From welcome boards and back-to-school displays to birthday walls and classroom management boards, it seems that popcorn themed decorations have become a huge hit in the early childhood classroom! If you're looking to overhaul your birthday wall, here's how you can make it "pop"!

Popcorn Birthday Wall

• Background: White bulletin board paper.
• Title: "Birthdays Are Popping Up All Year!"
• Border: The creator decided to leave the display without a border, but we recommend adding some type of bulletin board trimmer to help tie everything together. Consider choosing a plain wavy trimmer in yellow or another complimentary color, carry on the theme with a popcorn bulletin border, string actual pieces of popcorn together to create a fun garland, or design a custom border using small card stock cutouts of popcorn pieces.
• Decoration: 1) The Popcorn Bags. Create a simple popcorn bag shape (traditional popcorn bags are narrower at the base and get wider as they approach the top edge which features a zig-zagged edge). Use this to trace and cut out twelve popcorn bags from white card stock. With strips of red construction paper or card stock, create stripes on the bags. Script the months of the year on yellow construction paper labels and glue these to the bags. 2) The Popcorn. Create a simple popcorn shape in two sizes. Use these to trace and cut out popcorn pieces from yellow and white card stock. Pen the name of each student onto a cutout, then match the student popcorn pieces to their proper birthday month and fill in the rest of the bag with the extra popcorn.

Fun Extensions

• This board would be spectacular as a three-dimensional display - just adapt the directions for our previous post, "Look Who's Poppin'" Welcome Board! To label the birthdays, create a simple popcorn shape and use this to trace and cut popcorn cutouts. Label these with student names, decorate the cutout border with actual popcorn pieces, then glue them to a toothpick and stick them in the appropriate popcorn bag! This birthday wall will require a bit more work, but adds a fun, realistic touch.
• Carry the popcorn theme into birthday celebrations. Since popcorn is usually equated with movies, give the birthday boy or girl the "red carpet treatment". Extend the birthday wall to include a "Star Birthday" section to be decorated with a picture of the student and information about them (e.g. their favorite food, color, etc.), have special privileges designated only for birthdays, and end with a fun gift - a children's book about popcorn (like Frank Asch's "Popcorn") and a bag of microwavable popcorn decorated with a fun birthday label. (NOTE: Summer birthdays always present a problem. While it won't be the exactly the same, try using half birthdays for these students or allow each student to pick which day they'd like to have their birthday celebration.

We'd love to know what inspiration you use when celebrating your students' birthdays! Leave us a comment below!