While the Halloween holiday has officially come and gone, here's some inspiration for next year's decoration! This preschool teacher decided to add some pop culture to the mix by creating a Dora the Explorer Halloween board - appealing to her students' current interests and providing some dynamic (custom!) classroom decoration for her walls!

Dora Halloween Display

• Background: Black bulletin board paper. You might also consider using purple bulletin board paper to create a greater contrast between the spider and the background. (Although, the papers used on the original board, while the same color, varied in shade just enough to create the needed contrast.)
• Title: "Happy Halloween!"
• Border: The creator of the board used a plain black wavy bulletin board trimmer, but you might also consider using a Halloween-themed border.
• Decoration: 1) The Characters. The creator of this board actually drew the characters by hand onto a piece of poster board and colored them in with crayons. You might also consider painting them for a more vibrant color or even purchasing pre-fabricated Dora the Explorer cutouts. 2) The Spider. Draw a large spider shape onto a piece of black bulletin board paper, large sheet of black poster board, or sheets of black construction paper that have been taped together. Cut out and complete using white, purple, and black construction paper to construct goofy spider eyes and a mouth. 3) The Spider Web. String up orange fake spider webbing (like the kind used to decorate bushes!). 4) The Details. Because of it's Halloween theme, the creator added several pumpkins and fall leaves. You could free-hand a template for these or you might also be able to find a black and white clip-art print online or through your word processing software that could then be printed onto colored card stock and cut out. 5) The Lettering. Unlike other boards, the creator of this display uses the title letters as artwork as well. The get the same effect, free-hand the title using bubble letters (adding the proper detailing), shade the letters with an orange marker, then create the illusion of green slime oozing through the letters with a green marker.

You Might Also Consider...

• Creating a trick-or-treat theme where Swiper tries to "steal" all the Halloween candy, adding one of Dora's famous lines, "Swiper, no swiping!"
• Drawing Dora and the other characters in more detailed Halloween costumes.
• Separating the "dual-themes" - create one board that features the oozing letters and the spider, and another board that features a Dora Halloween theme.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on this board as well as how you decorated your classroom for Halloween this year, so be sure to leave us a comment below!