Creating Welcome Back to School bulletin boards is a fantastic way to set a positive and inviting tone for the new school year. I always prefer to have students involved in making our bulletin boards as it gives them a sense of ownership and belonging in the classroom family. However, it’s never too early to have a welcome bulletin board to greet students on their first day of being in your class because it will give you an opportunity to set the stage for a wonderful year of learning and growth.

I love to find awesome classroom bulletin board ideas. As an Amazon affiliate, I may earn a commission for purchases using my links. The ideas and paid links below are based on Amazon finds that are great for making Welcome Back to School Bulletin Boards.

Welcome Back to School Bulletin Boards

Make a Welcome Bulletin Board with a motivating message: This is great for giving your students are shared vision for what they can accomplish during the new term. This message can stay up all year to remind students of the goals they want to achieve. This bulletin board reads ‘We will rise to meet New Challenges, Together’. Different subjects are listed on the balloons.

An empty work display bulletin board can be a welcome sign until work is posted: If you have designated bulletin boards for student work in sleeves, keep a welcome sign on it as a header until you replace it with a subject header and fill it up with student work. I found a welcome pennant similar to the one in the picture here.

Combine a Welcome Poster set with motivational posters: This 13 piece bulletin board set makes a large welcome bulletin board with posters for students to read that have motivating messages.

Large Welcome Letter bulletin boards: This set of boho posters for the letters in the word ‘welcome’ can be placed in a bulletin board or laid out directly on the wall. They come with boho hearts. There are lots of other themed bulletin boards that you can make that spell out the word ‘welcome’. Click on any of the pictures to see the poster sets above to see more of the welcome letter posters that were used to create them.

Theme based Back to School Bulletin Boards

It is easy to make theme based welcome bulletin boards. Use collective nouns that match your theme to create a group name for your classroom. For example, use ‘Welcome to Our Hive’ for a bee themed classroom, and ‘Welcome to Our Flock’ for a Flamingo themed classroom. Also use cute slogans to match location themes like ‘Welcome to Our Neck of the Woods’ for a woodland themed classroom. More examples are below.

Superhero themed welcome back to school bulletin boards: Welcome your little superheroes with a bulletin board that has each student’s name on it. Chalk markers were used to write in students’ names on the superhero themed bulletin board above. See the pre-strung Welcome to Our Class banner here at Amazon.

Garden themed welcome bulletin board: These tissue paper flowers helped to make a beautiful garden themed ‘Ready to Grow’ back to school bulletin board. It has flower cutouts with students’ names on them to represent the growth and learning that will take place throughout the year. Tissue paper stems and leaves were added.

Farmhouse themed welcome bulletin board set: Set a comfortable and ‘homey’ environment in your class with a farmhouse theme. This farmhouse themed welcome set has a natural feel with wood and eucalyptus accents.

Wild Animal themed welcome bulletin board: Create a safari-inspired board with jungle themed elements, emphasizing the exciting and adventurous nature of learning. I like the simplicity of this ‘Wild About School’ bulletin board set.

Global Citizens themed welcome bulletin board: Design a world map with students’ names or photos pinned to their countries of origin or heritage, celebrating diversity, and promoting cultural understanding. To create this bulletin board, you will need these globe border trims, a wall map, and travel map decorations.

World Changers welcome bulletin board: Focus on the theme of making a difference in the world and highlighting community service projects the class may undertake throughout the year. This bulletin board reads ‘We are dreamers, thinkers, creators, etc., and together we can change the world’.

Jigsaw themed welcome bulletin board: Make a jigsaw puzzle-themed board where each puzzle piece represents a student, showing how everyone is essential to creating a cohesive classroom community. See these examples and more in this blog post about jigsaw themed bulletin boards.

Under the Sea themed welcome bulletin board: Dive into an underwater adventure with fish, seahorses, and corals, symbolizing the deep exploration of knowledge. See my bulletin board examples here.

Welcome Back to School Hallway Bulletin Boards

Welcome Back to School Bulletin Boards for Hallways: School Hallway bulletin boards are very large with ample space for huge letter cut-outs and letter pennants. The confetti bulletin board comes with the welcome pennants and the confetti dots. See more Hallway bulletin board ideas in this blog post.

Outdoor Back to School Signs

Use large welcome letters for a school yard display: This ‘Welcome Back’ outdoor sign set looks amazing outside the school.

How to Make DIY Welcome signs for classrooms

There are singular accents that can be used to create a welcome sign in your classroom. You can hang up a welcome garland, welcome poster, welcome letterboard message, welcome banner, or a welcome photo background (as a bulletin board). Anyone of these make beautiful welcome back to school classroom signs.

For the welcome posters, I have a large collection of printable welcome signs that includes lots of editable pages in different classroom themes for different grade levels. There are also free ones in the same link, that are not theme based.

For the rest of the bulletin boards you create during the school year, remember to involve the students in the process and make the bulletin boards interactive and as visually appealing as the welcome bulletin boards.