Classrooms shouldn’t be dull, boring environments kids are forced to spend most of their day at – they should be welcoming, fun, vibrant places they enjoy being at!
As a result, more and more teachers are looking to decorate their classrooms in different ways to help their students find the right kind of learning environment they need.
Some decor styles are more popular than others so here’s a look at all the current classroom decor trends! Take a look at the options below and find the right decor trend for you and your classroom!
Boho
Boho is easily the biggest decor trend for classrooms this year, and for plenty of good reasons. Boho is a decor style that promotes creativity and positivity – both great attitudes to have in a classroom.
By using bold, warm colors like yellow, terracotta orange, and pink, you can create a really welcoming and comforting environment for your students to feel relaxed and safe in. As a result, this makes the boho style a great decor style to try out in a classroom!
To get the boho style, you need to focus on three key elements: colors, iconography, and materials.
Boho sticks to a warm but mostly neutral color palette with a few bold picks like orange and pink. It also uses a mixture of textures and materials ranging from wicker, neutral woods, and wool for its furniture.
These can be easily implemented into the classroom through wicker chairs, blankets, footrests, storage baskets, and more.
As for iconography, rainbows, plants, and smiley faces are all associated with the boho style and can be painted on your classroom walls, seen in plant pots and pillows, and other types of decorations!
Jungle
Another decor trend that is growing in popularity in classrooms is the tropical jungle decor theme.
This theme is preferred for its exciting theme, relevancy to certain classroom topics, and more neutral appearance compared to other themes. It’s exotic but isn’t a far cry from the classic boho style – so it remains trendy while being slightly alternative!
The jungle decor trend takes some inspiration from the boho theme in the form of wicker storage baskets, the use of terracotta colors, and plenty of plants – but that’s where the similarities end.
Instead of pinks and yellows, the jungle color palette uses dark browns reminiscent of jungle soil and earth, deep greens to represent plant life, and more vibrant shades of orange.
Instead of pale natural woods, woods like mango and red oak are more suitable choices for this theme. Wool and wicker are replaced with materials like cotton, sheer taffeta, and velvet.
Animal prints and plants are key to the jungle theme so add plenty to your classroom if you want to channel this theme!
Modern Pastels
This theme is similar again to the boho style but unique in its own way.
The first main difference between the classic boho style and the modern pastel theme is that modern pastels use a wider range of colors in their palette.
While boho is limited to warm colors, modern pastels will happily incorporate shades of light blue, green, and lavender – so long as they remain light and muted.
Secondly, boho relies heavily on different materials like wicker and wool used in its decor. Modern pastels stick with plastic or plain white wood for a sleeker, less heavily textured look.
This is what gives the modern pastel decor theme a more contemporary look while boho is more rustic.
The modern pastel theme is a great choice for teachers who like the brightness and vibrancy of boho without its rusticity.
It’s easier (and more affordable!) to bring into a classroom as all you need is to add plenty of pastel rainbows around your classroom as you need.
You can use plastic storage tubs, pastel pillows, and basic white cubby holes for your furniture options – so keep things simplistic but colorful!
Nautical
This theme is a classic that has seen a resurgence in popularity, particularly with younger kindergarteners.
It’s a very fun theme that ties in nicely with a lot of popular school topics and subjects, and is bright and appealing to young kids.
To try out the nautical theme for yourself, then it’s easy to rely on a lot of nautical imagery. This includes boats, lighthouses, anchors, seashells, and starfish, which can be used in your wall displays, banners, and decorations.
However, color and furniture materials are also important to the nautical theme. Your classroom needs to be predominantly decorated in blue, white, and red.
These bold colors are best used in blocks but some patterns like stripes and even polka dots also work great with this theme.
White wooden furniture like desks and chairs are also great for the nautical theme, and roughspun blankets and pillows add a great alternative texture for your students to touch and feel.
Plant Life
Greenery and plant life have been a growing trend in classrooms recently as more teachers want to incorporate themes of nature in their classrooms.
This theme is great for creating a calm, relaxing environment for your students and is relatively easy to do!
All you need is to focus on a color palette heavy with light greens, pale blues, and white, and add lots of plant iconography.
These can be in the form of real plants and flowers, wall art, leafy borders around your displays, rugs, and more.
A good tip to try is to use black as a nice contrast for things like borders, small pieces of decor, and word art around the classroom!
This makes certain parts of your classroom stand out against the rest and draw the eye – so it’s a great color to add to your classroom’s whiteboard and certain displays!
Final Thoughts
Teachers love to make sure their classrooms are bright, happy environments for their students so they feel comfortable and excited to learn – but there are lots of different themes and trends you can try out to achieve this.
Check out the list above, pick out your favorite theme, and give it a go! Good luck!
Hi, my name is Helena Waters and I was a teacher for 40 years before retiring last year.
During my time as a teacher I dedicated the majority of it to making classrooms as fun as possible, with educational parties, fun activities, and low cost entertainment that made the children excited about learning.
I taught children of all ages, from preschoolers to high school students. Now, with the pandemic having uprooted everything that children once knew about school and learning, I think that the need for my ideas is bigger than ever.
That is why I created School Sparks, a place in which I can write down and share all of my ideas on how to get students excited about going to school again. I hope that you’ll find some useful within a school setting, even at home too!
