Kid-Friendly April Fool’s Day Pranks Kids LOVE! (No Tears, only Smiles!)

These pranks will only bring smiles (no tears!) 

How do people think up these new ideas each and every year?  It’s like they have a bank of ideas that they keep hidden, just for this one special occasion…and then, they unleash the fury of their fun tricks all day long. 

If you’ve got a few jokesters in your family, or are one yourself, it’s always fun to pull some fun family-friendly pranks on your little ones – as long as they are the type who like jokes like these ones.   

What if your kids don’t like jokes?

If they aren’t the joking type, you can have the kids help you play the jokes on someone else.  This shows them that there is a fun & positive side to joking around & making others laugh when it is done in a kind way.  They  can see that there is a difference between “mean jokes” and “Silly, funny, kind-hearted jokes.” 

I have two kids who love them and two who would rather be on the giving side than the receiving side, so I’ll just get them involved in pranking their brothers.   Both sides will think this is hilarious!  (And all four will prank their dad with me – probably with #1 below!  lol!) 😉

It’s time to add to the foolery fun this April Fool’s Day!  If you are needing a bit of inspiration to help get you started, here are some fun kid-friendly April Fool’s Day tricks that are you can play on your children. 

But be warned…if you trick them, they may find it necessary to trick you back!

1. Pan full of Brownies.
Literally, one of the best tricks out there.  Once your kids walk in the door from playing outside, tell them that you’ve spent the past few hours making them a made-from-scratch pan of brownies. 

Their eyes are sure to light up as they sprint to the kitchen…then, the prank sets in as they see the baking sheet literally full of the letter “E” cut out of brown construction paper…priceless! 

 If you don’t have brown construction paper, use white and draw brown E’s on it with a brown marker. Check out the details of how to get the kids involved in this one at my friend Deirdre’s blog

PS- I also make a tray of real brownies to bring out after they see this joke, but I keep them hidden until the April Fool’s Joke has been seen. 😉  

2.  Gummy Worms in an apple! 
Using a clean drill bit, wooden rod, end of a mixing beater, or clean pen, make a hole in an apple.  Put a gummy worm inside, leaving on a bit exposed to the outside world.  At lunchtime or snacktime, offer your child an apple.  

3.  Toilet paper in their room or across their door. 
It’s time to dig out your inner-teenager and toilet paper in your child’s room or door.  Once your child falls asleep, sneak in and toilet paper their room giving them quite the show when they wake up.

4.  Change their screen background
When your child is asleep, grab their school computer, iPad, iPod, tablet, phone, etc., and change the background to a picture of YOU (Bonus points if the picture is funny.) 

5.  Pick from the Marshmallow Bush
Let your little ones know that you are running low on marshmallows and you need them to go pick some from your marshmallow bush. 
It’s worth it, trust me!  A few moments before you make this request, head outside and take some marshmallows and stick them on the branches of a bush or tree out front.  The confusion that will happen will be picture-worthy.

6.  Fake bugs in their dinner glass.
In their glass of water… at the dinner table.   Be sure to have your camera ready. 🙂    
PS- To avoid fear or tears, I would make them LOOK fake (like those big orange spider rings that you get while Trick or Treating) unless you have a real jokester on your hands who will think the realistic-looking ones are funny. 🙂 

7.  Undrinkable Juice (it’s JELL-O)
Fill cups with gelatin and tell the kids that it’s juice.   Be sure to place a straw into the cup before you put it in the refrigerator to firm up overnight.  In the morning, offer your kids a cup of juice and get ready when they try to take a sip. (Oh- and have a spoon waiting because they will be more excited about the jello than the juice!)

8.  The great Oreo switcheroo. 
Plate them an afternoon treat of what they think is just some harmless, yummy, and simple Oreos…but switch out the middle cream for something else (we used peanut butter last year – still edible, but definitely a trick they didn’t see coming!   

Oh- and we only did it to three cookies because we didn’t want to waste real Oreo cookies. 😉 

9.  Change the color of their cereal magically. 
Have their bowls of cereal waiting for them on the table, milk-free.  Under that dry cereal, add a few drops of food coloring and wait for them to pour that milk on top.  Once they do, the colors emerge!

10. Eating Rocks in front of them 
Your kids will think that you are crazy when they see this one, but it’s perfect!   Pretend that you found some pretty rocks in the yard – show the kids how great they are and talk about where you found them.  Then, when they are into your story, eat one.  

They won’t know that you are actually eating candy rocks!  Here are some cute ones that you can find with my affiliate link on Amazon: Chocolate RIVER ROCKS.

11.  Caramel “Apples” that aren’t so delicious. 
Make caramel “apples” the night before…but instead of apples, dip a few onions in the caramel and let them dry overnight.  A unique and smelly trick for sure!

12.  Whoopee cushion’s galore.
Do your little ones have a favorite chair to set in?  Stick a whoopee cushion under it and watch ’em jump from the noise!
13.  Mashed potato sundae. 
Let your kids think that you have a nice ice cream sundae waiting for them, but in all reality, it’s just mashed up potatoes in a nice, sundae bowl.     (You can do this with muffins, too.   
Bake up mini meatloaves (instead of cake) in muffin tins and replace the “icing” with mashed potatoes.   
Our kids actually helped me make these to ‘trick’ their dad. 🙂   

14.  Spooky Fruit
Stick googly eyes on your kid’s foods when you’re packing their school lunches. When they open up their bags, they’ll find two pairs of eyes staring back!

Image Source: Flickr user herr_hartmann

15. Frozen Cereal
Before you go to bed, place a bowl of cereal with milk in the freezer.   When the kids get up, sneak the cereal out of the freezer & give them their bowl (you’ll have to be up before them).    You can even freeze some cereal & milk on a spoon and place it on top… 🙂

16. Toilet Paper
Unroll the toilet paper & write something in marker on it.
Ex: “Don’t forget to wash your hands!”   Roll it back up and wait for the kids to use the bathroom!

There are so many kid-friendly April Fools Day Pranks out there that are appropriate for all ages.  Have fun with the options and see how many of these suggested tricks you can do to your kids this April Fool’s Day!