Your science classroom shouldn’t be a boring room with boring decor. Today’s classrooms aren’t the stuffy, formalin-scented labs of years gone by; they’re bright, vibrant spaces bursting with technological advances. So your science classroom decorations need to keep up! And that’s where we come in. At Engineered Labs, we love making science fun and accessible, and that includes jazzing up your science classroom decor. Here are our favorite science classroom decorating ideas for any grade level.
Science Classroom Decorating Ideas for Elementary Schools
Elementary school kids are just learning about the basic principles of science, and have a relatively low reading level. These kids need encouragement to get excited about science, so bright decorations and things they can touch are ideal. At this age, the focus should be on color, shape, and things that students are interested in. Animal decor goes over great with this academic level, as does anything that can connect them with nature.
Science Classroom Decorating Ideas for Middle Schools
Middle school students are more sophisticated than their elementary school peers, and science at this grade level is all about pushing boundaries, testing limits, and expanding on the basics that they learned in elementary school. For many students, this means more complex chemistry and physics experiments, so the science classroom decor should reflect that. Now is the perfect time to introduce the periodic table and have some creative fun representing different elements.
Science Classroom Decorating Ideas for High Schools
At the high school level, students have better knowledge about the different branches of science and get into more specialized discussions and learning. That doesn’t mean their classrooms should be stark and sterile, though! Rather, thoughtful, mature decorations that contribute to their learning are your best choice here. And even high schoolers aren’t too cool for interactive decor– give them some UV flashlights and some acrylic mineral cubes dotted around the room and let them go to town seeing what does and doesn’t fluoresce.
The Coolest Science Classroom Decorations
With those decorating guidelines in mind, let’s take a look at some of the neatest science classroom decor you can add to your school’s labs!
1. A Miniature Natural History Museum
Field trips are great, but what if the museum could come to you? With a miniature museum featuring artifacts from prehistory to the modern day, your students can get excited about engaging with the past and learning more about the world around us every day.
2. A Handheld Periodic Table
Anyone who’s taking chemistry classes has seen at least one poster or book insert with the periodic table, but sometimes you can learn more from something you can see and touch. That’s where a handheld periodic table makes a difference. With 85 individual elements suspended in crystal-clear Lucite, your students can see actual elemental samples semester after semester.
3. A Tiny Tesla Coil
Tesla coils are cool, no matter how old you are. The dramatic arcs of electricity and the noises they make are impressive to everyone– but a giant Tesla coil simply will not fit in your classroom! Fortunately, a miniature Tesla coil packs a similar punch. It’s safer to use and still creates a high voltage, high frequency field that you can use to play music and power lightbulbs. But if you want to truly harness the power of the mini Tesla coil, you need…
4. A Glowing Gas Display
Fun fact about the noble gases: They all glow! It’s not just neon, although that’s the one most people are familiar with. With a noble gas display (that comes bundled with our mini Tesla coil), students can see the different colors of helium, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon.
5. Fabulous Fossils
Raise your hand if you don’t love dinosaurs. No hands? That’s what we thought. Dinosaur fossils, like Oviraptor egg shells, are an inspiring way to connect kids to geology, paleontology, zoology, and biology in general. But dinosaurs aren’t the only prehistoric beasts that delight and inspire us. An acrylic cube encasing fossil shark teeth or hair from the mighty wooly mammoth (which isn’t really a fossil, since it hasn’t been mineralized) is a great way to engage younger students who love learning about extinct animals, as well as older students. Fossils and remains can help connect them to concepts like radiometric dating and population biology.
6. Atomic Artifacts
Science can be used for great things, but it can also be used for terrible things, and it’s important that students are aware of the sobering power of some of history’s most destructive scientific discoveries. This science classroom decor is more appropriate for high schoolers, or thoughtful middle schoolers (especially if your school uses WWII material in its language arts curriculum). Whether it’s Hiroshima roof tiles or a trinitite sample from the first atomic bomb tests, these relics from the atomic age serve as stark reminders of the power of scientific possibilities.
7. Lithic Technology
Science is about discovery, innovation, and understanding– principles that have guided humanity since we first stood up on the African savannah. Our ancestors were scientists, too– discovering how their world worked and interacting with it, changing it, and shaping it to their desire. Some of the oldest technology we have is lithic technology, also known as stone tools. Shine a light on our curious past with a set of neolithic arrowheads from the Sahara. These stone tools date from the later part of what we often call the “Stone Age” and represent significant advances in tool-making. They can remind your young scientists that we’re never, ever done innovating, and that the promise of tomorrow’s technology is just over the horizon.
8. Soaring Souvenirs
Decorating a physics lab can be challenging. Biology has animals and plants, and chemistry has ready-made displays with the periodic table. But how do you illustrate the principles of physics in a fun, interactive way? Harness the power of flight! The history of flight is the history of developments in materials science, physics principles, and incredible feats of engineering. From fragments of early planes like the Wright Flyer to the powerful aeronautics of the V2 rocket to the sleek, sharp pinnacle of engineering that is the SR-71 Blackbird, let your students’ imaginations soar through the story of flight.
Bringing Your Science Classroom Decorating Ideas To Life
