Octopuses, Cupcakes and Worms

I wanted to help the kids enjoy April Fools and hopefully try to get, at least, #1 Girl to understand a little bit of what April Fools is all about...but how do you do that with a 4, 3, and almost 2 year old? (I didn't have any hope for #4 Boy understanding or enjoying it).
Online I found a few fun ideas and started to get the kids excited about them.
I showed them a picture of a worm dessert (The kind with chocolate pudding, Oreos, and gummy worms). Even with the picture, the responses were hilarious.
Mom: Kids do you want to have worms for dessert tonight?
#1 Girl: No!
#2 Boy: Worms?!
Mom: Yea, like in the picture.
#1 Girl: That would be silly we don't eat worms!
#2 Boy: Yuck! I don't want to eat worms!
Mom: I think maybe we will have worms for dessert! I will see if Dad can pick some up on the way home from work.
#1 Girl: Where do you get worms?
#2 Boy: I don't want to eat worms, that would be gross!
Mom: The grocery store has them. We can put them in dirt, just like in that picture.
#1 Girl: They will be dirty, I don't want dirty worms.

Our Yummy Worm Dessert

The conversation about worms continued on throughout the day with just about the same format.

Just after finding the worm dessert, I also happened across a 'cupcake' (made of meatloaf and colorful mashed potatoes). I showed the kids the picture of the cupcakes and asked if they wanted to have cupcakes for dinner and worms for dessert.
The kids were delighted about the cupcakes (a completely different response than what they were giving me about the worms).
This is how that conversation went...

Mom: Do you want these for dinner?
#1 Girl and #2 Boy: YES!
#2 Boy: I love cupcakes (there was another picture near that had eyes on them), Are they going to have eyes?!
Mom: No I don't think they will have eyes, should we have these ones over here for dinner?
#1 Girl: Not for dinner, it will make me sick!

Our Cupcakes for Dinner

All day long all I heard about were... cupcakes and worms... when the kids called Dad they told him about cupcakes and worms.

While I was trying to figure out a prank that the kids could pull on Dad a knock came at the door. It was our package that we bought off of Craigslist containing bumgenius liners and it was addressed to Dad. I opened it up, pulled out the liners and had the kids replace the liners with rags from the drawer. I told the kids that when Dad came home that we would have him open it and when he does you say, "April Fools!" I was about the leave the package indoors but figured Dad would get suspicious if it was in the house and not opened. So, I left it out front for him to find on his way home. I thought this might be something simple enough for the kids to understand.

#1 Girl, Dad, #2 Boy and #3 Girl with the box.

When Dad walked in with the box in hand #1 Girl couldn't keep from smiling. She was just dying to have him open it. She asked and asked and Dad was trying to just get settled into routine. I figured I'd better go in the kitchen to make sure Dad didn't suggest that I open the box. Finally Dad agreed to open the box... he got this really concerned/worried look on his face and was about to exclaim that we had been ripped off when #1 Girl chimed in, "April Fools!" I told Dad about how the box had come earlier and the kids were so excited to play a trick on Dad. #1 Girl was so proud and kept asking when we could 'do a trick on Daddy again.'

Lunch was going to be hot dogs...but I figured I couldn't just leave them as plain ol' hot dogs, so I sliced them up and made each hot dog into an octopus. The octopuses were eaten with only a little hesitation. However, no one wanted a second octopus, they voted for a regular hot dog.
Dinner was enjoyed by just about everyone. We also had a lot of fun mixing the mashed potatoes together to make different colors.

#3 Girl loved the meatloaf but didn't eat too much of her mashed potatoes

#1 Girl loved her mashed potatoes but didn't want the meatloaf

#2 Boy just didn't eat much if either.

Dessert... well, The photos will help you see a little of how that went over.

#1 Girl's take on dessert....
#1 Girl was delighted to have dessert and was the first to pick up a worm, she started to shake the 'dirt' off the worm and I let out a little scream. Her hand let go and she dropped that worm on the table. She got a frightened look on her face and then the look that is shown in the picture (I wasn't fast enough with the camera to get the first look). I talked her back into eating it. I had to also let her know that it wasn't really dirt but rather Oreos and pudding. As you can see she had to think about it a little bit, but once she started she loved it!

#3 Girl didn't have any hesitation about eating the worms or dirt (what does that tell you about my daughter!)

#2 Boy wasn't about to come in to have dessert, exclaiming (almost in tears), "I don't want to eat worms!!!" He ended up coming in but not even sitting in his chair where his dessert was waiting for him.

After talking with #2 Boy for a while about how they are not real worms but that they were like gummy bears except they were worms and it is not real dirt but that it was cookies and pudding that we had made earlier...He still didn't want them!