Teaching a unit on the ocean? Looking for some ideas for an ocean bulletin board? Look no further. With 49 ideas, this collection has something to fit every theme and is full of fun and easy-to-make ideas. The best part is, you can use this resource for a variety of age groups.
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What Makes a Good Under the Sea Bulletin Board?
When it comes to decorating your classroom, you want everything to be unique. That includes your ocean bulletin board. A great way to do this is with a theme, and under the sea is a great theme which allows for visually stunning displays.
A good nocean bulletin board will catch people’s eye as soon as the walk in the room with bold colors. Blue is obviously going to be a main feature of your board, but you should also add some other eyecatching colors to contrast with the ocean.
The best ocean bulletin board feature pupil work at the heart of them. Bulletin boards in your classroom can be used as a fantastic tool to reflect on the learning taking place and show off the amazing work your pupils have been doing.
A good classroom bulletin board serves as a window into the life of your classroom, helping build student morale and giving insight into the day-to-day activities and achievements in your classroom.
Examples of Ocean Bulletin Boards
Sea’rious about Reading Bulletin Board From Teaching Expertise
Underwater themes give you a chance to make some sea-riously good puns! This ocean bulletin board would make a great display in the library or the reading corner of your classroom.
Back to School, Get to Know You Bulletin Board From Teaching Expertise
As teachers, we are always trying to think of innovative ways to help the students familiarize themselves with each other at the start of term. This ocean bulletin boarddepicts each child underwater, and is a great way to help them begin to recognize their classmates.
Snorkeling Students Bulletin Board From Teaching Expertise
A close-up version of an earlier idea, this activity involves students turning themselves into budding snorkelers and coloring in the fish they are examining underwater. For a more adventurous, interdisciplinary task, you could challenge the pupils to draw a self-portrait rather than print a photograph.
Under The Sea Classroom Theme From Tales Of An Inspiring Teacher
Who says you have to be restricted to one ocean bulletin board when you choose an ocean theme for your class? Why not dedicate an entire corner of the classroom to your maritime activities? Younger learners will love the submarine, and you can make the area interdisciplinary by having literacy, numeracy, and any other topic activities for the students to try. If your school allows, you could even have a fish tank to allow your class to feed real fish.
Fishing for a Great Year Bulletin Board By Kids Fine lines
This ocean bulletin board is a great way to display your learning intentions for a particular topic, or it could be used as a literacy tool to display vocabulary. Your class can have fun helping you create the bubbles for the background or adding seaweed and shells.
Sea of Great Writers From Teaching Expertise
This ocean bulletin board features an ocean-like backdrop for your students’ work. Your pupils can add their own sea creatures and add to the nautical feel.
Encourage a Growth Mindset with a Dory Bulletin Board From Teaching Expertise
A growth mindset is something we would all like to develop in our young learners, and perseverance is key to that. Dory’s famous catchphrase of ‘just keep swimming’ is the perfect ocean-themed quote to encourage your students to keep trying, no matter how difficult things become.
Parent Information Ocean Bulletin Board From Adventures With Mrs. Rossi
Let parents and visitors ‘sea’ what the class is up to with this ocean themed notice board. Parents will be able to see what their child is working on and can feel a sense of pride when they see their child’s accomplishments in the classroom. Pupils can help create the ocean bulletin board and will enjoy knowing that their parents will see their work.
Fin-tastic Bulletin Board From Adventures In Teaching
Another pun to make your class groan, this fin-tastic ocean bulletin board will make an attractive display to welcome them on the first day of term. Alternatively, you can wait until the children arrive and have them create the fish and the display themselves.
Dive In Bulletin Board From Little Learning Corner
Under the sea bulletin boards a guaranteed to look fantastic in your classroom, but if they can also help your students learn about the ocean that’s even better. Use your ocean bulletin board to display an ocean fact of the week (or fact of the day if you have the time). Your pupils will be nautical experts by the end of the term!
Caught Learning Bulletin Board From Bulletin Board Ideas
This lovely display is a great opportunity for your class to show off their artistic skills by drawing fish and ocean creatures to pin on the ocean bulletin board. Make it more interactive by having students research fun facts about their creature to write underneath.
Great Barrier Reef Bulletin Board From Tales of an Aspiring Teacher
This fantastic ocean bulletin board will make a striking centerpiece to your classroom, or would certainly catch people’s attention as a corridor display. This could be a long-term project, with pupils adding to the board each week as they learn more about the Great Barrier Reef. The best thing about this board – the students can create virtually the whole board themselves, making it a very simple activity for you to prepare!
Message in a Bottle From Teaching Expertise
Combine writing practice with art class with this message in a bottle bulletin board. Pupils can design a bottle for the board, and on the back they can write a nautical poem.
Scary Shark Door Display From First And Kinder Blue Skies
If you want to make an impact with your ocean-themed door display, this terrifying shark will do the trick! Students will get a kick out of standing in the doorway and pretending to be eaten by the shark!
Flip Flop Bulletin Board From Keep ‘Em Thinking
A visually appealing way to display pupil work, this flip-flop ocean bulletin board will look great in your classroom. You can give the kids a template and have them cut out and color in their own flip-flop for the board.
Treasure Map Bulletin Board From Mrs. Lee’s Kindergarten
The best way to learn about the elements of a story is to read and identify the various parts with a story map. To tie in with your ocean themed classroom, why not make it a treasure map too?!
Ocean Ceiling Display From The Charming Classroom
Before you begin your ocean topic, have your class decorate the ceiling to make it look like the ocean. You can use streamers of cut up paper tablecloths, and students can make fish to stick on. The ceiling display is a great option as it doesn’t take up valuable wall space, which can be used to display oter pupil work instead.
Ocean-Based Quotes Bulletin Board From Kids Art And Craft
Most teachers like to have some inspirational quotes on display in the classroom, so why not have an ocean themed quote board as well?
Recycling Ocean Bulletin Board From Kokua Hawaii Foundation
Combine your lessons on the ocean with a citizenship lesson on recycling. Pupils can be inventive with their recycled materials, making fish, turtles or boats from them, or you could make the entire poster from recycled bottle tops, as in this example.
Nautical Numeracy Bulletin Board From The Classroom Creative
Combine pirates with math with this walk the plank numeracy activity. Pupils count up in tens as they walk along the plank, into the ‘water’ at the end!
Beach Relaxation Bulletin Board From Little Learning Corner
Create a zen corner for your students with a beach or palm tree display to help them relax. You can ask the class to come up with calming mantras which can be displayed on the ocean bulletin board, and you could use that corner of the room for anyone who needs a time-out or is feeling stressed.
Under The Sea Book Fair Board By DigiGirl Paper Crafts
This fantastic ocean bulletin board was originally made for a book fair, but you could easily recreate it in your classroom. Including a scuba diver, a treasure chest and a submarine, the attention to detail is extraordinary. This could be a long term art project for your class, adding a few elements each week to turn the classroom into an ocean wonderland!
Nautical Math Adventures From Supply Me
This interactive math ocean bulletin boardis a great way to help students practice multiplication and division, with a nautical theme. If you are not teaching math, the concept can be tailored to fit lots of different subjects.
Something To Spout About Bulletin Board By Lori Zitzelberger
This lovely whale themed bulletin board will make a great display in elementary school. The brightly colored whales on a black background make a stunning visual centerpiece, and you could have the kids color in the whales themselves from a template. Use this ocean bulletin board to display pupil work and give the students ‘something to spout about’!
Ocean Commotion Bulletin Board From
You could use this ‘ocean commotion’ bulletin board to talk about rhyming words, or you could just create it as a fun display in your class! This example contains sharks, octopus and starfish, but you are only limited by the imagination of your class! Encourage them to show off their creativity and artistic skills to create a magical wall display.
Footprints in the Sand Bulletin Board From Supple me
This ocean bulletin board would make a great back-to-school icebreaker, with pupils recounting stories of their summer holidays. If you can cope with the mess, the kids can make the footprints by painting with their feet. If not, they can cut out feet shapes from a template. Either way, it will create a great visual display on your classroom wall.
Kindergarten Dive In Bulletin Board From By Classroom Displays & Bulletin Boards
If you are a kindergarten teacher, this ocean bulletin board will make a lovely colorful display to welcome the children to your class. It could be used to promote discussion around sea creatures, or simply be a visual stimulation for the kids.
Welcome to Our ‘School’ Bulletin Board From By Classroom Displays & Bulletin Boards
If you are looking to create a welcoming display for the reception area of your school, this ocean bulletin board is perfect. Using word play around a ‘school’ of fish, you can have your class create the fish, perhaps writing a word on each one which they feel represents the school.
Hang Out With a Good Book By Michelle Brinn
Encourage your students to read during the summer break with this ocean bulletin board. This would make a colorful display in the reading corner or your classroom, or the school library.
Our Work Shines Bright Bulletin Board By Lori Zitzelberger
Display your students’ best work with this lighthouse themed bulletin board. Create a template for them, then let them color and cut their own lighthouse.
Buckets of Fun Bulletin Board lessons for Little Ones
Have your new class prepare for the year ahead with this Buckets of Fun bulletin board. Each child can fill in their bucket with some fun things they would like to do that year, which will help you plan ahead and factor them in to your fun activities.
Class Submarine Bulletin Board From Little Learning Corner
As a welcome board for your new class, this class submarine is ideal. You can either print all of their photos in advance to have it waiting for them when they arrive on their first day, or have them help to create the board during the first week, creating a sense of belonging in their new class.
Reach For A Good Book From Tami’s Bulletin Boards
As a bulletin board for your reading corner, this octopus display will delight younger learners. You can ask a handful of different pupils each week which books they would like displayed at the end of the octopus’ tentacles, giving them a sense of responsibility and encouraging peer recommendations.
Don’t Be Crabby Bulletin Board From Little Learning Corner
This bulletin board would be a great feature as part of kindness week in February. Pupils will appreciate the word play in ‘crabby’ and they can create the crabs themselves. A nice way to encourage positive attitudes in the classroom.
3D Ocean Door Display From Teaching Expertise
Get crafty with your class, making a 3-Dimensional ocean themed door display. Your students can make a wide range of sea creatures from papier maché or different types of cardboard.
Rainbow Fish Friends Bulletin Board From Teaching Expertise
Another lovely idea that could be incorporated into kindness week, rainbow fish gives your class a chance to create a beautiful display while also taking the time to consider what makes a good friend.
Pirate Addition Bulletin Board From Teaching Expertise
Get your class ‘hooked’ on math with this simple pirate addition board that would be perfect for an elementary classroom. Make it interactive by changing the treasure chests daily and having pupils add coins to the board to complete the sum.
Starfish of the Week From Teaching Expertise
A star of the week(or day) bulletin board is a great way to recognize students for their accomplishments and hard work. Match it up to your ocean theme by making it starfish of the week instead!
Beach Buckets Behaviour Chart From Teaching Expertise
If you are working with younger pupils, this beach bucket behaviour chart is a great way to track their behavior and keep them motivated. Pupils can receive a beach ball in their bucket when they do well, and lose one for poor behavior.
Catching Compliments Bulletin Board From Teaching Expertise
This fish themed bulletin board is a unique way to give praise to your class at the end of the week. You can write the name of each pupil on the front of the fish, and on the back write a compliment praising them for something they have done well that week. To make the fish reusable, you can make a pocket in each one to put the note in, rather than write directly on the fish.
Helping Hands Bulletin Board From K’s Classroom Kreations
This is a lovely way to display job roles within the classroom, especially with younger learners. Create eight jobs within the classroom – one for each tentacle – and change the helpers each week.
Fishing You A Happy Birthday From Bored Teachers
If you usually have a birthday chart in your classroom, why not update it this year to an ocean themed chart. Pupils can make their own fish at the start of the year and the class can pin them on the board in order.
Ocean joke Bulletin Board By K’s Classroom Kreations
If you like a good pun (of course you do, you’re a teacher!) then you must have an ocean jokes bulletin board in your classroom.
Rules to Treasure From Teaching Expertise
Update your classroom rules this year with a treasure themed display. A great activity to do in the first few days of term, your class can come up with the rules together before making up the bulletin board.
Leadership Lighthouse From Art Of It
Inspire your class to be a good leaders with this lighthouse bulletin board. If you want to add to this example, pupils could add messages of inspiration in the beams of light too.
Classic Ocean Bulletin Board From Teaching Expertise
This is a lovely ocean display for kindergarten or elementary school. You could make it a long-term project and allow pupils to create animals for the board whenever they finish their classwork early.
Science Bulletin Board From Teaching Expertise
Use your ocean inspiration to do a science project learning about the animals who live in the deep. You can teach them how each creature is adapted specifically to live in the part of the ocean that they call their habitat.
Under The Sea Bulletin Board By Alexandra Garcia
This is a great wall disply that can be used for virtually any reason you wish. Students can create the sea creatures themselves, and it can be used to display pupil’s writing samples, motivational messages, or anything else they have completed throughout the year.
4Music To Me By Vicky V. Johnson
Combine music lessons, art work and ocean learning with this under the sea, music to me bulletin board. Use it as a ‘name that tune’ style activity where pupils have to guess what the nautical themed tune is from reading the notes.
