Create memories and celebrate the beginning of the school year with these free printable first day of school signs! This set of 17 adorable signs features bright colors for every grade from preschool to college, and it even includes a sign for homeschoolers.
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Children grow up fast, and starting school is a huge milestone for them… and for their parents! Use this set of printable signs to immortalize their very first day of school, and every first day after school after that, so that you can create a matching set for your photo album.
Not only are these signs cute and colorful, but they are also perfect for any grade—and totally free to download! Grab the PDF files below and save them for back-to-school season.
Why You’ll Love This Printable
- Easy to download: No need to enter your email address or track down a resource library password—every single file is available for download right in this article, simply by clicking the text link below each preview image.
- All grades included: This big set of printable signs includes every grade from preschool to college, along with a “First day of homeschool” sign for those who educate their kids at home!
- Matching set: Because all of the signs have a similar design, you can easily use this set to take matching pictures for your photo album every single year.
- Cute colorful design: These adorable signs feature bright rainbow colors that are perfect for every age group!
P.S. Looking for more back-to-school printables? Check out these Back-to-School Coloring Pages, these Back-to-School Tracing Worksheets, this Back-to-School I Spy Sheet or these Back-to-School Word Search Puzzles.
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Download Your First Day of School Signs (Preschool to College)
Click the text link below each image to be redirected to the corresponding PDF file. (The preview images are not print resolution.)
Please note that these printable posters are for school and personal use only and cannot be redistributed. When sharing this free printable, please link to this article rather than directly to the files. You can read our full printables terms of use here.
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Download Your First Day of Homeschool Sign
Do you educate your kids at home? We’ve got you covered! Click the text link below the image to be redirected to the PDF file for your first day of homeschool sign. (The preview image is not print resolution.)
Please note that this printable poster is for school and personal use only and cannot be redistributed. When sharing this free printable, please link to this article rather than directly to the file. You can read our full printables terms of use here.
How to Use These Posters
These printable posters are meant as a prop that your child can hold up as you take a photograph of them on the first day of school.
Simply print out the sign that corresponds to the grade that your child is going into, choose an area with a nice background for the photo, and use your camera or phone to capture the moment. Then, repeat the same process every year to build up your collection!
If desired, you can write the year above the row of crayons before taking the photo, but this is totally optional.
Helpful Tips
- Use thicker paper: We recommend printing the posters on cardstock rather than regular printer paper to help protect them against folding and tearing.
- Keep the sign protected: If bringing the sign to your child’s school, make sure to place it inside a folder or sheet protector so that it doesn’t get damaged in transit—but take it out of the sheet protector before taking the photos to prevent the sun from reflecting off the plastic and ruining your photos.
- Take the photo early: If you’re worried about taking nice photos in the chaos of the first morning of school, consider taking a photo at your house before you leave for school (or even the day before!).
- Choose the right background: Experiment with different backgrounds, like the front porch of your house or the front of the school building, and see which one looks best after the photos have been captured.
- Take multiple photos: You’ll never regret taking too many photos, but you might regret not taking enough! Take as many pictures as you can in different poses and locations—you can always delete the ones you don’t need.
- Don’t forget group photos: If your child has siblings or close friends that go to school with them, take some pictures of them together to make the day extra special!
Printing Instructions
After you download the PDF files to your computer, print whichever page you need on a sheet of US Letter-sized cardstock (8.5 x 11 inches) or follow the instructions below to print the signs in a different format.
As previously mentioned, you can print the signs on regular paper if that’s what you have at home, but we highly recommend that you use cardstock to make the sign more sturdy and prevent it from bending or wrinkling.
Tips for Printing in Other Formats
These signs were designed to be printed on US Letter-sized paper, but that doesn’t mean you can’t print them on A4 paper if that’s the format your printer uses!
To print the signs on A4 paper, adjust the “Scale to fit” setting on your printer so that the top and bottom don’t get cut off during printing. This will leave you with white strips on either side of the sign, but not to worry—you can easily cut off the white strips with scissors if they bother you.
More Back-to-School Printables
If you have used these First Day of School Signs or any other project on my website, please let me know how it went in the comments below. I can’t wait to hear from you!
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