This month’s Puzzle Corner activity was inspired by the way April Fool’s Day is practiced in France. Just as in this country, French enfants try to play tricks on each other on this unique day. A popular playground gag is to cut out a picture of a fish and stick it to the back of an unsuspecting classmate. When the friend realizes that he or she has been tricked, other children cry, “poisson d’avril!” When translated literally, this phrase means “fish of April,” or April fish. In the context of April first however, it means the same thing as “April fools” does here.

One explanation for this French tradition is that the plentiful young fish that were spawned in the early spring were easy to catch. Thus, anyone who is tricked on April first is like an easily-caught April fish. In fact, some French people feel that all April fools jokes should somehow involve fish.

The April Fish activity is not so much a puzzle as it is an intriguing visual trick or optical illusion. Copy this page and hand it out to your students as an April Fool’s Day (or should I say April Fishes’ Day?) trick. Then, challenge them to try and make sense of this powerful illusion.

Worksheet

I hope that you and your students enjoy this intriguing drawing.