How to Make Student ID Cards [Free Printable]

When preparing for a recent trip, we decided to make student ID cards for our children, both to serve as identification and also to get student discounts at some of the places we hoped to visit on our trip.

We also realized recently that student IDs are a great way to prove school attendance and age progression when renewing children's passports, so be sure to keep the expired ones in your child's identification file!

I looked at several images of student IDs online to get an idea how to create ours. This post will give you two ways to do it yourself and two places you can get ID cards created online.

Info to Include on Your Student ID:

To make student ID cards, I inserted a square shape into my document on my computer, and stretched it out to make a rectangle about 3 inches long and 2 inches wide. (you can measure your driver's license if you need something to go by).

Then I added the following text information:

• Our Homeschool Name (Princetown LET font, size 14)
• Our address -for safety I put our mailing, not our physical address (Times New Roman, size 9)
• “Student Identification Card” optional (Times New Roman, size 10)
• Info titles (Times New Roman, size 9)
• Student info (Helvetica Bold, size 9)
• Logo in bottom right corner, optional

Next, I added a headshot photo of the child that we had taken with our little point and shoot camera (like this one).

ID Card Options:

For the back side of the student ID cards, I added a family photo, (so if the child should be lost, the authorities could also recognize the parents/or other family members) and the following text:

“In case of emergency please notify Parent’s Name or Parent’s Name. Phone: 000-000-0000”

Once  we printed the cards in color, we took them to a local print shop and had them hard laminated. The kids were thrilled!

We had each child wear his ID in a Lanyard around his/her neck when we flew and when we visited any big attractions. And our two oldest even put our family business cards in behind it and industriously gave them out to people they met.

It may seem overboard to some, but the kids actually seemed to enjoy wearing them and it gave me an added peace of mind. I think it also added a special level of fun to their outing to be wearing such an “official” looking name tag. And when we needed student IDs for discounts, we had them. We also got several comments from strangers about how their kids wear ID cards in school now too.

Safety Issues When Making ID Cards with Photos:

• • DO NOT put the child's physical address on it. You don't want anyone to be able to track down the child to a certain address should the card be lost or stolen.
  • DO include student name, date of birth, and school year or effective date.
  • Grade level is optional.
  • Emergency contact info and medical information (such as allergies or regular medications) is optional.

Two ways to DIY your Student ID Cards:

If you’d like to DIY your student IDs, here are two ways:

1 : Enter your email below to Download my free template and either write in your own information or use it as a guide to create and print your own.

2 : If you have a Canva.com account (they're free) You can use this template I've created for student and teacher IDs. Open the template, upload your school logo and student photo and add them to the card, change the info to be your info and download the image as a .png, .jpg or .pdf file. Then print those and get them laminated. Or get this laminator and the 5 mil laminating pouches and do it yourself.

Where to Get Student ID Cards Online:

I realize not everyone wants to DIY this, so here are the two best places I've found online to get ID cards created for students and homeschool or co-op teachers. Each one will take 2-3 weeks to arrive once ordered, so take that into account and order in plenty of time for your next field trip or outing.

1 : If you are a member of Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), (which I highly recommend), you can login to the membership site and print your own member cards as well as up to 4 student ID cards (without photos).

2 : Open a free account at Homeschool Buyers Co-op, and use their nifty online design tool at to create and print your own FREE homeschool ID card at home, or order a professionally printed, sturdy plastic (PVC) ID card from the Co-op. Click the image to go there.

Do you know somewhere else to get homeschool ID cards made? Let us know and we'll check it out to keep this list current!