12 April Fool’s Day Pranks You Can Play On Your Kids

Make this April Fool’s Day one your family won’t forget when you “foolify” your gang’s morning routine. These time-tested gags are safe, easy to do and guaranteed to garner giggles from your troops. (Psst! Have your phone ready to capture their shocked expressions!) For best results, combine a few of these tricks for a can’t-fail, one-two joke punch.

Underwhere? surprise!

• The underwear chain link: Join five or six of your child’s undies corner-to-corner with safety pins. Replace them in the dresser drawer. When your target takes out a pair, they’ll get the whole silly string!

• The "under-shere?" drawer swap: Swap the position of your child’s underwear drawer in her dresser so when she opens it up, she’ll get a confusing surprise.

• The alarm clock chorus: Got gadgets with clocks on them? Reset them—all of them!—so there’s one ringing every five minutes during the morning routine. It will drive everyone crazy as they run to find them before the next one starts.

• The balloon-o-Rama closet: Fill someone’s closet with balloons so when they open it to get dressed, they are greeted by a colorful avalanche.

Toilet humour

• The message in a toilet: On a few squares of toilet paper, use a permanent marker to write a goofy gag line such as “Diving for pearls—back in a flash.” Then float the paper in the toilet for the next “visitor” to find. (Tip: For a longer flotation time, make sure the paper’s edges touch the sides of the bowl.)

• The golden ticket toilet paper: Unwind a bit of the toilet paper from the roll. Tape a five-dollar bill to it, then roll it back up. The first one to use the bathroom will reap the reward for being an early riser.

• The growing pains shoe stuffer: Stuff some folded toilet paper neatly into the toes of your kids’ shoes so they’ll think their feet have grown overnight!

Breakfast buffoonery

• The eye-spy fridge: Grab a pack of adhesive googly eyes. Stick them onto everything in the refrigerator—the milk carton, the eggs, the yogurt, even the mustard. When your kids or spouse open the fridge to get breakfast, a dozen "faces" will be staring back at them. It’s silent, silly, and requires zero cleanup.

• The purple milk surprise: Add a few drops of purple food dye to the milk carton and give it a shake.

• The gummilicious apple: Use an apple corer to carve a small hole into an apple and insert a gummy worm. Cover it with the "plug" you removed. When your child takes a bite, they’ll get a wiggly greeting!

• The cereal box switcheroo: Switch the inner bags of cereal in the boxes. Blame the mix-up on the Lucky Charms leprechaun.

• The magic frowing pancakes: Secretly add quick-acting dry yeast to a box of pancake mix. When the pancakes start to cook, enjoy the kids’ surprise as the pancakes start to grow, and grow… and GROW!

• The frozen sensation: Pour milk over half a bowl of cereal the night before and freeze it. In the morning, add a thin layer of fresh cereal and milk on top. Watch the confusion when their spoon just… won't… go… in.