting, multiplying, counting and rounding.
- Red Number Line Bulletin Board Set By Our Strange Class
Alternatively, you could use this Red number line bulletin board set. It also has all the numbers from 1 – 100. For effective teaching, you may find it useful to combine the different colors of numbers to show different functions. For example, use the yellow numbers for the problem and a red number for the solution.
- Fibonacci Sequence And Pascal’s Triangle By Maths Support Centre
This resource on Fibonacci sequence and Pascal’s triangle is a PowerPoint presentation, with printable PDF files. You may find the PDFs useful to add to a bulletin board display about this content. You could print them bigger than A4 and pin them to the board for reference.
- Math Mats Pack By Words Aside
The images in this Math Mats exercise pack are just the things you could use on a bulletin board. Enlarge the pictures and pin them to the board. The students can then come up to the board to do the skip counting activities.
- Ten Frame By Dressed In Sheets
In this pack, you’ll find Ten Frames that are full-page posters for each of the numbers from 1 – 10. You can print them and display them on your Math bulletin board. I suggest using them as a counting and coloring activity before displaying them.
- About Me Math Pennant By O’Hoppy Day
This Math About Me Pennant is perfect for a Math bulletin board, especially as the year begins. The students fill in facts about themselves to do with numbers. They can even color the background of the pennant to make the display more attractive.
- Halloween Repeated Addition Posters By Words Aside
A great math bulletin board idea is to make it seasonal by using a resource such as this, with Halloween Repeated Addition Posters. The set consists of 12 posters, with a monster holding each number from 1 – 12. Within the number is a representation of repeated addition. The posters will look great on your Halloween bulletin board.
- Number Cards By Glimmercat Education
You can decorate your Math bulletin board effectively with these Number Cards 1 – 10. Each number has its own dedicated page. When they are displayed, the students will have a good resource to refer to. You can get the learners to produce their own number cards with inspiration from these.
- Fraction Kites By Markers And Minions
You can give your math bulletin board wings with this Fraction Kite pack. The kit includes activities for students to work with fractions. They can construct kites to do with fractions from the templates. These will look great on your bulletin board. There are also giant letters in the pack, spelling ‘Fly your fractions’.
- Math Word Walls By Teaching On The Island
If you have the space in your 6th grade classroom, you can turn one whole bulletin board into a Math Word Wall. This resource consists of black-and-white or color word charts that you can print for your bulletin board. The students could color them for a more interactive process.
- Numbers & Tags Bulletin Board Set By Glimmercat Education
This resource is set one of the Numbers and Tags Bulletin Board that give you what you need to decorate a math bulletin board. The pack includes 3 versions of the numbers 1 – 31, with matching tags.
- Number Sets By Words Aside
This set of numbers 1 – 9 Poster Cards can be featured on a maths bulletin board. Each number from 1 – 9 has its own A4 card, with an item in each number that adds up to that number. The cards can be used for multiple applications, including coloring in the numbers and learning them along the way.
Math Bulletin Board Ideas
- Everyday Math From Rise Over Run
This kit will give you plenty of ideas for your math bulletin boards as well as the resources you need to create the board. You can print the cards and then get the students to decorate them. Or you could print them on colored paper.
- Problem Solving Strategies From Bored Teachers
This is a great basic reference bulletin board, aimed at the 8th grade, but which can be used in any grade above that. This is an example of a bulletin board that uses bright colors effectively to attract the students’ attention and to organize the content.
- Math Vocab From Math In Demand
If a student can’t use the Math Vocab, then they won’t be able to understand problems, or solve them effectively. This bulletin board is aimed at the 7th grade and has cards for vocab that is arranged alphabetically. As students go into the higher grades, they will use this vocabulary too, so you could use the cards for bulletin boards in the higher grades.
- Treasure Math From Bored Teachers
This bulletin board is truly interactive, with the students following a trail to find the treasure. Along the way, the students will need to solve math problems along the way. You can make the treasure something fun or even bring your students cookies.
- Math Is Sweet! From Bored Teachers
This bulletin board is a cute way to promote Math in any class in any grade. You can begin with the slogan only and then ask the students to bring their favourite candy wrappers to complete the board. Perhaps lower grades could draw their wrappers and display them as art on the board.
- Math Talk From Bored Teachers
This bulletin board is a valuable resource as the students go through the grades. The board is efficiently organized and the words are all relevant.
- Make It Scientific From Bored Teachers
Here we have another fun math bulletin board. This table math elements bulletin board will help the students to remember the portion of each problem and to retain crucial math language.
- Problem Solving Strategies From M+A+T+H = Love
Central to all math problems is understanding the appropriate strategy to follow. Of course, your students need to know the different strategies available to them. This chart reminds them of that. It will make a good reference board in your class to remind them of what to look out for.
- Math-O-lutions From Bored Teachers
The mash up of ‘math’ and ‘resolutions’ is cute and catches the attention. The images of the different bottles is also unusual. I love the color scheme, which adds to the cheerful atmosphere of the board. There is plenty of space for all your students to fill in what they hope to achieve in math in the year.
- How To Lean Math From M+A+T+H = Love
This bulletin board is like a flow chart, made up of what are really simple things to do. We can all do individual things, but putting them together resolutely is another story. By taking things step-by-step and suggesting we all may need to retrace our steps, the board is telling students that it is okay to go slowly with math to learn it.
- Math Flags From Scaffolded Math & Science
What is a bulletin board without bunting? It always gives the board a cheerful look and keeps the interest of the students. This bunting is not only something to give your math bulletin board a cheerful look, but is about math itself. You can also change the problems on each piece of bunting if you make your own. Even better, task the students with making bunting out of paper and to write a problem and solution on their piece.
- WITZZLE From From M+A+T+H = Love
This bulletin board is an interactive tool to play a math version of wizzle. It is useful to inspire us as teachers to bring fun to math and find ways to play games that teach.
- Mistakes From Teaching Expertise
I love the message on this board. We all make mistakes, but it can feel a bit daunting to make mistakes in math. Not only does the board give the message about trying being important, it presents the students with the opportunity to find, not make, the mistakes and to solve them.
- Let’s Talk Math From Smore
Students often fall into the trap of thinking that math is all about numbers. They need to be reminded that there are questions you can ask, answers you can share and ways of working towards a solution.
- Do You Want To Build A Polygon? From All A Board The Patti Wagon
This is an interactive bulletin board, with the students using the cutouts to build the shape within the figure of Olaf. It is aimed at lower grades, but I am sure there are students in middle and higher grades who would just find it plain fun.
- Match That Shape From Teaching expertise
This is an interactive bulletin board. The definitions of the various shapes stay constant, while the students take turns choosing a shape and attaching it under the relevant definition.
- Quadratic Formula By Scaffolded Math And Science
This is an example of a very basic section of a bulletin board that you can create with just some cardboard and a few sharpies. You don’t have to be fancy to create a board that will be a great reference for the students.
- We’re Speeding Ahead By Sandy Patterson
This colorful bulletin board by Sandy Patterson help students learn and retain knowledge. We move their race car to the next one. When a student moves on to the next math racer.
- Undefined And Zero Slope By Scaffolded Math And Science
This resource shows the difference between undefined and zero slope. It uses a cartoon to simplify the principle. The more formal math graph alongside the cartoon shows the students the way this is correctly represented in math.
- Mitten Match From Teaching Expertise
This board is really a bit seasonal, but you could use the same approach with different items at different times of year. The aim is for students to hang the correct mitten on top of the one that features the same number. It is a learning game for younger grades and teaches more than just numbers.
- Valentine Counting From Play To Learn Preschool
This resource is also seasonal, but we all need to reflect important days, don’t we? The kit consists of pictures that are relevant to Valentine’s Day and can be used to decorate your bulletin board as the students learn about counting.
- Cubes And Cube Roots From Teaching Expertise
A bulletin board like this uses color carefully to organize the content. The font is clear and the students will be able to find what they are looking for quite easily. This is, of course, a resource for higher grades.
- Sudoku From Activity After Math
This is an interactive bulletin board that helps students to activate their math brain. You can use it for an extension activity, or for a fun group challenge.
- Factor Flowers From Apples And ABCs
This aesthetically beautiful math bulletin board is a great way to showcase mathematics in our classroom! The learner will choose a number and center it, with each petal indicating one of its factors.
- Time From Teaching Expertise
This is a bulletin board that gives important information for younger grades. The colors have been used to organize the content, but also add to the attractiveness of the board.
- Math Operations From Teacher Designs By Jill
This colorful bulletin board tackles what are the basic math operations and is a great resource for the middle to higher grades. You can simplify it as you teach the basic operations to the younger grades and then fill in more details as they become relevant.
- Think You Don’t Need Math? From Teaching Expertise
This bulletin board would make a great feature in a middle grade classroom. Task your students to research different professions that involve numbers in any way. They can add these to the board and you can also bring some of your own.
- Think You Don’t Need Math? By Alyssa Galasso
This is another version of the same message. The different color scheme and font may work better for your classroom, but the sentiment is as important and relevant.
- Math Tools By From Teacher Designs By Jill
This pack contains a range of charts and posters that can be used on a maths bulletin board. There are also activities to print as worksheets for the students to work from.
- How To Be A Math Person By Scaffolded Math And Science
The message on this board is fun for the students to read. The cartoon figure is also cute. It is the message, though, that is the most valuable. It tells students that math can be for everyone.
- Solving Equations – Super Bowl From Teaching Expertise
This Super Bowl interactive bulletin board is a hit with students. It is ideal for pre-algebra or algebra students who want to practice solving simple algebraic equations.
- Are You Ready For Some Mathball From Kutztown University
It’s not always easy to persuade your students that math is fun. Turning your bulletin board into a game that they can recognize from the real world comes close to helping them begin to see the subject as more than just a challenge.
- High Flying Fractions By Betsy McKnight
This is a bullet board that applies that idea of fractions becoming something that your students can fly with. They create kites by working with fractions and then decorate the board. The students can check other people’s kites and work to get to know fractions better.
- Math Helps Us Bloom! From Rise Over Run
This math bulletin board is composed of Polygons that will help students to remember the polygon names.
- Math Is Everywhere From We Are Teachers
This resource takes math into the world. At least, it brings the world to math class. You can make this a class project. Task the students with looking for examples of any aspect of math in the world and to bring it to class. Use the items and ideas to build the bulletin board.
- Math Is Everywhere From Middle School Math Man
This board is a more geometric and formal presentation of the same idea of math being all over. The students can make drawings of where they can see, or find, math outside the classroom. If you give them all A4 pieces of paper, you’ll produce this organized board.
- In Love With Lines From Teaching Expertise
Math and Valentine’s Day are combined in this fully interactive bulletin board. Students create foldable out of pink construction paper to help them comprehend the meaning of the subtraction, addition, equals, and multiplication signs.
- Pascal’s Triangle From M+A+T+H = Love
Pascal’s Triangle and multiples are taught on this bulletin board. This Pascal’s Triangle Bulletin Board was colored by students and complete the numbers in Pascal’s Triangle. Allow students to choose alternative strategies for coloring in the triangle’s cells.
- Area Robots From Bored Teachers
This bright and appealing bulletin board teaches math concepts through a creative art project. It can be used to educate the area of a form in a fun and visual way. It’s more enjoyable, and students are more likely to remember what they’ve learned as a result.
What to remember about math bulletin boards
When you are looking for math bulletin board ideas, keep two things in mind: the content and appearance of the board. The content must obviously be math-related. You do not necessarily need to use the board to teach. It may be inspirational or a reference. Of course, there is always the option to create a fun, interactive board that does teach and revises. The appearance of the board is also important. Without going over the top, you don’t want your students to come away with the idea that math is boring. So, be a little creative with the way you make the board. Don’t go too far, though. I mean, math is serious, isn’t it?
