The original author is unknown, but I love this positive expression:

You can complain that roses have thorns or be grateful that thorns have roses.

Stroll through the rose section of a nursery with your children. There are over 300 species of roses and they come in a wide variety of colors.

If you receive a bouquet of roses or attend a wedding where the roses are disposed of after the party, use the roses for science investigations.

Look at the rose from all angles. What do you notice? Do you see a spiral?

Other activities:

1. Dissect the rose. Pull it apart carefully and lay down the petals in order as you remove them. How many petals are on the rose? Are the petals all the same size and shape? How do they feel? Smell them.
2. Rub the leaves and petals on paper. Do you see any colors?
3. Did you find anything else inside the rose?
4. Place some rose petals in a jar and close the lid. Leave other petals on your counter. What happens?
5. Hang a rose upside down with a clothespin and let it dry.
6. Slit the stem of a fresh white rose into two (or more) sections. Place them in two colors of food coloring. (Don’t add much water.) Observe what happens. Click here for more details about this investigation.

The following photo is not a rose. Can you identify it? Look below the photo for the answer.

I cut off the bottom of a stalk of celery and discovered the shape of a rose.