Creativity is key in designing a classroom that inspires children to use their imagination and learn.  Here are some innovative ways to make your classroom more fun:

First, decorate with color.  We found a great set of national flags at Oriental Trading company, perfect for adding color to a classroom.  Reward the students who did the best job memorizing the flags by having a contest in which students must identify which flags belong to various countries and group those countries by continent.

Second, desks are passe. Invite kids to work together and stay involved by grouping desks into clusters instead of rows or scrapping desks and having assigned seats at tables instead.

Third, learning centers that change frequently and give students an opportunity to experience something are inspiring especially to younger students.  A learning center about water in which students can actually put their hands and manipulate things in a tank of water before filling out a worksheet on it can help them remember what they’ve learned.

Fourth, animals breathe new life into a classroom. A class pet like a fish, hamster, mice, snake, chicks, or even a rabbit teach students the responsibility of taking care of an animal while also giving them something in which to show affection.

Fifth, have theme days once a week or twice a month in which children can come to school dressed in a certain theme or engage in theme-related activities.  Just like casual Friday inspires people to work on Fridays rather than call in sick, so does theme day in the classroom. Popular themes include: pajama party day, Hawaiian shirt day, all green day, hat day, unmatching socks day, and many others.