Leaf Templates — 20 Free Printable Leaf Outlines & Stencils
Twenty free leaf templates to print and cut — maple, red and white oak, ginkgo, sassafras, birch, aspen, holly and more. Every leaf comes as a printable PDF in five sizes (1, 2, 3, 4 or 6 leaves per page), an SVG cut file for Cricut and Silhouette, and a transparent PNG silhouette for stencils and crafts. All in US Letter and A4, with nothing to sign up for.
Jump to: Maple & oak · Unusual shapes · Toothed · Smooth-edged · Leaf ID chart · All 20 in one PDF
Maple, sycamore and oak leaves
The classic fall shapes. The two oaks make a good pair for teaching: red oak lobes are pointed and end in tiny bristles, white oak lobes are rounded.
Maple leaf
Acer
Five pointed lobes with a few big teeth — the classic fall leaf.
Sugar maple leaf
Acer saccharum
Five lobes with deep, rounded notches between them; the leaf on Canada’s flag.
Sycamore leaf
Platanus occidentalis
Broad and maple-like, with shallow lobes and big teeth.
Red oak leaf
Quercus rubra
Pointed lobes that end in tiny bristle tips.
White oak leaf
Quercus alba
Rounded, finger-like lobes with no bristles.
Leaves with unusual shapes
Easy to recognise from the outline alone, so they make the crispest stencils and cut files.
Tulip tree leaf
Liriodendron tulipifera
Four lobes and a flat, notched tip that looks cut off.
Sassafras leaf
Sassafras albidum
A mitten or three-finger shape — often all three on one tree.
Ginkgo leaf
Ginkgo biloba
A fan with a notch in the middle and no main vein.
Sweetgum leaf
Liquidambar styraciflua
A five-pointed star with fine teeth; the spiky seed balls fall beneath it.
Horse chestnut leaf
Aesculus hippocastanum
Five to seven leaflets spreading from one point, like a hand.
Holly leaf
Ilex
Stiff and glossy, with sharp spines along the edge.
Poison ivy leaf
Toxicodendron radicans
Three leaflets — “leaves of three, let it be.”
Toothed leaves
Birch, aspen, cottonwood, elm and beech are told apart by the shape of the leaf and the size of its teeth.
Birch leaf
Betula
A pointed triangle-oval with double-toothed edges.
Aspen leaf
Populus tremuloides
Almost round, with a short point and a long flat stem that makes it tremble.
Cottonwood leaf
Populus deltoides
A triangle with coarse, rounded teeth.
Elm leaf
Ulmus
An oval with double teeth and a lopsided base.
Beech leaf
Fagus
An oval with straight parallel veins and small teeth.
Smooth-edged leaves
No teeth at all — simple, friendly shapes that are ideal for young children to cut out.
Redbud leaf
Cercis canadensis
A near-perfect heart with smooth edges.
Dogwood leaf
Cornus
A smooth oval whose veins curve toward the tip.
Magnolia leaf
Magnolia grandiflora
Large, thick and glossy, with smooth edges.
Leaf identification chart
All twenty leaves on one page in full colour, each with its common and Latin name. Pin it up next to the templates, take it on a nature walk, or use it to check which tree a fallen leaf came from.
All 20 leaf templates in one PDF
One file with every leaf at full-page size, one per page — handy for a classroom set or for choosing your favourites before you print.
Which file should I use?
- PDF — to print and cut by hand. Each PDF has five pages: one big leaf, then 2, 3, 4 and 6 leaves per page. Print only the page with the size you need, at Actual size (100%).
- SVG — for Cricut, Silhouette or a laser cutter. Upload it to Design Space or Silhouette Studio; it comes in at 6 inches on the long side, so resize it there. Stems have been thickened so they do not tear when cut.
- PNG silhouette — for stencils and digital crafts. A solid black leaf on a transparent background. Print it on cardstock and cut out the middle for a stencil, or drop it into Canva or a worksheet.
Ideas for these leaf templates
- Thankful tree. Print the 4- or 6-per-page sheets on coloured paper, write one thing you are thankful for on each leaf and hang them on branches in a vase.
- Fall garland. Cut maple, oak and ginkgo leaves from red, orange and yellow cardstock and string them along a mantel or doorway.
- Leaf identification. Pair the outlines with the chart above: children match a template to a real leaf they have collected.
- Stencil painting. Cut the PNG silhouette out of cardstock and sponge paint through it onto paper, fabric or a pumpkin.
- Classroom bulletin boards. The one-per-page PDFs make giant leaves for autumn displays.
Questions people ask
How big does the one-per-page leaf print?
It fills the page — about 7 to 9 inches tall depending on the leaf. The 2, 3, 4 and 6-per-page sheets go down to roughly 3 inches, which suits garlands and thankful trees.
Will the SVG work in Cricut Design Space?
Yes. Upload it as an image, choose it, and it comes in as a single cut layer. Every leaf is one closed shape, with the stems and joins thickened so nothing falls apart when it is cut.
Why are there two oaks?
Red oak and white oak are the two main groups of oak trees, and the leaves are the easiest way to tell them apart: red oak lobes are pointed with bristle tips, white oak lobes are rounded.
Is poison ivy safe to include for children?
The template is for learning to recognise it — “leaves of three, let it be.” It is a paper outline, not a real leaf, and a useful one to know before a walk in the woods.
Can I use these for things I sell?
You can use the leaves in crafts you make, but please do not resell or redistribute the files themselves.
More fall printables
- Leaves SVG — decorative fall leaf designs and silhouettes.
- Fall coloring pages — leaves, pumpkins and woodland animals.
- Fall word search — twelve autumn puzzles, including one on leaf colours.
- Thanksgiving mazes — including a maple-leaf shaped maze.
- Fall SVG designs — autumn cut files for Cricut and Silhouette.
