Would you like your like a Pinterest Classroom? You know, one that all your teacher friends ooooh and ahhhh over?
We all dream of the perfect Pinterest Classroom filled with color, organization, and designs that will awe students into submission. With Pinterest being a hotspot for ideas, there is a lot of pressure to have the perfect classroom. While most of us are completely capable of creating a Pinterest Classroom, the budget can really get in the way.
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So, what’s a teacher to do when the demand for a Pinterest Classroom is clawing at your door but the school refuses to approve your requisition for 100,000 dollars of décor? You rummage around and find ideas to create a Pinterest worthy classroom on a teacher budget.
DIY: Classroom Organizers
While it can be difficult to see a way around the cost of items when scrolling through the thousands of pins you have to make your classroom beautiful, there are plenty of ways to dial down the dollars and still create a room of wonder.
Things Around the House
One of the biggest “hot ticket” items on Pinterest are cute and functional organizational tools. While buying organizers that are already cute can be really expensive, there are plenty of ways to get that Pinterest look on a teacher budget.
- WINE not?
One way to save on some cash is to repurpose an old wine rack to store pens, pencils, markers and more! You can put jars in each of the holes and fill them with the materials your students may need. You can get the wine rack for an easy 10 dollars and the cans you may have at home. This is a trendy and functional way to keep your room clean. - CAN you help it?
If wine isn’t your deal maybe canned fruits and veggies are. Instead of tossing those cans into the trash, peel off the label, add some paint or Mod Podge on some fabric and bam you have yourself canisters for supplies. A yard of fabric for 5 dollars goes a long way here and a can of spray paint for 5 an easy five dollars will cover several cans. If you want to make a station out of it, you can hot glue cans together and create an art station for each set of desks. - BOXED in?
If you’re using old diaper, mailing, shoe or other boxes to store items, that’s awesome! They are functional and made for holding things. Unfortunately, they aren’t exactly Pinterest worthy. Don’t worry though, that can be fixed in a rip. Get some of that fun duct tape and cover up that Pampers logo. This way you are saving some serious cash only buying a roll of duct tape AND your classroom still has style.
Tame the Clutter
While organizing is a bigger part of teaching than some may think, there are many other parts of your classroom that can sometimes need a pick me up. For example, clutter on your desk or their desks for that matter. Pinterest has so many ideas to keep papers off your desk and theirs, but it can be pricey to say the least. To help keep a clean room follow these Pinterest worthy ideas while maintaining that teacher budget.
Hack It: Favorite Teacher Clutter Hacks
- Order up!
Aprons, while typically used by servers to hold change, pens, and tickets, can also be used to keep your students organized. Get a canvas apron and turn them into seat sacks for students to store their papers, pens and other supplies in. If you want, you can even have students decorate their own apron to make it a fun, personalized part of their desk. This adds color to your room and is a fun way to start the school year. - Book it!
If you have a classroom library, it can be a chore to put books away every single day. One way to help keep books in place is to give every student a wooden paint stirrer with their name on it. When they take out a book to look at, they put their paint stirrer where that book belongs. Then, when they are done, they can put that book back instead of you. The paint stirrers can also be used to separate genres on your book shelves. The best part is paint stirrers, usually, are zero dollars! - Who done it?
Teachers sometimes have to play detective. When students forget to add their name to an assignment, we have to analyze handwriting, color of pen or pencil etc. Instead of letting “no name” papers hang out on your desk creating yet another pile, make a “no name” hanger. This hanger can simply have a sign that says “No Name” with a few clothes pins hot glued to the bottom so you hang the papers there instead. Clothes pins come in packs of 100 for around 3 dollars (or less) and hot glue is a dime a dozen.
Make it Pinterest Classroom CUTE!
Pinterest has amazing ideas to keep your room neat and organized, but it also has ideas to simply make your room more manageable as well. While buying a kit to make your classroom cute and functional would be amazing, it’s not always in the budget. Here are a few more ways to create a Pinterest worthy classroom on a teacher budget.
Decor on a Budget
- Hang ten!
o If you have baskets laying around your room hang them up with command hooks on the walls that way they are off the floor. Command hooks can be bought in packs for around 4 dollars (or less) and baskets that have holes in the side are an easy dollar store find. - Contact!
o If you have drab cabinets or a drag desk, get some contact paper for around 10 dollars and spice it up a little bit! Making your desk colorful can really brighten up your room. - Screech no more
o If you’re tired of hearing that dreadful screech on the floor. You can buy a bag of tennis balls for 5 dollars (or less) at your local department store and put them on the “feet” of your chairs. When students slide around, you won’t hear that gross noise. If highlighter yellow isn’t for you, spray paint will cover that in a snap.
Other Tips and Tricks
Are you looking for other ways to organize and keep your sanity in your classroom? Check out this post about how to tame the pencils in your classroom! If you are wanting classroom decor you can print from home and edit, check out this years theme available in my TPT shop!
There are so many ways to create a Pinterest worthy classroom on a teacher budget. It’s amazing what you can do with a box, some cans, and a little paint or duct tape. Adding color to your room can be easy and affordable. You just need to use what you have and only buy what you need.
While creating a Pinterest worthy classroom is always fun, remember that function over fashion should always be the main goal. Whether you have a Pinterest Classroom win or a Pinterest Classroom fail, remember the students, while they may be in awe of your awesome décor, are going to learn because of what you’re doing in the front of the room, not behind the scenes.
What are you favorite Pinterest Classroom HACKS? Share them below with your fellow teachers! As always friend, keep being fabulous and happy teaching!
