April Fools' Jokes to Play on Your Kids, Spouse and Coworkers!!!

APRIL FOOLS' DAY is just around the corner! What a delightful day of the year -- one of my favorites!!! Many of these harmless pranks are quick to throw together and result in silly fun and laughter had by all! Enjoy!

For Little Kids:
1. Fill your little ones' shoes with buttons, beads or poof balls. 

2. Stick googlie eyes and mustaches on pictures and objects around your house...cups, the front door, bathroom mirror, backpacks, shoes.

3. Serve your kids food on teeny, tiny, doll dishes.

4. Switch your kid's socks with your spouse's the night before April Fools' Day. 

5. If the head of your sink faucets are removable, unscrew the head and place an Easter Egg dying tablet inside. Screw the head back on. When the kids turn on the sink, orange, blue or green water will come rushing out! 

For Teenagers or Your Spouse:
6. Take an empty water bottle and using a pin, poke 10 holes in the bottom. Fill the bottle with water and quickly screw the lid back on. Dry off the bottle. Ask somebody to help you open the bottle and watch as water falls out the bottom!

7. Using safety pins, pin all their underwear together in one long line. Carefully replace the underwear back in their drawer, so when they go to remove the top pair the next comes out too, and the next, and the next, and the next...

8. Short-sheet their beds -- Remove all the sheets from the bed. Using one sheet, lay it out over the bed and tuck it in at the top. Fold the bottom of the sheet up to the top and tuck the sides in. Cover with their quilt or comforter. The bed looks normal from the outside, but when they get into bed their feet will only go in halfway! 

9. If their bed is messy, unmade or lumpy, put a bristly hair brush into their bed. When your kids feet touch the brush, it'll feel like a prickly animal or giant bug!

10. If your spouse is heading to the grocery store, add some "extras" to list: 2 lbs of banana peels, a dozen robin's eggs, 1 loaf of bread crumbs.

For Coworkers:
11. Write "April Fool!" on a sticky note. Stick it to the bottom of your coworker's computer mouse. Not only will the mouse not work, when they flip it over, perplexed, your message will be delivered. 

12. If you're wearing a blazer to work, take a spool of thread and thread a needle onto the end of the string. Poke the needle through near the shoulder of your jacket, from inside out. Remove the needle, leaving a couple inches of string showing on your jacket. Place the spool of thread in the inner-pocket. Just wait for your coworker to notice and remove the string for you...then wait for the horrified look on their face as the string pulls longer and longer and longer!

Rainbow-Shaving Cream Sensory Play

This is such a fun activity for kids and even more fun if you surprise them with it! I prepared our RAINBOW-SHAVING CREAM SENSORY PLAY activity beforehand and when I called L to the kitchen to play, draw and discover she was delighted! She kept saying, "Hey, how'd the rainbow get in here!?!" Like many of our crafts and activities, this one is done with things we already had around the house...so no need to go to the store to buy supplies! For what it's worth, a can of cheap shaving cream equals hours of fun for kids...we always have one on hand! 

Materials needed:

-large, oven-safe pan

-aluminum foil

-broken crayons

-sharp knife & cutting board

-oven

-shaving cream

First, line your pan with aluminum foil. Spread it out as smooth and flat as possible.

Cut your crayons into shavings...we did the colors of the rainbow, but you can do any combination of colors. 

Sprinkle the crayon shavings out on the foil-lined pan.

Bake in the oven at 200 degrees F for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven, careful not to tip or shake the pan, and let the pan and crayons cool completely. 

Next, squirt shaving cream onto the pan and spread it out evenly...about 1/2 inch thick.

Here comes the fun part...time for your little ones to play!!! 

They can practice drawing shapes, writing letters and numbers in the shaving cream. 

We had fun taking turns, playing "pictionary" too! Enjoy!!!

Knuckle-Print Carrots

How cute are these KNUCKLE-PRINT CARROTS we made for Easter? They're not only fun to make with your little ones, but they make sweet gifts for parents and grandparents too!

Materials needed:

-paper

-orange and green paint

-little knuckles

Just a little note: Whenever doing projects like this, I like to have a sheet of paper to practice on first. Our practice paper is the big white one here, giving us lots of room to experiment with before making little Easter cards for the grandparents. 

First, paint your kid's knuckles orange. Have them stamp the paper with their knuckles. We found that it worked best if L was standing or on her knees doing this part, making sure she was well above the paper. 

Next, I marked each carrot lightly with a pencil, so we knew which side would be best to put the "leaves" on. 

Using your child's thumb or index finger, have them make little leaves atop each carrot. I had to help L with this part...as you can see in the picture below, when left to do it alone, she was happy putting green dots all over her carrots! Ha! 

So sweet! Happy Spring!

Egg Carton Flower Wreath

Can you believe this beautiful Spring wreath was made primarily out of egg cartons!?! I just love the outcome! I've wanted to make an EGG CARTON FLOWER WREATH for years! Last year we tried it, using tempera paints, but the colors weren't nearly as vibrant. I highly suggest using acrylics for this project. Our EGG CARTON FLOWER WREATH hangs inside Our Beautifully Messy House, as we await the first blooms of spring flowers outside in our garden!

Materials needed:

-3 egg cartons

-med-large cardboard piece

-sharp scissors (fabric scissors)

-acrylic paints

-hot glue gun and glue

First, cut the egg cartons into flower shapes. Get creative! The pointy, divider sections can be used to make narrow flowers or daffodil trumpets and the lids of the egg cartons can be cut into leaves.

After all your flowers are cut, time to paint with your little ones! L and I painted side-by-side...when she was finished with a flower or bored with a color, I'd let her start on another one while I filled in any spots she may missed. After all the flowers were painted a solid color, I went back and painted on some details! Although the flowers look great in solid colors, the details really bring them to life...worth the extra 30 minutes of painting!

To make your wreath base, use some large mixing bowls to trace circles onto your cardboard and cut it out. I used two separate pieces of cardboard and just taped them together. Once your wreath base is cut out, give it a quick coat of green paint. 

Next, using a hot glue gun, glue the leaves onto your wreath base randomly. 

After the leaves are in place, glue the flowers on. Try to space the colors out, but don't think too much about order. In nature, nothing is perfect and the imperfections themselves are beautiful!

Hang your wreath on a door, a wall or in your kitchen window! Enjoy!!!

20+ Non-Candy Easter Egg Surprises

Last year we put a few chocolates into L's Easter eggs, but for the most part the Easter bunny left her with NON-CANDY EASTER EGG SURPRISES and she LOVED it! Inside the eggs were buttons, a spool of thread (to string the buttons into a necklace), a lil plastic turtle, and strips of paper with fun activities for the whole family to do.

Some of the "ACTIVITIES" included:
-Hop like a bunny.
-Jump like a frog.
-Who can laugh the silliest?
-Give daddy a hug.
-Give a bunny kiss to mommy.
-Walk backwards.
-Clap and count to 10.
-Peep like a chick.
-Play ring-around-the-rosie.
-Roll like an egg.

Yes, it was silly and ridiculous, but we had so much fun!!!

Other NON-CANDY EASTER EGG IDEAS:
-Army men
-Marbles
-Puzzle pieces
-Stickers
-Crayons
-A Prism
-Coins
-Beads
-Play-dough (Recipe here.)
-Fairy folk (DIY here.)
-Shoelaces
-Plastic figurines
-Wooden Stamps
-Jacks
-Story Stones (DIY here.)
-Buttons (and thread to make a necklace)
-Mardi-Gras Beads
-Miniature Tea Set
-Rocks (like Jade, Obsidian, Pyrite, Quartz, etc.)
-Dice
-Erasers

You also might like these CRAZY COLORED EASTER EGGS...

And this DIY SOCK BUNNY RABBIT! Enjoy!!!