Life-Size Presidents - February Bulletin Board

February President's Day Bulletin Board Idea
Photo Source: doodlebugsteaching.blogspot.com

Kacey over at Doodle Bugs Teaching inspired this fun President's Day bulletin board idea with her life-size Abraham Lincoln cutout and her "Are you taller than Abe?" activity (pictured above). Wouldn't it be cool for your kiddos to "stand among" the presidents that have worked to make our country great? With this fun design, they can!

Life-Size Presidents

  • Background: Use red, white, and blue background paper to create an American flag; cover the entire bulletin board with white paper, cut seven identical strips of red background paper spacing them evenly on the board, and add a large royal blue rectangle in the top left corner.
  • Title: "Among the Greats!", "Our Country's Greats!", etc.
  • Border: Create a red, white, and blue star 'garland' to place around the display or use a complimentary solid color trimmer.
  • Decoration: Create life-sized presidents from white bulletin board paper. We thought the presidents depicted on Mount Rushmore would be a nice selection - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. [Gutzon Borglum, the famous sculptor, chose these four because, to him, the represented the first 150 years of American history... Washington symbolizes the BIRTH of our country, Jefferson the EXPANSION, Lincoln the PRESERVATION, and Roosevelt the DEVELOPMENT of our nation.] We suggest finding a photo or clip art image of each president that can be enlarged and traced onto the bulletin board paper using your classroom projector system. You could also freehand the figures if you're feeling particularly artsy! We love that Kacey's cutout is actually 6' 4" - the height of President Lincoln - and would highly recommend finding the stats for each president and enlarging the images accordingly. With the figures drawn (improvising where need be) and recognizable details added where appropriate (i.e. Lincoln's top hat, Washington in a tricorn hat, etc.), use acrylic craft paints, crayons, or other graphic art tools to color the figures! Arrange the cutouts on/off the bulletin board and for a fun learning accent, add speech bubbles like Kacey's, scripting important facts about each president onto them, and arranging the bubbles by the appropriate president.
[NOTE: Once you create your president cutouts, be sure to laminate them so you can use them next year!]