Program: Pranks Galore!

My coworker and I struck upon the brilliant idea of holding a program, right before April Fool's Day, where kids could make relatively harmless pranks they could use on friends and family. I thought we'd have a bigger crowd than we ended up with, but the kids who came definitely had fun. Here's what we did!

Fake poop: because, how can you not? We actually had made this for a Grossology program last year and everyone was freaked out by how real it looked, so I seized the opportunity to make it again. It's a really simple recipe with oatmeal, cocoa, fake sugar, and water, but it comes out looking entirely too realistic for most people's tastes. In fact, I heard some parents grumbling about their kid's concoctions as they left.

Fart machines: because, once again, how can you not? I spotted this little craft on Pinterest some time ago and knew I had to find an excuse to make it in a program. Unfortunately, it doesn't actually work 100% of the time - it's a little finicky and definitely takes some practice for full effect. The kids were a little disappointed initially, but after I demonstrated proof that they, too, could make fart noises with a simple wire, rubber band, and washer contraption, they were pretty thrilled. In fact, I think we could have just let them practice with their machines for the majority of the program and they would have been pretty happy.

Spilled milk: we included this prank mainly because it was so easy to do - spread glue on wax paper and let it dry. The kids were not terribly excited about this one, perhaps because it was too easy. Maybe if we had tinted it red and billed it as a blood spill?

Cup of dirt: and to end things on a happy note, we gave the kids cups of dirt to snack on. We showed them how to make Jell-O worms (which my colleague had some trouble with, so attempt at your own risk) and then gave them some pre-made ones to add to their dirt cups. They didn't really care how messy the worms were; they love any opportunity to snack.

And that was our program! What other kid-friendly pranks should we have included?