This Works For Me Wednesday is backwards: I need something to work for me and am asking for your help and I Am DESPERATE! All my boys love(d) Legos. My problem today is Aidan is still creating with Legos and Liam LOVES to take those creations apart and then use the pieces as missiles. This is what I need: How do you store your Lego pieces and how do you display Lego creations from a 3-year old bent on destruction?
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13 comments:
My older son is having a time finding all the parts to some of his Lego sets because we threw everything into one big bin for storage. Now we put all new sets for specific models into an appropriate-sized zip-top bag along with the instructions. These get dropped into a large plastic storage tub. The kids take them out, put them together & leave the instructions in the bag. When they're done, we put the Lego back into the bag too. It takes some work, but it's better than looking for the itty bitty missing piece in a tub full of Legos!
Older son's Lego creations are displayed on an upper shelf in his own room.
Ronda
I was a LEGO kid and so was my husband. We knew it was meant to be when we mixed our treasured LEGOs together after we married. Three kids and a million LEGOs later, we have them all in a large plastic under the bed storage box. The box is kept under the sofa in the family room for community use. Because the box in flat, tiny pieces are easy to find and discover on the bottom. When you have visitors over, one quick flip of the lid and everyone is quietly working around the big bin. We have entertained 8 kids around the LEGO bin at one time.
My sister-in-law throws a big sheet on the floor before the kids start to build. That way they can dump them out on the floor. When they are finished you pick up the sheet and pour them back into the storage tub.
So enjoy your LEGO!
I agree w/ the bed sheet idea. We store Legos in large ice cream buckets. The sets that are put together we take pictures of just in case they get destroyed. Then, we display them on the kitchen window ledge until our son forgets about it then we take it apart and they build something new.
We have two tubs of legos, my daughter loves them. She would build day and night if we let her. We have found that breaking things down by size helps some, smaller pieces in one flat bin, and larger ones in a regular bin. It helps her find that little steering wheel she has to have for her car, and the pieces for her houses too. Good luck!
Get a cheap kiddie pool and have the kids keep their project built in there. We have one in our basement, and another friend keeps a bigger one in her basement. It's prevented a lot of stress of storing incomplete projects, and the kids can find the pieces easily.
Good luck!
Our system is similar to Ronda's. My son has many small Star Wars Legos sets. Each is in its own ziploc bag along with the instructions. I let him play with one set at a time. I keep a separate bag with all the Lego people so he can play with all of those with any set. The bags are stored in a bin in a cabinet over my fridge so he can only play with them under supervision. Other than those, we have sets of Duplos, Quattros, etc. that are stored in appropriate-sized bins. Though they all work with each other I like to keep them separate for storage. No ideas for how to keep your little guy from destroying big bro's creations. My son plays with his Legos at the kitchen table so his baby sister doesn't choke on one and she can't reach them. Yet.
The lego website has a great bin with several divided drawers for sorting by color or size. It's currently on sale for $20. Made even me send for one!
We keep the Legos in one of those big plastic storage bins...everything is inside there and kept in my ds's closet.
Our other problem that is getting more out of hand is all the MILLIONS of accessories for all his other little toys like soldiers and Playmobil. From time to time I sort that all out into sep containers w/lids and he does pretty good at keeping them in the right place. Until we have company that is.
Then everything gets all mixed together until the next time.
I LOVE Kim's idea about the sheet on the ground - excellent. We need to try that...sometimes our kids have resorted to using a dustpan to scoop them back into the container.
Our kids are young so we are still in the Duplo blocks stage. We looked into buying a Lego table but couldn't justify the expense. Instead, I purchased some Lego base plates from eBay and my husband glued them to the top of one of the kid tables from Ikea that we had in the playroom. We store a big container under the table for the kids to keep the blocks accessible as they build on top of the table.
I so totally can't believe I found your blog . . . a huge thank you to Shane for giving the link to Dave's blog in his most recent "Practical Mobilization". I just had the greatest hour or so reading through your archives. I feel like I've re-connected with you after all these years.
One of the pictures you posted of yourself made me think, "Wow, still so beautiful—Barbi hasn't aged at all." Then later I read about people thinking you were Liam's grandmother. I'm still working on a great comeback as well. I had Nicholas at 42 (He is 16 months now) and I've had three different people so far ask if I was his grandmother. Please let me know if you come up with one. : )
I loved seeing pictures of your kids. Wow! Is Ian really 16?! And Emma 13?! Where have the years gone? This is the first time I've seen pictures of Aidan . . . and I didn't even realize until today you had Liam. So cute! You are so blessed!
I'm so glad I found you and Dave. I've thought of you guys so many times and wondered how you are. I'm looking forward to keeping up with you.
I have no real tip, I was hoping for the same organization wizardry!
I do like the idea of taking a picture of them.
I do know that the bed sheet is the way to go.
I tried doing the organizing in bags by set thing. It fell apart quickly. The bags would rip (ok, I could use containers). But the main reason is that I simply could not keep up with the sheer quantity of sets that my kids have! For Christmas alone, there were about 14 new sets added to the stash. And half of those or more are very large. The grands go nutso with these things!
So here's what I have now. I organize them in bins by color. I intend to do a further sort by color and similar size someday -- but that's a huge job. I need to think it through first.
The color thing works pretty well. I also have the instructions sorted by type, put into clear plastic sleeves, and place in sectioned binders. I might move these to a file cabinet situation at some point.
Storage -- now we have several inexpensive bookcases and cubby cases for storing the built kits.
I have some pics on my blog if you are interested. I am always trying to figure out how to better organize the center of our existence!
melissa
My brother had a container for a while but then his set doubled and since they're all built, we don't have to fit them into the the container. My mom is trying to make him destroy some to put in a nice IKEA box we have but he won't.
He recently got some legos for Christms, like a big set and built in one day. If kids come over and destroy it, he is going to be VERY mad.
I used to build nice houses with Legos, like really detailed. One day Andrew's friend came over and destroyed it. I haven't played with Legos again. I just can't go throught that pain!
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