If you’re looking for some free posters to decorate your classroom this fall, you’ve come to the right place! We’ve got inspirational posters that will not only motivate but hopefully also add a decorative touch to your walls.

This first poster continues to be one of our most-downloaded and seems to have a message that appeals to many different age groups. Print it, laminate it or frame it and encourage your students to “believe.”

We’ll be highlighting more posters over the course of the next few weeks so stay tuned!

Graphs make great posters! Check out some of these free online graphing tools and create your own posters with information from your classroom (or office!)

Collect data from your students about their likes, background and/or hobbies and make a beautiful visual display that will also help them remember the different graph types. Create bar graphs, pie charts, line graphs, histograms, scatter plots, box plots and even stem and leaf displays. For early elementary students you can even use clip-art to create pictographs.

Here are a few online tools to get you started.

1. NCES Create-a-graph

2. ChartGo

3. Online Chart Tool

4. Pie Color

5. Hohli Online Charts Builder

Kid-friendly warning: While the Create-a-graph tool is from the National Center for Education Statistics and is targeted at students, the others are aimed at businesses and a couple of these tools are ad-supported.

Graphic organizers are a useful strategy when teaching students to brainstorm, organize or analyze information. Many teachers are combining the technique of mind mapping or concept mapping with the use of interactive whiteboards to create lessons that are both interactive and engaging. Mind maps can also be a great way to create quick educational posters that will help reinforce certain strategies for your students.

Here’s a sample poster that we created using Gliffy.com – a free online diagramming tool.

You can also use PowerPoint to do this, even though it might be a little harder to keep branches and circles together. There are also commercially available software that many schools have access to.  But if you don’t have Inspiration or Kidspiration in your classroom, there’s no need to despair. Check out this list of free online diagramming tools. Now that will get the job done.

Creating an inspirational learning environment in a classroom can be both a fun and frustrating experience for educators. One way to quickly and inexpensively do this is to put up thought-provoking wall art. Here are three ways to decorate your wall space without breaking the bank.

1.  Take a trip to the dollar store – surprisingly, dollar stores can be a great place to find educational posters for your classroom. Often you’ll find posters related to reading and learning basic math facts.

If you teach middle or high school, you can sometimes find posters that include beautiful photographs of nature. Print out an inspiring quote on paper and glue it to the poster to create your own semi-home made motivational poster!

2. Browse through old magazines – another great place to look for wall art is in old magazines. If you’re creative you can even design a collage with images and phrases or even tear out some of the more creative ads that include only text and place them in inexpensive frames. Some magazines like GOOD actually provides free posters with beautiful infographics that would make perfect wall art for a middle or highschool classroom.

3. Look Online – with a little bit of effort you can find some websites that offer free downloadable posters. If you feel adventurous you can even try downloading some free vector graphics or clip art to create your own. Upload the poster to your local print store and then pick it up within 24 hours. Sites like cafepress.com and etsy.com also offer posters that are hard to find and of very high quality.

Got any other ideas for beautiful wall art for your classroom? Share them here.