12 April Fools’ Pranks You Can Play On Your Kids

Life as a parent can be hard, which is why we sometimes like to exact our revenge when April Fools’ Day comes around.

We’re only human after all.

So we’ve put together a few of our favourite, harmless, kid-friendly pranks for you to pull on your kids this April Fools’ Day. Have fun!

1. Got Milk

Colouring your kids’ milk in the morning is an easy way to dive into April Fools’ Day. There are two ways to do this, either buy your milk in an opaque (not transparent) bottle and put a few drops of food colouring inside the entire thing, or put a few drops of food colouring on the bottom of your child’s cereal bowl, so it colours when the milk is poured in. Either way, you’ll get a tired kid looking absolutely perplexed at their breakfast, and trying to figure out exactly what’s going on with the milk.

2. Upside Downside

The night before April Fools’ Day, go around your house and turn as many things as possible upside down. We’re talking picture frames, paintings on the wall, clocks, chairs and pretty much anything else you can up-end without breaking it. When your kids walk out in the morning, they’ll be doing a double take over their topsy-turvy house!

3. Clock Change

This is actually a pretty sneaky April Fools’ prank, and definitely not recommended if you have teenagers! Get your kids to bed early and then change the clocks and alarms, moving them forward an hour or two so everyone is up really early!

4. Sweet Eggs

If having breakfast out isn’t for you, then serve an unusual April Fools’ Day breakfast in by plating up a big sunny-side-up egg, that’s actually a pile of yoghurt and half a canned peach. Don’t tell your kids that though, just let them know it’s eggs for breakfast and there better be no complaints! Then watch their faces as they try and figure out if you’ve lost your marbles!

5. Plastic Bugs

Invest in a few plastic bugs (we like the roaches) before April Fools’ Day and then tuck them into your kids lunch boxes, into their morning breakfast, or pretty much anywhere else you can sneak them. Your kids will likely jump and scream at first, but laughter will soon follow and they’ll probably want to try and prank you with the same bugs. Luckily, you’ll know that it’s coming!

6. Growth Spurt

Give your little kids the idea that they’ve somehow grown overnight by commenting when they wake up that their feet look really big. Then bring the prank full circle by stuffing the ends of their shoes with newspaper so they don’t fit. They won’t be able to figure out what’s happened, and if you lay on the play-acting, who knows how long you’ll keep them believing!

7. Freeze Buster

If your kids aren’t morning people, you can really mess with them by preparing their cereal the night before, and then freezing it solid. The next morning, just serve it up frozen, and watch them try to dig in. The looks on their faces will make this prank entirely worth it, and you can always bin that cereal (or feed it to the dog) and prepare a new batch. Easy and harmless!

8. Surprise Leaks

Get a plastic water bottle and, using a few thin needles, poke some super small holes in the sides. Fill it up and leave it on the counter, then ask one of your kids to grab it for you. When they grip it, the pressure will make water squirt out from the holes, and your kid will be totally surprised. Expect a bit of incredulous wondering!

9. Snacktime Switcheroo

Open your child’s favourite snacks from the bottom, take all the snacks out, and replace with either another snack or something healthy. Then just seal the bottom up with glue or tape, and watch them open it in shock. Feign ignorance and see if they can figure out how it’s done, and whether they’ll believe it’s a factory mixup!

10. You Jelly

Serve your kid up a nice glass of juice with a straw in it, only for them to realise that they can’t get the juice down because it’s jelly! Yep, all you need to do is make up some jelly with juice as the liquid and compatibly flavoured jelly crystals, leave it to set overnight with a straw in it, and then serve it up as is. Little kids will love this one, but it will put a smile on the face of big kids too, particularly when they get to eat the jelly!

11. Googly Eyes

Probably one of our favourite April Fools’ Day pranks, particularly for kids who are just constantly opening the fridge, is to buy a pack of googly eyes and stick a pair of them to every single thing in the fridge. When your kids opens the fridge to have a look, everything in there will be looking straight back at them. This is a prank that everyone gets a kick out of, guaranteed.

12. Stop The Bottle

A simple and classic April Fools’ Day prank is the Stopped Bottle prank. All you need to do is put some cling wrap over the top of the shampoo or conditioner bottle, put the lid on, and cut the excess so you can’t see it. Then just wait while your kids are trying to shower and can’t get anything out of the bottles. Classic!

Do you pull April Fools’ Day pranks on your kids?