This study deals with thegeometrical nonlinear dynamic behavior of laminated plates made of advanced composite materials (ACMs), which contain central cutouts. Based on the first-order shear deformation plate theory (FSDT), the Newmark method and Newton-Raphson iteration wereused for the nonlinear dynamic solution. The effects of the cutout sizes and lay-up sequences on the nonlinear dynamic response for various parameters werestudied using a nonlinear dynamic finite element program that was developed for this study. The several numerical results agreed well with those reported by other investigators for square composite plates with or without central cutouts, and the new results reported in this paper showed significant interactions between the cutout and the layup sequence in the laminate. Key observation points are discussed and a brief design guide for laminates with central cutouts is given.