Episode Summary
In this episode, we discuss classroom decoration dos and don’ts from a kindergarten teacher’s perspective. We want to create purposeful decor, avoiding overstimulation, and prioritizing student needs over personal aesthetics. Tips on cost-effective decoration and fostering student ownership are shared, encouraging a student-centered approach to classroom design.
In this episode, I share:
- Decorating with a purpose
- Avoiding unnecessary decorations
- Simplifying your color scheme
- Leaving room for students
- Embracing imperfection and evolution
Related Blog Posts:
- Classroom Decoration Ideas: The Do’s and Don’ts
- The secrets to a welcoming classroom environment
- 6 Tips for Setting up a New Classroom
Resources Mentioned:
Connect with Zeba:
- Instagram – @kindergartencafe
- Facebook – @kindergartencafe
- Website – www.kindergartencafe.org
- Tik Tok – @kindergartencafe
Read the Transcript of the Episode
[0:00] Hey teacher friends, today we’re going to talk all about the classroom decoration do’s and don’ts. So if you are setting up a new classroom or you’re looking over your old room and thinking, well, what could I change for this year? What do I want to do differently? We’re going to get into my tips for what you should do and what you shouldn’t do.
[0:20] Music. come to learn classroom-tested tips and tricks and teaching ideas they can use in their classroom right away. I’m Zeba, creator and founder of Kindergarten Cafe, and I help kindergarten teachers with everything they need from arrival to dismissal in order to save time, work smarter, not harder, and support students with engaging and purposeful lessons. I’m here to cheer you on through your successes and breakthroughs, and offer support and resources so you never have to feel stuck or alone. Ready to start saving time and reducing your stress, all while using effective and purposeful lessons that students love? Let’s get started.
[0:23] You’re listening to the Kindergarten Cafe Podcast, where kindergarten teachers
[1:08] Music.
[1:13] Before we begin, just a quick plug. If you don’t mind taking two seconds of your day to leave a review for the podcast, it really makes a big difference for the podcast. It really helps spread the word of the podcast, and it literally takes two seconds, and it would mean so much to me. So I would love to read some of these reviews for the 50th episode that I’m planning.
[1:33] I’m very excited about it. That would be awesome to see. Thank you. Okay, on to decoration. So the first don’t for decoration. Don’t overcrowd the room. there’s a lot of research out there about having wall space clear some research studies say 20 to 50 percent of the walls should remain clear to prevent overstimulation for the students and to support them focusing if things are just on the wall for a long time like an anchor chart if you’re not referencing it even like the classroom rules we’ve talked in previous episodes about if the classroom rules are just up on the wall and the kids, you’re not referencing it, the kids aren’t looking at it, they’re not using it, it just becomes like wallpaper to them. It just becomes like they’re not even looking at it. They don’t even realize it’s there. But it does add to the overall clutter and overall overstimulation of the room for the kids. And some kids are fine with it, but the kids that do struggle with learning disabilities.
[2:40] Or attentional difficulties, self-regulation, these are the students who are really going to have a hard time with having extra things on the walls that aren’t necessary. So think about what wall space you might want to leave clear. Think about what you’re putting up on the wall if it really is going to help your students learn if you’re going to be referencing it. One thing you could do that I like to do is kind of rotate through some posters and charts. So if I put it up on the wall, it goes up for a little bit of time. We use it, we talk about it, and then I take it down and put up a different chart, right? So it doesn’t have to stay in the wall forever. So that’s something to think about.
[3:21] It leads me into my next tip, which is do decorate with a purpose. So I was saying, like, think about what’s going on your walls and make sure it has a purpose to it. When we’re decorating our classrooms, we want to make sure that we are creating a welcome, safe, and calm environment for our students. And so we want whatever goes up on our walls, whatever takes up space, that precious wall space, to be up there with a purpose. That they’re helping our students learn or they’re helping them with maybe their social, emotional, executive functioning needs. Some things that all classrooms should have up on the walls are schedule cards. Kids need to have a visual schedule to see what to expect of their day, to get a sense of what’s coming next. It helps alleviate a lot of anxiety. It helps them plan their day. It helps them feel like they have a routine and a structure. sure all classrooms should have schedule cards. The other thing you might want to have up on the walls are calendars so kids can see like are there important days coming up that they’re looking forward to.
[4:26] You’re definitely going to want name tags all over the room so that they can see each other’s names. They know how to spell their own names. They see that this is a room that is made for them, that they’re a part of. And we talked last week about labels, the importance of labels for organization and how they help kids be independent in the classroom and help with those very beginning reading and writing stages when they have the pictures with the labels.
[4:53] My next tip is don’t decorate for yourself. Remember that the classroom is here for the kids.
[5:06] And there’s a lot of really cute looking decorations that you can find at Lakeshore, at the Target Dollar Spot. Oh, don’t get me started on the Target Dollar Spot. On Amazon, on Teachers Pay Teachers, on Pinterest. Like you’re just seeing all these cute little signs with the cursive handwriting that says, you know, be kind, do the right thing.
[5:30] This is our happy place, whatever. whatever, like there’s all these cute signs that have like a nice little meaning that we buy because they look really cute and they go with our aesthetic and they go with our theme. But who is that really serving? Because remember, our wall space is precious. And whatever we put up on the wall, we want to have a purpose for it. We want to have it help our students grow academically or social emotionally. And a lot of those pretty signs that we like the look of don’t actually add anything to our students. So that’s what I mean by don’t decorate for yourself. Obviously, you want to light the room you’re going to be working in, but you want to think more about how does that serve your students before putting something up just because you like the look of it. One thing to think about too is I, my first year teaching, picked out a really really busy theme that I loved because I love Pete the Cat, and I still do. So I just bought all the Pete the Cat stuff. I was like, well, this will be great. I love Pete the Cat. We’ll just have Pete the Cat stuff everywhere.
[6:37] It got really boring to me. It got really, not boring. It just got, I got over it by the end of the year, by middle of the year, really. I was like, okay, this is actually too much Pete the Cat. I want to change it all up. and changing up a theme can be expensive and a lot of time to change everything up. I had Pete the Cat calendar, I had Pete the Cat borders, I had Pete the Cat schedule cards, I had Pete the Cat name tags. I mean, I had to redo it all. But I was the one who thought the Pete the Cat idea would be cute.
[7:08] It wasn’t really serving a purpose for my students. And so one recommendation I have is avoiding these really heavily themed classrooms that can be really busy for the kids and a lot to look at. And it’s a ton of work for you as the teacher because I can guarantee you when you have those really busy themes, you’re not going to keep it that way for more than a year or two. And then you’re going to have to change it all up again. And that’s just a lot of work. I don’t understand. I don’t understand the teachers that want to change their theme every day. I have a theme now. I’m happy with it. I don’t want to change it.
[7:44] So my suggestion is to go from those really busy themes to a very simple color scheme instead, so that whenever you get new things, they can fit in that scheme. So I went from Pete the Cat to just a green, blue, purple watercolor scheme, and everything just fits right in there. So if I get a different kind of label that I like, like I started making these nature-based labels or name tags, bags. I don’t have to change every single corner of my room because guess what? It all blends together, right? I don’t have to change everything.
[8:20] Yeah. I just, I don’t understand the whole, like, I’ve got a dinosaur theme or I’ve got a bee theme or I’ve got underwater theme. And I just feel like that’s going to be a lot for you to set up and organize and change everything. And it’s going to be way overstimulating for the kids and you’re going to end up changing it. And that’s just a a lot of work. So don’t do that for yourself.
[8:40] Anyway, that’s kind of a side tip. My next tip is do leave room for the students. So we want to make sure that our students feel like this classroom is their home, is their space, they’re welcome here, it is made for them. And so we do that by leaving empty space for them so that we can show off their classwork. I like to incorporate Incorporate their names, like I said, on name tags or put their photos up. With the class jobs, I take a picture of them at the beginning of the year, put a little magnet on the picture, and put that as their, like, piece to show which classroom job they have. They love seeing their picture around the room. And then I have a space for rotating student work. So we have little sticky clips that we can just slide the work right into and take it out and just rotate through that.
[9:32] And I leave bulletin boards blank so that I can put up their self-portraits or whatever work I want to show off once they get here. So don’t feel pressure to have stuff on your bulletin boards for the first day of school and have it be all this amazing design that has like a full bulletin board. Because what that does is it doesn’t leave any room for the students. So it’s a lot of work on your end. And it shows that the classroom really isn’t there for them. And so it might feel weird to you to have a blank space on your bulletin board and have it not be finished, but actually it really sends an important message that you’re waiting for your students to make this room the classroom that it will be. Because each year the kids want to make their own mark. Each year is a new community.
[10:19] Okay, just two more tips for you. Don’t spend your whole paycheck. If you’re following all these tips, then you’re not going around buying all these unnecessary decorations and spending all your money. And I would just avoid the classroom dollar spot, the target dollar spot altogether, because boy, oh boy, have I spent a ton of money on cute looking things that looked so fun that I’m so excited to use in my classroom. And guess what? I end up getting rid of them the next year, or I don’t end up using them at all, or they break. If there’s stuff that your classroom needs, you might want to consider first asking the school, maybe seeing if families want to donate anything that they’re not using anymore, or looking into Facebook Marketplace or, you know, yard sales, all that stuff. You don’t need to go buying brand new things for your classroom.
[11:06] And like I said, if you’re following the color scheme idea instead of just a busy theme, then these decorations, these themes, they’ll last you for many years. I changed mine my first year in kindergarten. So I think I’m going on eight years.
[11:24] All I’ve changed are the labels. Everything else has been the same. And that’s because I changed the labels when I taught second grade and then I liked them better. So I was kind of changing it anyway. But my point is that’ll last you a long time and it will be a really good use of your money. And lastly, do go easy on yourself, especially if this is your first classroom or your second classroom. It’s really not going to be a Pinterest perfect classroom. And I think we have these ideas in our head of what we want it to look like. I know I did. And having that unrealistic expectation in my head of a Pinterest perfect classroom, I was setting myself up to fail. I was working and crazy hours trying to get my classroom ready. And I still wasn’t ready by the time school started. And guess what? That’s how it goes. You’re not going to get every single corner of the room perfectly finished and put away. It takes years to get those, quote, Pinterest perfect classrooms.
[12:24] And I love my classroom that I have now and it works for me and it works for students and it’s been years in the making to the point where I feel like, no, even now I feel like I just spent all of May organizing my math supplies and reconfiguring this out and at some point in the year I moved my block table around. Like you’re constantly changing things and that’s how it should be because you’re meeting the needs of your students. You’re being reflective. You’re being responsive.
[12:50] And so you’re never going to have it be like to the spot where you’re like, okay, this is done. I feel good about it. I’m at the spot now where I feel like, okay, I worked on it this year. I feel good about it. But as the year next year starts, I’m sure I’ll find things that I want to change around for next year. And that’s okay. So kind of just release that pressure on yourself to have a Pinterest perfect classroom and focus on having it be ready for the students in front of you. So again, it can have blank wall space. That’s actually a good thing. It can be very simple. That’s actually a good thing, right? All these things that we think, you know, when I look now at Pinterest perfect classrooms, quote unquote, or the stuff we see in social media, it actually really bothers me sometimes seeing how overcrowded they are and how much of the font is beautiful but not able for the younger kids to read. Or there’s just stuff everywhere that’s not actually serving a purpose for the kids. And I just think those kids are probably so overstimulated. It’s going to be hard for them to get their work done and focus. And these are things that we as teachers can do to help our students. So maybe look at those pictures with a different lens now that you’ve heard this podcast.
[14:08] Definitely take that pressure off yourself that you’re going to make it a good classroom ready for the students in front of you, ready to meet them where they are. And that it will take time, and over time and over many years, you will get it to be exactly the classroom that you want it to be, but it’s not going to happen overnight. It’s not going to happen one summer, and that’s okay. It’s okay that it will not be the final version, the Pinterest perfect classroom by the time that kids walk in the door.
[14:40] So those are my tips for classroom decorations. If you are looking for a one-stop shop to make everything easy, to have a simple color scheme like I mentioned, and you’re just wanting to go one place to find all the things, I’ve got you covered because I’ve made all the classroom decorations that I use in my classroom with different color schemes and themes so that you can find one that works for you. But guess what? They’re still simple and easy to blend in with other things around your classroom. So I’ll put the link for those below, but you could definitely check out those classroom decoration options. If you are working on your classroom and you are proud of what you’ve done and you’ve taken some of these tips, share it on Instagram and tag me. I’d love to see them at Kindergarten Cafe. And it’s time for our quote of the day. So a lot of times for decorating a classroom, we end up buying things online. So this is where this quote came came from. A six-year-old girl told me, I don’t really want to buy online because I don’t really know how to spell.
[15:42] So you do know how to spell, but maybe go easy on the buying online and save your money and see what things you can get without spending a ton of money online. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the episode and found all those tips helpful. And as always, I’m here if you have questions. Thanks so much.
[15:58] Music.
[16:04] Thanks so much for listening to the Kindergarten Cafe podcast. Be sure to check out the show notes for more information and resources, or just head straight to kindergartencafe.org for all the goodies. If you liked this episode, the best ways to show your support are to subscribe, leave a review, or send it to a friend. I’ll be back next week with even more kindergarten tips. See you then!