Last year we made these super easy rose prints in honor of St. Therese’s feast day (October 1st), and they were such a hit that we’re repeating the project again this year.

St. Therese, it is a mark of my love for you, that I’m busting out the paint. You know how much of a sacrifice of my sanity that is.

In order to make your own rose prints, you’ll need the following:

construction paper or card stock for the background
green paper for the stems and leaves
washable red paint, or any other color you’d like to make your roses
real roses
glue sticks

I usually start by prepping my roses. I like to cut the stems down, so there’s about two inches left to serve as a handle. Personally, I think that roses that are almost all the way opened turn out the best, but you can play around with different roses and see what you like. If you don’t have roses, other flowers of similar shapes (like a carnation) will also work. We usually have roses around on St. Therese’s feast day because our anniversary comes right before, and I have a romantic husband.

Once the roses are ready, I cut the stems and leaves. This year G is old enough to do some of the cutting herself. Basically, I just cut strips of green paper of different lengths to make the stems. Leaves are equally easy.

Next, I pour the paint, usually on to a paper plate (to ease the clean up process later). A thin layer will work best, as preschoolers are often heavy handed.

I have the kids glue the stems and leaves on to their paper however they’d like. G always puts hers in a straight line. Will’s are usually all over the place.

After that, it’s time to make the rose prints. It’s so simple. Just dip your rose lightly (or as lightly as you can convince your child to do) into the paint, and then press it onto the paper, on the top of one of their stems. Repeat as many times as they like!