April Fools

The teddy bears have been looking forward to April Fools' Day this year so that they can prank each other with mischievous jokes. But why is April Fools' Day a specific day to do that? It has been celebrated for centuries in many parts of the world. And many historians (that's people who study history) believe that it all started with just a calendar change!

In 1582 (a long, long time ago), France switched from the Julian calendar (which celebrated the new year in Spring) to the Gregorian calendar (which marked the beginning of a new year on the 1st of January instead). Some people didn't learn about this quickly enough and continued to celebrate the new year during the last week of March instead and were laughed at and pranked for it.

The tradition then spread throughout parts of Europe and Great Britain and finally over to the United States, growing in popularity over the years.

So - what sort of things did the teddy bears get up to? Well, firstly, Edward thought it would be a good prank on the other bears if, when they opened the fridge door first thing on the first of April, everything in there stared back at them with googly eyes!!

How funny would that be?

Edward knew that there were lots of googly eyes in the bears' craft box so he took as many as he could find and spent half an hour, before all the other bears got up, sticking pairs of eyes onto things like the cartons of milk and orange juice, bottles of water, lemons, eggs, etc.

The other bears had no idea what he had done and he watched their reactions when they reached into the fridge to pull out things for their breakfasts. Lots of surprised exclamations, shrieks and laughter ensued. It was worth getting up that bit earlier to do it.

Lizzie thought it might be fun to trick Richard. When he had gone to bed the night before April Fools' Day, she very quietly taped sheets of newspaper across the outside of his bedroom door so that when he opened it the next morning, he would think he was stuck inside!

She had to use quite a lot of tape and newspaper, but the surprise and laughter the next morning made up for it as Richard struggled to break his way out of his bedroom! Very funny!

Boo decided to try a prank on the other bears by hiding some bubble wrap underneath a mat in front of the door.

Every time someone stepped on it, there was a great noise when the bubbles burst! Very funny for those wondering where the noise came from.

For those who didn't want to spend time preparing pranks though, the other bears put together a long list of April Fools' Day jokes and tried them out on one another.

Why was the donkey annoying his friend? It was April Mules Day!

What monster plays the most April Fools jokes? Prankenstein!

What do you call the person who pulls the best pranks on April Fools' Day? April Cool!

Did you hear about the person who swapped the labels at the petrol station? They did it as an April Fuel's joke!

What did April Fools' Day say after it won an award? Prank you!

Why do eggs like April Fools' Day? They love practical yolks!

After a great deal of fun and laughter all day, the teddy bears declared their pranks and tricks the best they had done for ages!

Perhaps you could try a few tricks out on your family and friends too. Remember that the whole idea of course is that any jokes or pranks need to be safe but surprising, and fun-loving but not offensive. Have fun!!