How to print two worksheets on one sheet of paper

Every worksheet here is laid out for a single page, which is the right shape for a child to write on and the wrong shape for a budget. Printing two to a sheet is the easiest saving there is, and it costs the worksheet almost nothing as long as you set it up properly.

The setting you are looking for

It is in the print dialog itself rather than on this site, and it is called different things by different printers. Look for Pages per sheet, 2-up, Multiple or Layout, and set it to 2. The preview on the right of the dialog will show two copies of the page side by side on one landscape sheet.

What to change along with it

• Set the orientation to landscape. Two portrait pages fit side by side on a landscape sheet; on a portrait sheet they are squeezed into half the width and the writing lines come out too short to use.
• Turn off any scaling to fit. The sheet is already being scaled down to half size. A second shrink on top of that is what makes the answer boxes too small for a six year old.
• Print both sides if your printer can. Two pages per sheet and double-sided together put four worksheet pages on one piece of paper.

When not to do it

Tracing and handwriting sheets are the exception. The letter sizes on those are chosen to match the width of a young child's pencil stroke, and halving them asks for control the child does not have yet. Print those at full size, and save the two-up trick for sums, comprehension and puzzles.

A quicker option for a whole class

If you are printing thirty copies, print one at full size first and look at it. A worksheet that is hard to read at full size will be unusable at half, and finding that out on sheet one is cheaper than finding it out on sheet thirty.