Help, Help, Help! Lego organization. Why is this so hard?

[battlemaiden]

My kids cannot agree, my google search is all over the map, and I just want to disassemble all the "creations" from the last year and put them away.

 

I'm having organizational fits lately. My kids never want to undo their creations. Do you make them? Eventually? One of my sons is fine with it, the other is getting testy about it, and I'm just running out of space.

 

Also, they don't make many unique creations because they don't want to break up the sets.

 

By color?

 

By theme (Star wars, Indiana Jones, Mars Mission, etc)?

 

By ?

 

Arrrrrrrrgh!

 

Help.

[Tap]

We sort by 'Lego'. They are all in one bucket. Ds tried various sorting systems over the years but honestly he didn't want to re-sort them afterwards. To him digging for pieces is part of the process.

 

This is my 14yo ds who is very organized and clean in everything else!

Edited January 1, 2009 by Tap, tap, tap

[BusyMum]

We sort by size. Little pieces in one box, middle sized pieces in another and big pieces in a third.

 

Every now and then I go and dismantle the creations - but more often my two year old beats me to it.

 

Our sets are completely mixed up and we have tens of thousands of pieces. I would have prefered to keep them seperate but was overruled by DH who is the one who spends hours sitting with Mr7 making stuff.

[SW in IL]

I've always loved them and encouraged ppl to buy DS Legos for holiday/birthday presents. At one point, we tried buying a special shelf that holds containers and we spent weeks sorting many of his Legos by color. It actually worked great for a couple of years. Special sets got stores in Ziploc-type bags or other containers in order to keep the pieces together and those were also stored on the shelf.

 

As far as the creations, we actually glue together the ones that are the most complicated. We have several of the Harry Potter sets that we've glued together along with a few others. Everything else eventually gets taken apart. We've had to get creative at times in order to store the sets... We have one that lives behind the recliner in the living room; another that's currently in the garage waiting for some repair work. For the most part, though, the sets got displayed on shelves in DS's room. He was allowed to take them down any time he wanted to play with them (with a few exceptions).

 

Hope this helps,

Sue

[Oak Knoll Mom]

We sort by 'Lego'.

 

Same here. We used to try to organize Legos and Playmobile into sets, etc. I learned from Organizing from the Inside Out, though that putting things away *must* be easier than getting them out. We are usually willing to put the time into digging through the box for what we're looking for, but are not as willing to seperate and categorize them when we're done and ready to move on to the next thing.

 

I don't have any advice about the rest of your post, though, because my kids are always willing to pull apart their creations when they need a particular piece. :D

[Julie in CA]

I used to keep all of the Legos in a big BIG bucket, but would become frustrated because the kids would dump the bucket out on the floor.

 

It took me a little while, but once I figured out that they had to dump them to find what they were looking for, I finally put the Legos in a big, flat, under-bed type plastic bin. Now they can paw through and find just what they need without dumping & scattering the whole thing.

 

We don't keep assembled creations assembled for long. I allow the builder to take a picture (or two) of their creation with my digital camera, and maybe keep it together for a week or so, but then back into the bin it goes!

[Plucky]

My kids never wanted to tear up their creations either. I put up a high shelf in their room for them. I feel your pain. All the other legos go in a plastic clear 2-drawer container. Even then we have another large bin. If they are off the floor and flat spaces and in a bin I'm generally happy.

[JudoMom]

We sort by 'Lego'.

 

That's how I sort, too.

 

We've got one big under the bed storage box that holds most of the Legos. They do have the bionicles and the Star Wars Legos seperated out (for the most part, but this is their doing and they know if I find a Lego I'm putting it in the big bin). We do have the Lego 9V train in a bin, and the Motor set is in it's own bin (these are on a high up shelf so the little hands don't break the expensive parts).

 

I let them keep their creations together for awhile, but not indefinitely. Often they are broken by brothers (or by the builder) on accident and put away.

[specialmama]

For my dc, what works is this: a plan to take them apart on a certain date. They need to "build up" to that, so having a date works. On the big D-Day, we take a few pictures of the creation at different angles. You could then enlarge the photos and put them in a special album. We do this with lots of "big" projects that we just don't have the room for. Pictures last much longer around here, and take waaaay less room to store. :001_smile:

[Melissa in Australia]

we have a table with Lego on it permanently. some of the creations have been sitting there for over a year. the kids have divided all the Lego up amongst themselves, and nobody is aloud to touch another's pieces ?? I wanted the kids to put all the Lego into one box, play with it, and then pull it apart and put it back. this is not how my husband views it. he bought the table, got an electrician to put a light right above it. and said they can keep their creations indefinitely.. I decided it wasn't worth fighting over, so that is how it is.

[lmrich]

Take pictures of the creations and put them in lego photo book for them. I agree with the post about make it easy for them to swirl the legos around to search for that special one. We also used a large under the bed box for that.

[Mom2legomaniacs]

The Legos won here. I simply cannot keep up with the level of organization I desire. I started sorting by color per tub. But it is huge to keep up with. And trying to rebuild is so difficult. Next, I am trying to do a different sort, by brick type. But honestly, we have thousands upon thousands of pieces here. So, some are by color and some are in huge mixed buckets and some in the beginning stages of the other sort. Then we have shelves, cubbies, and more cubbies and shelves to store those that are built up at the moment. The instructions are categorized by theme in a file folder in a filing cabinet drawer. The large drawer is pretty much filled with instructions booklets.

 

So, do you think there is a 12-step program for this issue?:tongue_smilie:

[LBC]

We have two large bins of Lego. When the boys dump it out, they dump it onto a large sheet or blanket, so when it's time to clean up, they just dump it from the blanket back into the bins.

 

They hate to dismantle their creations, so they each have a cupboard in their rooms where they can store special creations. When they run out of space in the cupboards, they need to either dismantle, or put the new creation back into the bin.

 

This works pretty well around here. Sometimes it will lay on the floor in one of their rooms for a week, but when I tell them to clean up so that I can vacuum, it only takes a few minutes.

 

Lori

[Stacy in NJ]

We have one gigantic clear plastic container for loose Lego's. My guys usually keep their creations put together for some time. They have completed projects on top of their dressers and bookshelves. In our basement, we have a small project room where we store older Lego projects, models and various stuff older ds has built over the years.

[SonshineLearner]

I just saw my friend's son's and they are by color and size in those containers that have little clearish see through drawers. I think that they have four containers...so that'd be about 24 drawers. They were very neat...They have 6 kids...and this is set against the wall in the boys' bedroom.

I plan to use this system if my 5 year old gets into Legos more.

Carrie:-)

[Ferdie]

We keep all our Legos in a huge plastic bin. When my kids were younger I let them dump the bin on a king size sheet spread out on the floor. The Legos had to stay on the sheet until it was time to clean up. Now that they are older they dig through the bin to get what they need. We also have some under the bed plastic bins that they use to sort Legos when they have a special building project.

 

My kids usually display their creations for a few days and then take them apart to start over.

[myfunnybunch]

We love Legos. My boys' favorite bit is taking them apart to make new creations, so not much help there....but in your shoes, I think I'd buy some plastic storage bins, set up a display area, and let them know you'd like to have all Legos either stored in the bins or limited to the one display area only. They can figure out (with guidance or help from you if needed or desired) how they'd like to sort the Legos and what to do when display space runs out.

 

Cat

[Ria]

LOL. Jo, you simply cannot organize these things. They must go into a large bin. Or several large bins. The best thing to do: take a picture of the creation (as another poster suggested) and get a smaller bin to hold all the directions. That way the kids can always rebuild.

 

And if they need to dump out the bins, just put a large (I've even used a queen-sized) sheet on the floor and dump in the middle. As long as they keep the Legos on the sheet, cleanup is a snap. Just pick up and dump.

 

Ria

 

ETA: Eric is laughing hysterically at your post (sorry...couldn't help but share!). He says to let you know that once your kids get a little older, they'll tire of the Legos (yes, it does happen!), they'll rebuild those creations, list them and their instruction manuals on eBay, and make a killing. Our boys recently sold four tiny Lego Star Wars figures for a whopping $84. Yep. You read that right. Jango Fett is worth a fortune.

Edited January 1, 2009 by Ria

[JenniferB]

I put them all in a big plastic Sterilite bin, which just got bigger after this Christmas. Sometimes I set them in the bin carefully so that the ships & such don't get disassembled, but most of the time I'm not too careful, and they break apart. We have a clean up rule at 3:30 - everything put away in their bins, in their cabinet before they can watch TV at 4:30. No cleany, no TV.

[Marie in Oh]

we have those clear plastic drawer thingies. Technic pieces go in one bin, all other bricks go into drawers- white, grey, black, red, blue, multi-unusual colors go together, etc. He has 2 of those drwer thingies so that is 8 drawers. All the instructions go in one drawer as well.

[Heather in AL]

and it works well. We keep the "themed" pieces together in a gallon zipper bag (Star Wars with Star Wars, etc), and the non-themed pieces in a bin. We tried sorting by color, but that led to LOTS of complaining when pick up time came around.

 

I really like the idea of dumping the pieces on a sheet or something.... I'm going to have the kids do that. :001_smile:

 

(the other) Heather in Al

[catalinakel]

I have good friends whose kids are grown now, but they keep their legos in three old fashioned suitcases stacked up in the living room. I would love to categorize and sort all our legos, but my kids would not like that. we use the large, flat bins too, the clear ones. And one of my favorite sounds to hear is the kids digging in the lego bin, looking for what they need. I cannot deprive myself or them from this simple pleasure.

[Jami]

We use this from Ikea. Smaller, shallower bins though. Dh helps ds sort by block shape and specialty piece (wings, wheels, etc). We need a second one actually. Ds also got the sorting box for Christmas that sorts by size, to help make it more manageable for him. It seems to work to make things easier to re-build and keep relatively tidy. He uses his train table to leave out built items and play.

 

Here's the link to the sorting box. http://www.box4blox.com/

[Rhonda in TX]

I have clear, plastic shoeboxes. We just put all the pieces in shoeboxes. They are not sorted by size, color, shape, or anything else. Well, we do try to keep the minifig pieces separate, but that doesn't always work. He has about 6 boxes, maybe more.

 

We tried various different sorting methods, but DS couldn't keep up with them. This one, he can. The idea is that he can take down one box and have big variety of pieces to work with. He does end up pulling most of them out, but clean up is much easier without the sorting.

[Oak Knoll Mom]

 

Here's the link to the sorting box. http://www.box4blox.com/

 

That is awesome! I think I'm going to order one. I've already sent the link to several friends that I know are looking for something similar too. Thanks!