How to Make Zener Cards

How to print Zener cards

• 1

  Find a printable Zener card pattern. Two sites are listed in the resources below, or you may search online.

• 2

  Print the pattern onto card stock. Print as many pages as needed to have a complete deck, 25 cards with five of each pattern. Card stock is necessary because thinner paper may cause the cards to be too transparent.

• 3

  Cut out the cards, taking care to make each card uniform, and shuffle into a deck.

How to make Zener cards by hand

• 4

  Use the ruler and pencil to divide a piece of card stock into a grid of 1.5 by 1.5-inch squares. Each row should be five squares across with one inch of leftover paper.

• 5

  Draw the circle symbol with a black marker in each square in the first row. Try to keep the symbols as uniform as possible. One way to do this is to trace around the edge of a penny.

• 6

  Draw a plus sign in each square in the second row, again keeping them as uniform as possible.

• 7

  Draw three vertical, wavy lines in each square in the 3rd row. To help keep them uniform, you can cut the edge of a scrap piece of card stock into waves and trace it three times on each square.

• 8

  Draw a square in each square in the 4th row. Again, you can make a card stock template out of scraps and trace the outside edge.

• 9

  Draw a star in each square in the 5th row. Use a card stock template if desired.

• 10

  Cut out the cards, taking care to make each card uniform, and shuffle into a deck.