We jumped into parenting head first. We went from zero kids to two overnight and I learned I needed some routines in order to be able to keep our home from constant chaos.
I think kids thrive from structure, even if they have imagination and free play within that structure. With two young kids, summer days got long, kids got bored, which led to more fighting and complaining. I spent more time playing referee and felt like I was also needing to entertain our kids.
I set up a simple checklist with both daily and weekly tasks for each kid. They loved it! They knew what their chores were and it gave them some options for their free play. They ended up playing games and using their imaginations for longer lengths of time and less time was wasted.
As our kids have gotten older, the lists have changed every year in order to best fit their age, development, and responsibilities.