Legos -- storage, keeping pieces together (or not)???

[mlktwins]

To all the Lego experts/collectors :-)! My boys have a few sets of Legos. The starter kits (2 of them) and several sets from the City series. One of my sons is getting a Ninjago set for Christmas. To date, I have been able to keep the sets together (pieces and directions).

 

Recenty, my next door neighbor brought over ALL her sons Legos and gave them to the boys. They are in two plastic storage bins (3 or 4 drawers full in each bin). A LOT of Legos and instructions. The boys are thrilled.

 

I do need to go through and clean a few of them up and the drawers are dirty so need to clean those. Sets don't appear to have been kept together for the most part.

 

My question to you is how should I store all this stuff (including the new stuff the boys get - like Ninjago)? After something is built and taken apart, do you just put all the stuff mis-matched in the storage containers? I'm planning to keep the instruction manuals in a binder or box of some type in the playroom. Do you keep all the little tiny parts in its own container? Do you store by color? I dont' know...I'm overwhelmed. I'm usually anal about keeping things together, but know I need to let this one go :-).

 

Suggestions please :-)?!?!?!?!?

[jar7709]

We have a million and I don't bother trying to keep sets separate. There's no way. We have all the instruction manuals saved in a magazine file, but the pieces themselves are a free-for-all. We keep the giant pile on a old, big bedsheet--easy to pick up everthing if you pick up the sheet by the corners, then put the whole kit'n'caboodle into a box. I would go crazy if I put it on myself to keep them straight. My kids have a few sets that are/were special to them that they go out of their way to keep together and keep somewhere special in their rooms, but in general I believe that the best part of lego is mixing and matching and using imagination. My son is now getting to the stage where sometimes he wants to sort by color for certain projects he dreams up, but all I do is facilitate by giving him boxes--organization other than the big pile is on him, not me. YMMV of course. :)

[*Jen*]

At their age I would leave it up to them. I tried to get my DS to sort out his legos but he would rather have them in a big bin of random legos. The only thing we keep sorted out is the Technic pieces. There are a few sets that he wanted to take apart but knew that the would want to rebuild another time so those sets are in individual plastic shoe boxes.

[somo_chickenlady]

My son always preferred to keep them all together, so he could be creative and use everything. I bought two of those long narrow plastic rolling under the bed type containers from Walmart (like this don't recall them being so expensive, though), and all of the legos were kept together in them. He could pull them out when he wanted them, but otherwise they were out of the way.

[happypamama]

DD keeps the Legos that are specifically hers (they're the pink set) separate when she's not using them, and I see specific minifigs separated out, but otherwise, if they're not building the specific set that a piece is for, it's stored in with the rest of the Legos in the big storage bins. If they really get on a tear where they want to build several of the specific sets, I might help them sort all the Legos by color so it's easier to find the specific set pieces. But generally, after the original set is built and then taken apart, all pieces are fair game to be reused in a different way.

[boscopup]

Ours are in two big bins. We keep sets separate for a week or so after arrival, then they go with all the rest.

[Amy in NH]

1 HUGE bin for miscellaneous Lego pieces

1 medium bin for Lego instruction manuals

1 small bin for people parts

1 small bin for wheels/windows & doors/etc.

2 compartment bins for sorted Technic pieces

[macmacmoo]

DH sorts 80% of the Legos by color in this. I bought it ages ago for scrapbooking, but donated it to his cause so i could by new craft storage. The company that made that one, does actually make a Lego one. One bin is for mini figs and house (roofs, trees, windows, door, etc) and one more for technic and something else that is pretty distinctive.

The other 20% are kits. We buy the huge 2.5 gallon ziploc bags. Put all the pieces and instructions in it. Build and take apart as you wish, but keep it all together. Should something get unkitted then its into the color sorting scheme.

We have a shelf for please don't touch me, things that are semi built and full builds.

We have a shoe box for stay pieces that have wonder away and have gotten sorted back into the color collection.

[Χά�ων]

1 HUGE bin for miscellaneous Lego pieces

1 medium bin for Lego instruction manuals

1 small bin for people parts

1 small bin for wheels/windows & doors/etc.

2 compartment bins for sorted Technic pieces

 

This more or less. For sets that DS wants to keep the peices together we put all the pieces and books in a ziplock bag or two and store in another container.

[jackson'smama]

we sort in those plastic "dresser" things. two with three huge drawers. one with three huge drawers and two smaller ones. and a "tower" kind with 2 shallow drawers and four deep ones.

we sort by color (but we mix certain things like orange, yellow, tan and brown)

we keep a separate drawer for minifigs and their accessories and special parts like light bricks or bricks with a sticker on them.

we keep a separate drawer for big pieces like trestles, ship bottoms, ship sales, boards, etc...

and one big drawer is reserved for "needs to be sorted"

oh and there are shallow trays atop each dresser for "i'm working with this stuff, it can't be broken down at this time" items

 

we are a lego family. we have tens of thousands of lego pieces and my oldest only just turned 8. it's chaotic at times but there's no way they'd keep them by set. my oldest builds the set and within about 2 days, he's using it for scrap parts for something he made up. 99.99999% of our lego building is creative play with all the stuff.

 

we used to sort in three huge underbed rolling bins. it got too frustrating because they couldn't find THE PART they wanted very easily. this has solved most of that problem. we do have a hard time enforcing "go sort your legos", but we help with that sometimes. i'll admit i'd much rather play with them if i can find parts.

 

good luck and enjoy all the new legos!

[Guest Noel S]

Two boys and 12 years later, they're all in a big clear plastic Rubbermaid. If they want them sorted, they can do it. The boys do like to have one shelf where they can put and play with their latest projects. Sometimes I think lumping them altogether adds to their creativity and sense of discovery (but I could just be looking at the bright side). Good luck!

[Dmmetler]

We have a lot of legos (and I mean a LOT of legos), and we have them in those kids toy storage bins popular in preschools (where a set holds three rows of small and large bins). They're sorted by kind (all mini-figs together), color, and type (all technics together) depending on what DD wants/needs. We also have a fishing lure box that she's sorted some of the small accessories in. We're up to three sets of storage bins between lego and playmobil (which are stored together because they're played with together). Most sets get built once, and then used for parts. DD is getting two sets for Christmas which were purchased for parts without any real interest in the sets at all, but because they had good elements and were an inexpensive way to get the elements. About 99% of the building in our house is MOC (my own creation) building.

 

Things that she REALLY wants to keep together, like Ninjago dragons and some of her favorite MOCs just plain never get taken apart-we have a small set of shelves that hold those models, and one of the few stated up front house rules when I do my Latin and Mythology classes at my house is that anything on a shelf or a table built out of legos is to be considered for display-but if it's in a bin or on the floor, knock yourself out (and if you build something, feel free to put it on a shelf or table for others to admire). I had to do that after my DD nearly had a heart attack when she saw a high school Latin student flying her Ninjago Ultradragon around (for anyone who has that set on their Christmas list-be warned, it's BEAR of a build, and falls apart if you look at it cross-eyed!).

[LeslieAnneLevine]

My son has them somewhat organized, but not by sets. They are organized more by color and type of lego. For example, all minifigs are in one bin and all minifig accessories are in another. He does like to keep all his Star Wars legos separate from the rest.

 

We have a bin where we keep lego instructions. He will rebuild a set according to the instructions once in a great while.

[Luckymama]

Ds's Legos are sorted into one of those rolling drawer carts, like jacksons'smama posted. He keeps minfig pieces in a set of small translucent boxes, one for heads, one for bodies, one for hats/hair/other accessories. The instruction books are kept in a gigantic binder in plastic sleeves. He is a Lego fiend.

 

Dd keeps her Legos in an assortment of medium plastic totes on her shelves. Her instruction books are also in a binder. She has a few sets (medieval village, the winter town sets) that she displays. She actually pulls those out every month or so and creates a gigantic town all over the family room floor :)