diy chore chart

everyone seems to have their own take on chore charts. i was looking for something that somehow motivated my children to work and still looked nice in my home. this is what I came up with. it's pretty easy and inexpensive to make and, so far (it's only been used for two weeks) the kids are pretty happy with it.


head to a home improvement store and pick up a two foot square piece of plywood. try to find one in relatively good condition without a bunch of wood splits.


in the paint department, search for a primer that creates a magnetic surface. paint the board with several coats of this primer. the more coats, the more magnetic the board seemed to be.

once the primer has dried well, apply a coat of colored spray paint. or takes a few coats for the best coverage.

purchase some wood moulding at the home improvement store. paint the moulding in a contrasting color. once paint is dry, cut the moulding to form a frame around the board.

attach the moulding using a nail gun or very small finishing nails. touch up paint.

find a fun coordinating paper. cut it into half inch strips and attach to the wood using a decoupage medium. allow to dry.


purchase empty buttons you can fill yourself. remove the pins and attach magnets using a glue gun.

fill the buttons with coordinating paper and your chore assignments.


if you are hanging your chart, attach ribbons with a glue and nail gun.


i hung mine using a wreath holder to make the buttons within reach of the kiddos...

happy choring!

diy -- wall magnetic tray for toddlers

while i love the look of stainless steel, i was disappointed when we had children that we would miss out on all the cool, educational magnetic toys that are available. then along came pinterest (if you haven't discovered it yet, you must. it is so amazingly addicting. but i digress...perhaps we devote a whole post to pinterest?) 

i found a link to a blog where this *brilliant* woman had the idea to use an oil pan (yes. from an automotive store) mounted on the wall as a magnetic surface. 

i promptly went out and purchased two fabulous fridge leap frog items and it has provided my kiddos with countless hours of entertainment. 

if you are looking for an inexpensive way to entertain the kiddos during the holiday break or another inexpensive christmas gift, this is it!

note: you will need to clean the oil pan quite a bit before mounting it to the wall (it has quite a greasy film on it), but I just used some clorox spray and it came off rather quickly. also, we used wood screws to mount the pan directly into the fabulous painted wood paneling in the play room, but the blogger that originally came up with idea used velcro.