43 Fun April Fools’ Day Teacher Ideas & Pranks
If you’re looking for some April Fools’ Day teacher ideas, then this post is for you. I’ll show you some silly and harmless April Fool’s Day pranks for school to have fun with your class this year including easy no prep ideas and printables too!
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April Fools’ day is April 1st and it’s is the perfect time to get silly with your class and have fun with some practical jokes. Check out some of the best pranks that your students will be talking about all year!
April Fools’ Day Pranks for School Tips
Here are some tips to make the most out of this fun day.
- Plan harmless pranks that will give your students a good laugh together and build your class community.
- Get fellow teachers and maybe even administrator involved in the fun.
- Do pranks on the entire class instead of just one person so they don’t feel on the spot or embarrassed.
- Use this special day as a great opportunity to make learning fun!
Fun April Fools’ Day Teacher Ideas
Let’s check out some hilarious pranks that your students will have a lot of fun with. These first ideas are great for students of all ages.
1 | Attract the Lirpa Sloof
Here’s a fun way to prank students that they’ll have so much fun with! Tell your students that there is a rare bird called a Lirpa Sloof, (April Fools) spelled backwards. You can create a fake article or google slide about this mysterious bird.
Tell students that the bird loves to eat carrots. Take the class outside and have them all hold up carrots and yell Lirpa Sloof for the bird to come and eat. Kids think this is hilarious once they figure it out!
2 | Brown Es
Here’s a good way to play a fun prank on the entire class. Bake a tray of brownies for your class. Then cover and hide the brownies.
Have another tray filled with the letter E cut out of brown construction paper. Tell students that you made them a special treat today, brownies.
Tell students to wash their hands and pass around napkins. Then dramatically pass out each brown E that you made. Then when they get the joke, you can say April Fools’ and pass out the actual brownies!
3 | Fake Bonus Question
On your real assignment or quiz put a fake bonus question that is a scratch and sniff option. See how many students lift the paper to their nose to sniff the question.
4 | Impossible Word Search Class Prank
Hand out a word search for your students to complete but none of the words are actually in there. Watch until they realize that they can’t find a single word.
5 | Impossible Maze Class Prank
Similar to the impossible work search I the impossible maze that can’t be solved. Here is a printable that you can get from Etsy with both impossible puzzles!
6 | Mayo Prank
This joke needs a little bit of prep but it’s a funny prank that will gross out your students. Wash out an empty jar of mayonnaise and fill it with vanilla pudding.
Then whip out the jar and starting eating the pudding with a spoon straight from the jar. Watch as your students freak out at how gross that is!
7 | Silly Spelling Test
Give your students a spelling test full of nonsense words but pretend they are real words. When they ask what each word means make up a silly definition.
8 | Googly Eyes on Milk
Here’s a silly prank for the entire school. Add googly eyes to the milk cartons and watch your students react.
9 | Donuts but Really Veggies
Have a box from your favorite donut shop like Krispy Kreme or Dunkin Donuts in the front of the glass. The box will be shut and place a small veggie tray inside.
When students ask if they can have one say sure help yourself. They will open and be so disappointed and shocked. Once they realize it’s a prank you can whip out another treat for them!
10 | Multiplication Prank
Create a worksheet for your students titled multiplication sheet. Create this sheet to look like a multiplication test.
At the top in the directions it will tell the students to do addition instead and not tell the other students. This is a great way to teach students to always read the directions!
11 | Do Nothing Worksheet
Here’s another prank that involves your students reading the directions carefully. Create a worksheet with silly things for the students to do like balancing their ruler on their head or writing words backwards.
At the top of the paper put the directions for the paper that say this is a test to see how well you follow directions do not do any of these items on this paper but instead sit quietly in your spot and do not tell other students.
12 | Teacher Secrets Revealed
Create some fake google slides and “accidentally” show your kids a list of files they are not supposed to see like teachers who may be secret government spies, or a silly teacher picture.
13 | Chair Switch
Borrow or trade some little chairs from the preschool classroom. Then switch student chairs with little chairs and don’t tell them just to watch them get confused.
14 | Yummy Bug
For this prank you’ll need a container of chocolate covered raisins. Secretly place one of your treats in your hand and during quiet class time yell “oh a bug!” Pretend to smash the bug and then eat it. Your kids will go crazy over this one.
15 | Bubble Wrap Prank
Place bubble wrap under your classroom rug but don’t tell your students and watch them try to figure out what’s going on.
16 | Where Did the Chairs Go
In the morning before students come in completely remove all the chairs in the classroom but don’t tell the students and watch their confusion.
17 | Fake Spill
The classic fake spill prank. For this prank you’ll need one of these fake coffee spill props. Place the fake spill on their completed assignments and dramatically shout oh no they are all ruined everyone is going to have to re-do these!
18 | Animal Sounds
Play random animal sounds (like a lion roaring or a dog barking) through your phone or computer when the class gets quiet. Act confused when students look around trying to figure out where it’s coming from.
19 | Cracked Screen
You can pretend that you’ve accidentally cracked the classroom monitor or tv screen. There are several apps or YouTube that you can use to show a cracked screen.
Go on and on about how expensive it will be to fix and how you don’t know what you will do. Ask students if they don’t mind donating to buy a new one.
20 | Glue on Pencils
Just barely dip the tip of your student’s pencils in glue. This will make it so they don’t work but will not make it obvious. Watch students’ faces as they try to figure out why their pencils aren’t working.
21 | Switched Supplies
Swap the contents of your students’ desk supplies, like putting erasers in pencil cases and pens in folders. You can even rearrange things subtly to confuse them when they open their supplies.
22 | Fake Announcement
Get the principal involved with this prank. Have the principal announcement over the PA system, the new rules of the school.
Then have them announce some silly rules like, “For the new dress code students can no longer wear socks.” Watch their confusion as they listen to the new rules.
23 | Invisible Ink
Here’s a fun idea for younger elementary students. Hand out pens with invisible ink. Pretend to be confused when students can’t read the work they’ve written. Let them discover the prank after a few minutes.
Then let them know that the back of the pen is a black light that will reveal what they wrote! Here’s where you can find a set of invisible pens to pull off this prank.
Easy April Fools’ Day Teacher Ideas
If you don’t want to do a lot of prep but want to have a little fun with your class on this silly day, then check out the next few ideas that I’ve gathered for you. These are all no prep April Fools’ Day activities!
24 | Voice Activated Laptops
Tell your students that the districts technology provider has announced an update to all school laptops, and they are now voice activated. Tell them that they have to say, “activate voice now”. When it does not work tell them they have to say it louder or slower.
25 | The “Silent” Class
Start the class by stating that today’s lesson is to be conducted in complete silence. Give everyone a task to do but let them communicate only with hand signals or gestures. Watch as they wonder if you’re serious!
26 | Confusing Math
Tell students that today they’ll be learning a brand new math concept. Make up a math concept that has ridiculous rules and follow the rules to get wrong answers on math problems. Keep going until your class calls you out.
27 | Cafeteria Ran out of Food
Announce to your class that the cafeteria ran out of food so there will be no lunch today. See their reaction and then tell them it’s an April Fools’ Day prank.
28 | Silly Instructions
Give your students silly and confusing instructions for your lesson. For example, ask them to take out their books and turn to page 10, but tell them they must put them away.
Ask them to put away their pencils and that they should have nothing on their desk and then ask them to start writing. They’ll be confused but amused once they realize what’s going on.
29 | Sticky Note Overload
First have a goal of how many sticky notes you want to place and write the number on the board without telling the students. During your lesson leave as many sticky notes as you can on students and their stuff.
Once the first student notices what you’re doing you can reveal that it was an April Fool’s Day prank and see how close you came to your goal before they noticed.
Middle School and High School April Fools’ Day Prank Ideas
If you’re looking for some April Fools’ Day teacher ideas that will work for older students, then read on for some ideas that middle school or high school students will have fun with.
30 | School is Cancelled
Write on the board that school is cancelled on April 31st. When students ask why make up a crazy response like, oh you didn’t hear, they are shutting down all the Wi-Fi in the area for cleaning.
31 | Broken Mouse
Cover the bottom of all of the student’s mouse where the sensor is with a note that says Happy April Fools’ Day. Watch students try to figure out why their mouse isn’t working.
32 | Teach a Fake Lesson
Use Chat GPT to create a fake article for your class that is completely false and a little bit ridiculous. Hand it out to students and have them answer question about the article.
33 | Assign Fake Homework
Give students a fake homework assignment that looks absurdly complicated or crazy, like “Research how to make a pizza in a washing machine” or “write a 10-page essay about how birds are not real.” Once they start to freak out, reveal it’s a prank.
34 | Fake Pop Quiz
Announce a surprise pop quiz and hand out papers with either ridiculous questions or things that you have not taught them yet. Watch students’ reactions before revealing it’s all a joke.
April Fools’ Day Pranks for Younger Students
If you’re looking for some April Fools’ Day teacher ideas for kindergarten through 2nd grade, then this next section is for you. Let’s check out some silly April Fools pranks that young student will have a lot of fun with.
35 | Donut Seeds
This is an adorable prank idea that’s perfect for kindergarten, 1st grade or 2nd grade students.
Materials:
- Sandwich bag with Cheerios and Donut Seeds Label
- Small cups or bowls
- “Dirt” for planting seeds can be brown sugar, or cookie crumbles.
- Water or milk for watering seeds (optional)
First you’ll explain the life cycle of plants to students explaining how plants need seeds in order to grow. You can read students a book about plants.
Next ask if they knew that donuts grow from seeds and take out your bag of cheerios. Some kiddos may say those are just Cheerios and you can say well yes didn’t you know that Cheerios are donut seeds?
Distribute material to students to plant their seeds. Have students plant the seed in the “dirt” in their cups. If you want you can have them water them as well.
Then when students leave class for recess or PE add a glazed donut on top of each cup. This will be a fun surprise that your students won’t forget.
36 | Teacher Swap
When your students come into class in the morning have another teacher teaching your class. If you want to go the extra mile you can each dress like the other.
She will act like everything is normal and you will do the same in her class. Reveal the joke to the class after a few minutes.
37 | Classroom Disarray
Rearrange your classroom and have all desks face the other way.
38 | Reverse the Classroom Roles
Here’s a fun prank for younger students. Start the class by pretending to be a student. Act as if you’re a student who forgot their homework or ask the class to help you with assignments.
Let another teacher in on it and have the other teacher step in as the “new” teacher for a short while.
39 | Jell-O Juice
Serve students “juice” in a cup, but it’s actually Jell-O that looks like a liquid. When they try to drink it, they’ll realize it’s solid and have a good laugh about it. Then you can pass out spoons.
40 | The “Broken” Whiteboard Marker
Pretend the whiteboard marker isn’t working, even though it clearly is. Make a big deal about how it’s “broken” and try “fixing” it with various ridiculous methods (like shaking it or tapping it on the desk) before revealing the joke.
April Fools’ Activities for the Classroom
Do you want some April Fools’ Day teacher ideas that make learning fun? Here are some learning activities for your classroom with a fun April Fools’ Day theme to them.
41 | April Fools’ Writing Craft
This fun activity would make a perfect April bulletin board display. Have students write their own jokes.
Then they’ll decorate their paper with a funny glasses and nose disguise. Turn your classroom into a comedy club by having those that want to read their jokes to the entire class.
42 | The History of April Fools
Have students research and write about the history of April Fools Day.
43 | April Fools’ Day Writing Prompts
- What funny April Fools’ Day Pranks have you seen?
- What is an idea for a fun prank that you would like to play?
Hope you found some fun April Fools’ Day teacher ideas to have fun in your class this year. Feel free to save your favorite ideas to your Pinterest boards. To do that just click on the picture and then the P and choose your board.
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