Looking for a fun way to decorate your classroom for spring {while keeping it educational?}, try this cute picnic board from Theo-Ann at Outside the box! She had her kiddos complete a creative writing component, writing on a paper plate about their favorite part of third grade to display on the board, but you could certainly alter the activity to fit your classroom themes and lessons. For example:

• To compliment your spring botany or gardening unit, have students look through magazines, clipping pictures and filling their plates with their favorite fruits/vegetables or have them choose one picnic/garden item they love, then research and draw a diagram of it's life cycle.
• To go along with a health/science unit, invite students to find and clip pictures of their favorite picnic foods. Then, dividing their paper plate into three sections {"Carbohydrates", "Proteins", and "Fats"}, have them glue the items in the proper category. For more complexity, divide and label the paper plate using the sections on the food pyramid.
• To add a social studies component, invite your students to research the history of picnics, drawing what the earliest picnickers might have eaten {Food Timeline offers up several menu ideas.}

"We Had A Picnic..." Bulletin Board

• Background: Theo-Ann used blue bulletin board paper, but you might consider using green background paper to make it appear as if the picnic blanket has been laid down on grass.
• Title: "We Had A Picnic!"
• Border: Complimentary solid color trimmer, spring theme bulletin board border, food themed trimmer, or another border that compliments the unit of study the board references.
• Decoration: 1) The Picnic Blanket. Find a colorful piece of fabric to hang on the board or create a checkered blanket/quilt from 3" x 3" squares of construction paper in assorted colors. Use a marker to create the illusion that the squares have been 'stitched' together. 2) The Plates. Use your students' creations! 3) The Details. Consider adding construction paper cutouts of ketchup, mustard, salt, pepper, etc. - drawing them freehand or finding images online to trace or print directly onto colored paper {to print, the image must be in black and white}. You could also purchase inexpensive squeeze bottles and shakers to place around the board like Theo-Ann did.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Be sure to leave us a comment below and let us know how we're doing :)

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UPDATE {June 7, 2011}:

Third grade teacher, Beth Sawyer, sent us a link to her fantastic picnic display. We love the plastic tablecloth background and the ants are a spectacular touch! Thanks so much for sending this in!

Beth writes, "I adapted the bulletin board by using an inexpensive plastic tablecloth from CVS for the background and adding the line of ants (my librarian's idea). The students wrote about their favorite part of 3rd grade on an index card and then glued it to a paper plate. It’s a fun, simple end-of-the-year bulletin board that will not take a lot of time to take down when I’m busy packing up my classroom!"

Thanks again, Beth, for sending us a photo of your design!

~ Kayla