The Origins of April Fools’ Day

April Fools’ Day, celebrated on April 1st, is the perfect occasion to unleash your inner prankster. This day is all about playing harmless practical jokes and spreading joy. The tradition dates back to the 16th century in Europe and has since become a global phenomenon. From simple pranks to clever tricks, April Fools’ Day is a time when creativity and humor take center stage. So, get ready to fool your kids with some of the best (easy and harmless) pranks around!

April Fools' Day Pranks To Start the Day

1. Broccoli for Breakfast

Lay out a spread for the kids before they come into the kitchen in the morning—a folded napkin, silverware, a drink...the works. But instead of pancakes or French toast, carefully arrange some broccoli (or some other despised vegetable) on their plates. Hopefully, they'll still be sleepy enough to not register the date just yet; when they're confused or protest, play dumb, of course.

2. Savory Toothpaste

Swap their Crest or Colgate in the bathroom with a tube of tomato or garlic paste.

3. Sugary Cereal Psych-Out

Is there a sugary, artificial-color-laden breakfast cereal your child has been coveting? Buy a box and open it, set aside the sweet cereal on a shelf out of sight, and fill the box with Styrofoam packing peanuts instead. Set it out for breakfast with an empty bowl and milk jug. Curb ensuing dismay by offering up the stashed cereal as a special treat after.

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Fill their drawers with your drawers for morning confusion!

4. Whose Drawers are in My Drawer?

Switch out the underwear drawer for each of your kids or replace theirs with adult underwear. You could do this with any of their clothing drawers, but of course, underwear gags always get the biggest laugh.

5. The Cereal Bowl Shuffle

Move things around in the kitchen cabinets: Put the cereal where the bowls should be, cups in the silverware drawer, etc. You can make it as simple or as elaborate as you want.

6. Backward Day

Put your clothes on backward and act completely normal. You might even want to insist that your kids put their clothes on “properly.”

7. Happy Birthday April Fools' Day to You 

Act like it’s your child’s birthday. You could put up a banner and some balloons and give him a muffin with a candle in the middle for breakfast. Then sing, “Happy April Fools’ Day to you…” This is only funny, of course, if your child’s birthday isn’t April 1. Get the whole family in on this silly prank and see if you can make your kid wonder if maybe it really is their birthday!

April Fools' Day Pranks at Lunch

8. Veggie Chips and Plastic Bugs

Carefully open the bottom of a single-serving chips bag, dump out the chips, and replace them with baby carrot chips, cucumber slices, or pepper strips. Reseal the bottom of the bag with double-sided tape. Your child will be surprised to find veggies instead of chips in the bag at snack or lunchtime!

9. Li'l Lunch

Pack or set out your school-age children's lunch with toddler food and sippy cups. Bonus points if you've hung onto the divided plates.

10. Wormy Apples

Find a clean, large drill bit, the handle end of an egg beater, or some other metal rod with a diameter about the size of a pencil or pen. Make a hole in an apple and work in one half of a gummy worm, leaving the "head" exposed. Offer up a shiny apple as a snack—making sure to hide the worm side in your hand or against a plate. Your child will be happy to learn it's a "candy" apple, not a wormy one.

11. Cake Pop Treats?

Who doesn’t love a good sweet treat? This April Fools’ Day, you can play a deliciously deceptive prank on kids at lunch or after school. Imagine their surprise when they bite into a cake pop, only to discover it’s actually a Brussels sprout covered in frosting! Surprise, kids! One way to make sure this ends in laughter is to have actual cake pops waiting for your kids and their friends.

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A little Easter egg dye helps secure this trick. Blue water??

April Fools' Day Pranks for Any Time!

12. Rainbow Water

Got some dye pellets used for coloring Easter eggs around? (If not, they are inescapable right now in just about every supermarket in America.) Use a small, thin piece of duct or electrical tape to adhere one just inside or to the underside of the tap of your child's bathroom faucet. The morning or evening routine should be interesting.

13. Funny Talk

Talk to your child all day (or for as long as you can keep it up) in rhyme, Pig Latin, Shakespearean English, or your best (or better, worst) foreign accent. If you want to take it a step further, dress the part, too.

14. Short Shoeing

Stuff the inside tips of your children's shoes with toilet paper, tissues, or cotton balls. They will wonder why their shoes suddenly don’t fit!

15. Throwback Tunes

If your child is beyond kindergarten, tee up some preschool hits on your phone. When you turn on the car and get the inevitable request to put on the radio, play the Elmo's World theme song or Mr. Froggy Went a Courtin' instead. Sing along in earnest.

16. Soil Test

Make a dirt dessert (minus the gummy worms) and place it in a small, clean planter. Ask your kids to help you plant some sunflower seeds, and tell them the soil has to be tested to make sure the seeds will grow. Explain that the way to test the soil is by eating it, then grab some from the top and pop it in your mouth. Insist that they try at least a tiny taste. Once they know it is actually Oreos and pudding, serve up dirt dessert.

17. Bedroom Balloons Prank

Fill their bedroom with balloons and watch as your family members (it can be your kids, or spouse!) discover the colorful surprise. This is one of the pranks that takes a while to set up, so give yourself plenty of time. But the laughter that ensues for your kids, friends, or family, makes it all worth it.

18. Googly Eyes Pranks

Googly eyes are a simple, yet still hilarious, way to prank your family on April Fools’ Day. Stick them on everyday objects around the house—furniture, kitchen utensils, even the family pets! The result is a comical effect that will have everyone laughing. You can also get creative and use googly eyes to make a fake animal, like a paper fish, and place it in a surprising location. 

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Swap in your number for his bestie's and then respond with some good ol' parental advice.

19. Text Me—No, Really

If your child has his own mobile device and you have access to the passcode, edit the primary contact info for his best buddy by deleting the friend's number and plugging in yours. If and when your child punches in his friend's name, texts, and you receive the message, respond as yourself; perhaps adding an admonishment about the fact that he's on his phone or iPad. Let the confusion ensue. Do this one only if you dare!

20. A Picture is Worth a Thousand "April Fools"

Change the background photo on your teen's or tween's computer, phone, iPad, or other device to something mortifying. The photo could be of you and your spouse smooching, your kid as a naked baby, a photo of them sleeping ... you get the picture.

A version of this article first published in 2017

Photos by the author except where noted