I’m not huge into decorating my preschool classroom. I tend to start the year out with walls that are rather bare, except for my calendar/helpers board and my word wall. The reason behind this is because I LOVE putting the children’s work up as decorations. In fact, that’s all I like to decorate my classroom with. This year, I set up a preschool art display that I just loved! No matter how I change my room arrangement next year, I’ll definitely keep this display up.
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colorful frames for a preschool art display
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Materials
Old frames of different shapes and sizes
Acrylic paints
Hot glue gun
What I did
One of my coworkers had used a few colorful frames in her classroom last year. She wasn’t planning to use them again, so I asked if I could have them. I asked family and friends if they had old picture frames to donate, as well. I kept the actual frames, discarding/recycling the glass and backings.
Once I had a small set of mismatched frames, I started painting. I used various acrylic paints and chose colors that were already around the classroom (thanks to the mural on the wall). Nothing fancy, but I’m happy with the colors of the frames.
Then came the hard part – getting the frames adhered to the wall! Most of my classroom is comprised of painted stone walls, so only certain things will stick to it. In the past, I’ve used a hot glue gun with great results. Even better, the removal of the hot glue didn’t mess up the paint on the walls. So I decided to try that again!
The hot glue gun did a great job, in my opinion! I was also able to test the removal theory, as I ended up moving the frames across the room in the winter time (since I had to rearrange my room). Taking them down was easy, but it was a bit of a pain to get them back up. Needless to say, I’m leaving them on the class walls over the summer!
For a regular painted wall, I’d suggest using Command picture-hanging strips. That’s what I use at home.
Next school year, I plan to add more colorful frames to our preschool art display! I’m going to see if I can move more down to the kids’ level too. I didn’t do that this year, as I was concerned they’d be knocked into too much.
using the preschool art display
Over the course of the year, the students tended to put up their own art around the classroom. They loved doing it on their own, and I loved seeing how proud they were. Their art and writing ended up on the backs of doors, by the drying rack, up in the windows, etc.
Because the colorful frames weren’t exactly at their level, I was in charge of adding to the display. So I ended up putting up the special bits of art and writing that my students made for me. They loved seeing their work up in the frames! Sometimes they were very specific about which frame they wanted their work in, too. I used a small amount of poster putty on the back of the kids’ work to keep it adhered to the wall.
Do you have a preschool art display up in your classroom or home? How do you like putting up the kids’ artwork? I’d love even more suggestions!
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