What do you do when your child needs a ruler for an assignment and you can't find one? Instead of frantically searching through every drawer in the house, you can simply print one of these free, printable rulers. You'll always just be a sheet of paper and a printer away from a ruler any time you need one!
Rulers You Can Print
To use the printable rulers provided here, click the image of the ruler that you'd like to use. It will download as a PDF document that you can print using a standard 8.5 X 11 piece of paper. You can also save it to your computer for future use. If you need help with the documents, see this guide for Adobe PDFs.
Note that there are two versions each for inches and centimeters. The type of printer you have will determine which one you need to use.
- One version has the full ruler on a single sheet of paper. To use it, you must have a printer that will do borderless printing. Adjust the settings to "actual size" on borderless 8.5 X 11 paper.
- The other version shows the ruler in two pieces. You can print it on any printer, set to actual size, then cut out the shapes and tape them together.
Inch Ruler
Use this ruler to measure in inches.
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Centimeter Ruler
If you need to follow the metric system, download the ruler with centimeters.
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Making Your Paper Ruler
Once you've printed out your ruler onto paper, you can do a few steps to improve it.
- Instead of printing it on regular paper, print it on heavy card stock, if your printer allows for it. You can also use photo paper which is thicker than standard printer paper.
- Use a paper cutter for a more accurate straight line to cut the ruler, or cut with a straight edge and a box cutter.
- If you want to make the ruler more stable, laminate it so you'll be able to reuse it for future projects without worrying about the paper becoming damaged.
- If you don't have a regular hot laminator, you can also use a cold laminator used for scrapbooking if you have one on hand.
- Another option is to cover it with clear packaging tape wrapped around the paper for a protective covering.
Never Hunt Down a Ruler Again
These simple-to-use printable rulers provide a great, free way to make sure that your child is never stuck without access to a ruler when he needs one. You may even want to print several on card stock paper so you have a supply on hand as the need arises. You'll be prepared any time a ruler will come in handy!
