Crafty Tuesday: An April Fool's Day Craft for Kids

Holidays are great times to engage in revelry with your children. April Fool's Day is especially designed for frivolity but also provides a good opportunity to teach children how to play fun tricks that don't fall into the realm of 'mean.'

This week's craft comes to us from the Ambrosia Creative blog. It's a sweet and harmless trick for children to play on an unsuspecting parent, grandparent, relative or friend -- a jack in the box with your child's picture popping out.

Materials Needed

• Small box with lid
• Colorful paper
• Colorful tissue paper
• Clear tape
• Washi tape
• Hole punch
• Picture of your child (his or her face should be about 1")
• Craft knife

Instructions

Choose two colors to use for the paper spring -- let's say blue and green. Cut two strips from each color paper lengthwise. You will have four strips total -- two yellow and two blue.

Make sure strips are at least 1/4 inch narrower than the inside of the box — you want to make sure the spring will freely pop out of the box.

Tape together the ends of two strips of the same color paper. You will then have two long strips of paper, one yellow and one blue.

Lay the two strips perpendicular to each other forming a large "L" and tape the edges together. Starting with the blue strip on the bottom, fold it up and over the top yellow strip at a right angle.

The fold needs to be flush against the top strip. Then fold the yellow strip (now on the bottom) up and over the blue strip.

Repeat the folds over the entire length of the strip to form an accordion. At the end, tape together the loose edges so the spring will not unravel.

Use a hole puncher to create confetti from the colored paper and tissue paper. Jenn at Ambrosia Creative recommends using a 1" diameter hole punch because it makes larger confetti and that means cleanup is easier.

Using the craft knife, cut out three of the four sides of the box lid. Ambrosia Creative notes that this step isn't necessary but the crafter felt a clamshell-type lid helped the spring pop out of the box easier.

Secure the lid back onto the box. Jenn used a piece of washi tape on the lid edge to dress it up.

Stretch out the spring a bit by gently pulling the ends in opposite directions. Then, compress into box and close lid.

Test the spring to make sure it clears the box.

Jenn noted the following tip:

When I did a test, there was some remnant paper around the lid I had to cut away. I also noticed the spring popped out differently depending on its orientation. When you’re happy with the configuration, tape a picture of your child’s face to the top of the spring.

To set up the box to give to someone for an April Fool's Day surprise, compress the spring back into the box, place confetti on the very top, then close the lid and secure with washi tape.

The little trick makes for a sweet surprise and teaches children how to play an April Fool's trick without resorting to pranks.

Happy Crafty Tuesday!