Elephant nurseries are popular because elephants have similar emotions to humans and they’re cute. If you’re a Disney fan, it only makes sense to make a Dumbo nursery to include a fun character with your elephant nursery. You can use some of these Dumbo Nursery Ideas to outfit the space and make it feel like a place where anything can happen, whether you’re a circus elephant or newborn baby.

1) Flying Elephants, Clouds, Moon, and Stars

Since Dumbo was a flying elephant, you’ll want some decorations that show elephants flying, so we found a decal with elephants flying amongst the clouds and stars. These adorable elephants play with the stars and watch the moon while sitting on clouds and flying around. This is the perfect image for a Dumbo nursery, and since it’s a decal, you can remove it if your baby moves to a different room or grows out of the Dumbo nursery.

2) Dumbo Quote

If you love a show, movie, or book enough to base a nursery on it, you probably have a few quotes from the story that touched you deeply. If you have a favorite quote, then quote artwork would be an excellent way to show what the story meant to you. This set from Amazon is an excellent choice for a Dumbo nursery since it has a parent and baby and the quote is about a baby and parent.

3) DIY Woolen Pom Pom Mobile

Dumbo is an old story. The film is from 1941, old enough that your parents and grandparents probably watched it growing up. This makes it a good candidate for a vintage nursery, so we found this tutorial for creating a mobile with woolen pom poms. The wool and the color choices make the mobile look vintage so that it fits with a Dumbo theme. You can then add other vintage circus and other old-fashioned decorations to go along with it.

4) DIY Crafts

If you have children and you’re expecting another one, you can get the older kids involved in decorating the nursery. One way to do that’s to make a Dumbo craft with them, so we found this craft that’s easy enough for little kids to do. This craft is a flying Dumbo with wings that move. You can hang you and your children’s crafts up around the nursery so that your children will feel connected to this upcoming baby. 

5) Thematic Crib Sheets

Eventually, you’re going to use this room as something other than a nursery, whether that means it’ll become your child’s bedroom or that they’ll move into a different room later on. Either way, they’ll probably grow out of the Dumbo theme even if they still like the movie, so you’ll want to buy Dumbo decorations that are easily replaceable. One option is to get all your baby stuff with Dumbo on it, such as your crib sheets, changing pad covers, and diaper caddies. We found some Dumbo crib sheets to get you started.

6) The Circus

Not everything in this room will have a picture of Dumbo the elephant on it, so what can you use as the background for everything else? Why not try the circus? It’s the setting for the movie so it might as well be the setting for your nursery. You can borrow some circus party decorations from this article, paint with some circus colors, and add silly yard sale decorations, then put Dumbo in the key places where he’ll shine the most!

7) Metallic Resin Bank

Textures are essential in a nursery because they’re one of the many things that’ll stimulate your baby’s mind. Different sheens and looks that don’t fit what they’re used to seeing will make them think and help them learn new things about the world. Instead of getting flat gray everything, you can get things with a silvery sheen like this gray metallic resin bank from Amazon. Try finding things that are three-dimensional, as well, and look for drawings and toys with heavy textures for your little one to feel.

8)DIY Flying Elephant Mobile

Dumbo is the flying elephant, and the best place to introduce flying creatures in a nursery is a mobile. With a mobile, you can add three-dimensional creatures and make it look like they’re really flying around as they bounce and weave around above your baby’s head. If you’re having trouble finding a Dumbo mobile, you can use this tutorial to make a flying elephant mobile of your own with soft creatures that’ll lend a sleepy and soothing atmosphere to the room.

9) Storyboard Print

When you’re designing a nursery based on a story, you can use the story plot, not just the setting and characters. For instance, you can get a storyboard print like this one and either print it on thick paper or frame it, then hang it as wall art. You can also draw, paint, or print panels from the movie to make your own story print of your favorite scene. If you find the photos online, you might need to find photo editing software to paste the pictures into one page, but you can also play around with free options.

10) Gray Organizers

}Since elephants are gray, you can use gray as a base for an elephant-themed room, including a Dumbo nursery. Use the gray for things like closet organizers, wall paint, and other large pieces of furniture. Then, for a Dumbo theme, add circus colors and patterns to make certain areas pop. This way, the circus colors aren’t overwhelming, and the gray will help tie the whole room together once you add pictures, toys, and statues of Dumbo.

11) DIY Giant Storybook

This tutorial is for a princess storybook, but you can do it with any story. If you want to do something unique that your baby will remember for a long time, a giant storybook is an amazing way to catch attention. You can use these instructions, but substitute your favorite scene or quote from Dumbo instead of the text they used. Then display the storybook in a prominent place for friends, family, and your children to admire.

12) Cartoonish Elephant Lamp

Since Dumbo is a cartoon-style movie, it makes sense to get decorations that have a cartoon style. We found this lamp on Amazon with a mother and baby elephant in a smooth, curvy style that’s reminiscent of cartoons. This would be perfect as a depiction of Dumbo and his mother, and having a lamp in a nursery is a good way to keep an eye on your baby without having to turn on overhead lights while they nap. Think about where you should place it for both the decorative effect and to throw light where you need it most.

13) DIY Traced Paper Decor

If you’re not an artist, you might be thinking that you’ll have to buy your wall art and can’t make it yourself, but the neat thing about a nursery is that most art doesn’t have to look photoreal. A lot of nursery art has silhouettes, cute cartoon animals, and other things that are much easier to imitate. Plus, your baby probably isn’t going to critique you, and being surrounded by homemade things is a wonderful way to show your love. We found this simple traced paper Dumbo decoration that you can make and display.

14) New Baby Dumbo Picture Frame

If you’re looking for a baby shower gift, this might be the perfect gift. People love new baby decorations that say things like “hello baby” or “welcome baby boy,” so we found a Dumbo-themed version. This picture frame says “hello baby” and “love you,” and has a picture of Dumbo next to where the baby’s picture will go, as if Dumbo and your baby were posing together. If you’re buying for yourself, you can even put an ultrasound picture in the frame.

15) Elephant Name Art

Name art is popular in nurseries, which means that you’ll probably be looking for name art that fits a Dumbo theme. We found this customizable name art decal from Amazon with an elephant holding a heart-shaped balloon. You can change the balloon to blue or pink and change the colors of the baby’s name and initials, to make it fit your color scheme and the gender of your baby. If you want to, you can even change the size and add butterflies or hearts floating around it.

16) DIY Crochet

Dumbo is an old film, making a vintage theme perfect for a Dumbo nursery. To create a vintage nursery, you’ll want to do some old-fashioned decorating and make some homemade nursery decorations, but what if you don’t know how to knit and sew? Crocheting is probably one of the easiest ways to make decorations from scratch, so we found this pattern for crocheting an elephant mobile. It even has a cute and colorful hat that brings the circus to mind.

17) Dream Big

Dumbo dreamed big, imagining that he could fly and could be free. That’s an important message to pass on to your little one, so we found a decal set with elephants on it that says to dream big. All the elephants are sleeping among the moon and stars, creating a sleepy and restful impression that should help your little one rest in this room. The clouds and hot air balloons add a wistful impression, as well.

What else could we have added to our list? Are there any must-have items that you’d like to tell us about? Please let us know in the comments below.