Big Ideas for Little People (and big people too.)

This week I've been perusing Pinterest for ideas for organisation and communication. I've been thinking a lot about rhythms and routines in the home, weekly, daily, ways of building predictability and safety. These are words I've always shuddered at but I'm starting to long for them for these reasons:
- I spend half the day feeling like I should be doing something else
- I get asked about 20 times a day by Tully if he can watch TV
- I rarely finish something I'm working on. I start sorting the washing, put some tea towels away, notice the dishwasher has finished...

Have you found ways of being more organised, or to encourage you kids to play creatively, or just sure it's the right time to be doing something? I just love the idea of a chalk board! I would love to paint my back door black! But alas, I live in a rental, so I've been thinking of ways to use what I already have to create some kind of weekly calendar on our wall.
Then I thought of this:

Yesterday, Tully and I cut up some yummy Anna Maria Horner fabric and put it in photo frames. I was in charge of the scissors and he was in charge of the little tabs holding the back boards in place.

I finally used the beautiful middle print which was given to me by my lovely friend Lucy for my birthday. It's now out of print and very rare and I dallied for ages, looking at it before I cut into it. In the end, I reasoned that it was such a generous gift, that a good way to honour it would be to use it on my wall rather than keep it on my shelf.

I didn't have many plain, light fabrics. I always go for bold, bright prints, which are difficult to write over so the hardest part was choosing the colours. But you could use paper, either with designs already on it, or have your little one paint it with water colours first.

I feel excited about this because it can either be used as a weekly planner or a daily one. And I could use the large print for notes, messages, or a place for dates to remember for the month. This morning as I was arranging them (on the floor, we haven't bought hooks yet), I thought that each morning, Tully and I could stand at the frames and write what we wanted to do that day. You could even draw the day in pictures in each of the frames (play outside, read a book, help mum hang out the washing) so little kids could understand and be part of planning the day.

And for those who can't read Tully's handwriting, this says, "Go shopping and then come home and ride scooters."

Have you found something that's worked for you? What helps you build structure and encourage creativity and play. Any other ideas for distracting your toddler from the lure of the TV, or getting involved in the household chores? Please share them with us!