17 Easy April Fools Day Pranks to Play on Your Kids

April Fools Day is the perfect time to play silly pranks on your kids. Don’t let April 1 pass you by without trying out at least one of these April Fools Day ideas. All of them are easy to do at home, and most of them don’t require any advance planning. Let me know which one of these fun tricks fools your family this year!

April Fools Day Pranks

But first, a little bit of April Fools Day Trivia for you. No one is really sure who started the April 1 tradition of playing practical jokes. The holiday (which, by the way, is not an official holiday in any country) has been around for centuries! Do your part to keep April Fool’s Day tradition going. Be sure the share this blog post with your favorite prank ideas so your friends can have fun playing April Fool’s Day jokes, too! 

1. Undrinkable juice. 

Make a juice-colored gelatin in drinking glasses. Put a straw in it and offer it to the kids when they are thirsty. See what happens when they try to drink the “juice!”

2. All eye’s on you!

Attach googly eyes (found in the craft section at stores) to refrigerator items, toothbrushes, and anywhere else you think will surprise the kids.

3. Big foot.

Stuff the toes of your child’s shoes with tissue. Then watch the confusion that happens when they try to put their shoes on!

Put a toy rubber snake in the mailbox. Ask someone to go get the mail. (This prank is kind of mean, but I have to admit, it is pretty funny to watch the reactions.)

5. Toilet Paper Note Fool.

Use a sticky note paper or tape to attach a note to the inside of the toilet paperroll. Someone will eventually get a surprise when they unroll the TP.

6. Sink Surprise.

Use a cotton swab to dab a pea-sized amount of gel food coloring on the underside of the sink faucet (where the water comes out.) The next time someone turns on the water to wash their hands, they will get a colorful surprise!

7. Colored Milk.

Add green (or any other color) food coloring to the milk and stir. Just a drop or two should work to change the milk’s color from white to green. It looks different, but still tastes the same.

Fill a candy dish with chocolate rock shaped candies. Tell the kids you found lots of pretty rocks in the yard earlier in the day. Pick up a handful and start eating the “rocks.” The kids will watch you eating rocks and think you are crazy!

9. Cereal Switcheroo.

Take the bags out of the cereal boxes and put them back into the wrong boxes. Watch what happens at breakfast when someone tries to pour out what they think is going to be one cereal, but turns out to be something different.

10. Frozen Cereal and Milk.

Pour cereal and milk into bowls the night before April Fools Day. Let them freeze until ready to serve the next morning. The cereal and milk look normal, but watch what happens when the kids try to dip their spoons into it!

11. The remote control doesn’t work. And (perhaps worse): the game controllers don’t work!

Put a piece of black electrical tape over the remote control and game controller sensors. They won’t work! April Fools Day panic will ensue.

Replace toy LEGOs with Candy Blox. See how long it takes the kids to notice that their LEGOs won’t stack together.

13. Upside Down House.

Go around the house, turning things upside down. Photo frames, toys, clocks, chairs, etc. Act like you have no idea what the kids are talking about when they start pointing out things that are upside down.

Tell the kids you bought them an iPad. They will be so excited! Then, give them their eye-pad. I know from personal experience with this prank that it is totally worth it to gift wrap the “iPads” in a big box, just to add to the excitement and anticipation.

15. Eat ice cream cones for breakfast.

Make a chocolate and oatmeal no bake cookie recipe and shape the dough into ice cream scoops. (See my other blog post for the cookie recipe.)

16. Snack Switcheroo.

Carefully open your child’s favorite snacks (chips, bars, etc.) and switch out the contents. Use clear tape to re-seal the packages. They will get a big surprise at snack or lunchtime when they open it up!

17. Backwards and/or Inside Out Day.

Put your clothes on backwards and/or inside out. When the kids notice and try to tell you you’re clothes are on incorrectly, act like THEY are the one wearing their clothes the wrong way. Try to convince them they need to to turn their clothes around backwards or inside out.

I hope that you found at least one idea on this April Fools jokes list to pull on your family this year. Let me know how it goes!