Free Printable Cut-Out Shapes for Bulletin Boards

About these cut-out shapes handouts

Large cut-out shapes are a bulletin board workhorse. Students can write on them, teachers can use them as templates, and a handful behind a poster add depth to a display. These two sheets give you eight shapes each, drawn big enough to trace or to mount directly.

The basic sheet has a circle, a square, a triangle, a hexagon, a pentagon, a diamond, an octagon and an oval. They are regular shapes drawn to scale, so they also work as models for geometry lessons: students can count sides and corners, sort the shapes, or trace them to build patterns. Because they are the same size on the page, comparing them reveals which has the longest outline or the most corners.

The decorative sheet adds a five-point star, a four-point star, a heart, a block arrow, a speech bubble, a ribbon banner, a twelve-point starburst and a hole-punch tag. Use the speech bubbles for quotes and vocabulary, the arrows to point to a display, the stars for student work and the tags for labeled bins.

Each shape has a dashed cut line and a light tint, so it prints cleanly in any color style. Print on colored paper if you want the shape itself to carry the color, or on white and let students color them. Cardstock holds up when a shape has to be written on, handled and re-pinned.

How to use them

1. Pick the basic sheet for geometry work or the decorative sheet for display pieces.
2. Print on colored paper, or print on white and let students color the shapes.
3. Cut each shape out on the dashed line.
4. Write or mount the content on the shape: a quote, a word, a student's name, a photo.
5. Pin or tape the shape to the board, overlapping two or three for depth.

Classroom tips

• Use the basic shapes as tracing templates. Cut one from cardstock, and students can trace it again and again on construction paper.
• Sort the basic shapes by number of sides on the board, then ask students to add their own examples from around the room.
• Have students write a goal or favorite word on a star, then hang the stars on a display of growth.
• Cut a few shapes from sticky-backed paper if you want to mount things on the wall without adding pin holes.

Notes on this page

• Cut on the dashed lines.

Last reviewed 2026-10-03. Handout Hero designs are original and made for this site. They are general reference material; check your own school, district or tradition where it matters.