During my 10th year of teaching, I decided to continue my video game theme classroom and add more to it.  I have now taught for 17 years and this theme is by far one of my favorites!  I have always taught technology!  Now this year the Super Mario Bros. Movie came out and I was able to get lots of movie posters to share with my kids and in our Game Design classroom!

Also, you can buy and use super cheap Super Mario Themed Snacks! 

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Video Game Theme Classroom

One year of my video game-themed room I focused on Retro Games. Having a theme that was so appropriate for a technology teacher plus really related to my students was important!

I like to have my students from the previous year help me choose my next theme! My students LOVED this year’s theme. Even as adults came through my classroom they were able to relate to the retro theme.

Video Game Bulletin Board Ideas

My Pac-Man Bulletin Board that read “Technology will A-Maze You” was just perfect. I often talk to students about how quickly technology changes.

So I wanted to give you some ideas on how I came up with all my little signage and design for my Video Game Classroom!

The Tetris wall above started blank and during the first week of school, we did some get-to-know-you activities with the squares and then pieced them back together.

Coming up with Classroom Ideas

When I started to look for ideas, I googled, made a Pinterest board, and even asked my students for ideas. They usually have the best ones for the upcoming year! You can really get a good idea of what they consider to be the best games.

I also like to keep my Classroom theme cheap because I am on a really tight budget. Plus, if I spend my own money on things for my classroom it will be on candy, snacks, granola bars, etc. I like to use reinforcement as much as I can with students.

So here are some pictures of my classroom:



Next year I decided although they aren’t totally “retro” to add some more games to the mix!

Wreck-It Ralph Classroom Board: I KNOW that this isn’t a game but Wreck-It Ralph and Vanelope are characters in a game for a Disney movie. If you are a regular reader of mine you know that I LOVE DISNEY!

Make Cheap Video Game Theme Character Cut-outs

Since I am on a tight budget, with the help of my students we used technology to make these characters!

One wall had Mario-themed decor.  You can also reuse these if you laminate them for a Surer Mario Themed Party for your class!

We went ahead and projected them on a white piece of paper on my board. We traced them and then we took construction paper to trace each part by the color it was supposed to be. Last, we glued and taped them together before laminating them. I left Vanelope’s sprinkles for the VERY end to tape them on her hair to give more of a 3-dimensional effect!

What you need is a big piece of white paper or even a poster board from Dollar Tree, construction paper, and glue sticks.

Project the design that you want to enlarge on the wall or whiteboard.  Then tape your white paper on it and do the original trace.

After you have a nice outline use construction paper to trace again and cut out by color.  Then you can tape it all together!  This is the best hack if you don’t own a Cricut to do large cuts.  

What is fun about this is depending on what you teach your students who want to help toward the end of the year love doing these.

More ideas

I am going to have Wreck-It Ralph breaking through a brick wall by cutting out red construction paper rectangles with a black paper background. This board makes a GREAT word wall adding words to each brick!

Vanelope will have a cute classroom quote from a movie line!

Angry Birds Classroom Board: There are so many catchy phrases that go with Angry Birds! “Shooting for the sky!” is one of my favorites! So I plan to have a slingshot on one side of the room with Angry Bird FLYING over to get the pigs!

To make these all we did was print out FREE Angry Birds color sheets and traces the different colors on construction paper and then glued them together.

One of the things I LOVE about a Video Game Themes Classroom is how many lessons and activities can go around your theme! Team building is so easy! Trying and not giving up is another great lesson. Also when I come up with lesson plans and start to teach a little bit of coding, it is only appropriate and FUN for me to make it into a game!

One of the key buzzwords that I heard several times last year is bringing “Gamification” into your classroom! So why not do it with a really fun Video Game Theme class?

Also, if you are a teacher you can see if you qualify to apply as a private tutor here to get more students!