As spring continues to unfold, fingerprint flowers make for a fun, seasonal art to try! Fingerprint flowers are great for all ages, even as young as preschool, since working with their hands helps develop kids’ fine motor skills before they learn how to write. 

With Mother’s Day on the horizon, fingerprint art and thumbprint art are creative, unique ways to give long-lasting flowers to Mom that she will not have to remember to water or rotate in the sun.       

You might get a little messy with the paint, but this spring craft will build memories for a lifetime. The possibilities are endless whereas you can place fingerprint flowers not only on paper, but you can also use them to decorate flower pots, glasses, and cards. You can also create many different types of flowers as well as animals like fingerprint butterflies and thumbprint bumble bees.

If you are looking for more flower crafts ideas, do check out this DIY Dried Flowers Shadow Box!

Supplies Needed

• Washable Kids’ Paint
• Color Paper
• Cardstock
• Paper Plates (to use as palettes to place paint on)
• Plastic Bowl (fill halfway with water to wash paint off fingers)
• Paper Towel or Napkin

How to make fingerprint flowers

Step One: Dip Finger in Paint and Press on Paper To Make Petals

Take your index finger and start by dabbing it in the paint. As you become more comfortable making fingerprint petals, you can press your finger more into the paint. Dabbing will help you get a sense of how much paint you will use and how often you will need to ‘redab’ your finger with paint. 

Then press your finger on the paper. You have now made your first petal! Continue to dab petals with your finger in a round circle. You may find five or six petals work best for your flower. Depending on the size of your finger, you can interchange which finger you use to make bigger or smaller petals. 

Step Two: Painting the Stem and Leaves with your Pinky Finger

You may want to draw in the stem and leaves; however, it is fun to try to create them with the side of your pinky finger. Dab the outer side of your pinky with green paint, then slide it down beneath the bottom petal where the stem grows. You can also use the side of the pinky to create leaves on the stem. Play with light or hard pressure to create thin or thick leaves. 

How to Create Fingerprint Art Roses

Step One: Dab Pink Dots Around a Central Purple Dab of Paint

There are a variety of flowers to create with fingerprint art. To make a rose, dab a central purple petal on your paper. Around that central petal, dab smaller pink dots.  

Step Two: Mix and Swirl the Purple and Pink Together

Dab your finger in the pink paint, and then dab that same finger in the purple paint. Begin to swirl the colors together on the paper until you see a few swirls that resemble a rose. The swirls will become more defined as the paint dries. Feel free to add the vine and thorns with your pinky finger. 

How to Create Fingerprint Art Daisies

Step One: Finger-paint White Strokes 

Take your ring or pinky finger and dab it in white paint. Then on the paper, instead of pressing your finger like we did with the flower and rose above, you will make small strokes that resemble the length of daisy petals. These strokes can vary in length and width. 

Step Two: Dab the Yellow Stigma

Take your ring finger and dab it in yellow paint. Then press down in the center of the white petals to create the yellow disc center. You might add a stem, or you may cover the whole paper in daisies with no stems. Feel free to play around with covering a whole page in just the flower top without the stem. 

How to Create a Fingerprint Art Hyacinth

Step One: Create Two Rows of Hyacinth Petals

Dab your finger in any hyacinth color you prefer. Then do a vertical row of petals up and down. Then right next to that row, dab another row.  You will have two rows right next to each other. 

Step Two: Blend Colors

Take your finger and dab it in white. White works well as an added pigment when blending other colors. After dabbing a white dot on every other petal, dab another finger in another preferred color. Then while dabbing each petal, do a slight blend. You do not want to mix the colors, a minimal blend will bring just the right hue. Add your vine and leaves as desired. 

How to Create A Mother’s Day Card With What You Have Learned

Step One: Fold the Card

Take an 8”X11” pastel paper, and fold it “hot dog style” or long ways. Then do another fold exactly halfway down the already folded paper. 

Step Two: Decorate the Cover of the Card

You can use any style of flower to create the cover of your card. Remember, you can choose from our fingerprint flower, rose, daisy or hyacinth. Add some words such as “Happy Mother’s Day” to the cover in your neatest handwriting. 

Step Three: Decorate the Inside of the Card

Open the card. You can take your creative liberties and decorate the inside with multiple flowers. You can add a heartfelt message as well to show your love for your mom.  

FAQ

Other Fingerprint Art Ideas

How to make fingerprint butterflies

To make a fingerprint butterfly, dab your ring finger in your favorite color of paint. Press down two fingerprints next to each other on paper to create the top wings. Then dab your pinky in paint, and press down two fingerprints to create the smaller bottom wings, each directly below the two top wings. Then, you have your butterfly! Add the antennae and body in the middle of the wings with a colored pencil or marker.

How to make a fingerprint bumble bee

Making fingerprint bugs is super easy and fun! For the bumble bee, you will be using your thumbprint. Dab your thumb in yellow paint, then press down on the paper.

You will immediately see the shape of the bee’s body. After it dries, use a colored pencil or marker to draw the black stripes and the bee’s antennae. This is a fun addition to any fingerprint flower art so you can show bees buzzing around the flowers.   

Flower Pot or Grass Field

You can always choose if you would like to have your fingerprint flowers growing out of a flower pot or grass field.

In this photo, I created a flower pot with my ring finger by simply drawing an outline of the pot and filling it in with the same color, then added the flowers and butterflies. On the middle flower, I blended white and red. Feel free to take creative liberties and experiment with blending colors and variations of strokes and dabs with different fingers.

If you are looking for more spring craft ideas do check out these easy tissue paper crafts and these amazing harry potter crafts to impress your kids.

Getting ready for Father's Day now? We've got the ultimate kids' Handprint Father's Day craft that's sure to impress dad.