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niccig
10-02-2010, 03:37 PM
DS has several sets of the Lego City and he is going to get more for his birthday and Christmas. We needed a better way to store them, so this is what we came up with.

DS helped me sort everything by colour - it's his lego and this is how he wanted to do it, so we're going to try it. We have a container for wheels, one for people, one for accessories - like all the little tools the lego mechanics have. We used a combination of the Target generic and Ziplock containers, and a couple of large pencil boxes from Target I'm going to put all the instructions in a binder with plastic sleeves, as suggested in the organization ideas thread, and the folder will go in here too.

Lids off
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a385/niccig03/103_0402.jpg

Lids on
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a385/niccig03/103_0403.jpg


It's all in a large underbed box from Ikea that will go under his bed. It means we might have to pull it out and take it into the family room as that is where the train table is, but he might just build in his room?? I don't know yet, but it's the only place we have with enough room. If it doesn't work in the underbed box, I'll put the containers somewhere else. DH will be happy as he is usually the one that builds with DS and he gets frustrated if he can't find the piece.

I'll update with how it's working out, as I know lego is the bane of many families.

KrisM
10-02-2010, 04:40 PM
That looks fantastic! Let us know how it works out. Right now, DS's sets are mostly still assembled. I can't get him to take them apart, which means they take up a ton of space.

niccig
10-02-2010, 04:43 PM
DS rarely keeps the sets together - that's our problem. DH builds them with him, they stay that way for a couple of days, then they get broken up and pieces end up everywhere. DS will build with pieces from different sets, and then come and ask you to build one set again, but you can't find the pieces.

I think I'm going to have 2 extra containers, one for partially built sets and another that I'll keep on the toy shelves for any lone pieces I find around the house, and I'll be finding them for a while. Then I can put them all back into the correct container

kristac
10-02-2010, 06:02 PM
Loving this idea! Let us know how it works out!

niccig
10-02-2010, 07:08 PM
There's different storage solutions here
http://jdorganizer.blogspot.com/2007/09/15-lego-storage-options.html

and a link to a wikihow that gives different ways of storing.
http://www.wikihow.com/Sort-and-Store-LEGO-Toys

They say to not store by colour unless you first sort by part type (plate, brick, slope) then by colour I wanted to just do it by part type, but DS wanted colour and it is his lego so I decided to let him decide. We'll give it a try, and if it doesn't work, we'll try something else.

I thought I would get a tray or a piece of cloth so we can spread the colour out to find the piece we want...I'm not sure, we'll see how it goes.

It does like pretty with all the colours like that.

hellokitty
10-02-2010, 08:07 PM
Sorry, I have to LOL. My kids have TONS of LEGO and it will NEVER look like that. They do not care if their stuff is sorted into colors/shapes. We have a lego drawer set with 5, "suitcase" type of bins. Everything just goes in there. I guess I have low stds, if all the LEGO makes it into the bins, I'm happy. You get an A+ though in my book, you're much more organized than we'll ever be. Even if I wanted to have to sorted out by color or shape, my kids would never follow my system.

KrisM
10-02-2010, 08:09 PM
They say to not store by colour unless you first sort by part type (plate, brick, slope) then by colour I wanted to just do it by part type, but DS wanted colour and it is his lego so I decided to let him decide. We'll give it a try, and if it doesn't work, we'll try something else.


Remembering that DS is a son of 2 engineers and a grandson of 2 engineers, I showed him the picture and he said "it'll be too hard to find the right piece because they're in by color. You should sort by the shape and size". Ha ha. He's doomed!

cono0507
10-02-2010, 09:42 PM
My son has a bit of engineering genealogy in him and has his sorted by color also.
We have two of these in his room:

http://www.target.com/Sterilite-Drawer-Storage-Cart-White/dp/B002SYKHH2/ref=br_1_30?ie=UTF8&id=Sterilite%20Drawer%20Storage%20Cart%20White&node=14034461&searchSize=30&searchView=list&searchPage=1&sr=1-30&qid=1286069966&rh=&searchBinNameList=subjectbin%2Cprice%2Ctarget_com_ primary_color-bin%2Ctarget_com_size-bin%2Ctarget_com_brand-bin&searchRank=salesrank&frombrowse=1

Each drawer is labelled, for each color and then one of the big bottom drawers for "specials" like wheels, people, trees, etc.
He has had them organized like this for over 6 months and love it. I had my doubts as to whether he would maintain the organization but he has!

Tondi G
10-02-2010, 10:57 PM
WOW... my MIL delivered the Lego's that were my DH and his brothers to my boys in small containers with lids. by color and by type (figures, wheels etc). They stayed like that for a short time and now they are all jumbled together in 3 units like this

http://www.target.com/Sterilite-Drawer-Cart-White-Set/dp/B002SYGB3Q/ref=br_1_11?ie=UTF8&id=Sterilite%20Drawer%20Cart%20White%20Set&node=14034461&searchSize=30&searchView=list&searchPage=1&sr=1-11&qid=1286074431&rh=&searchBinNameList=subjectbin%2Cprice%2Ctarget_com_ primary_color-bin%2Ctarget_com_size-bin%2Ctarget_com_brand-bin&searchRank=salesrank&frombrowse=1

At this point we have far too many lego's to attempt to sort them in small containers. My kids just pull out a drawer and start digging if they want a specific type of brick/part.

niccig
10-03-2010, 04:48 AM
1st Update.
Some of the containers do have too many pieces to find what you want - so for those we have divided it by part type.

We built a couple of sets and it was much easier to do it. DS still wants help building a set, so it's something we do together. We've found that we are missing several pieces that are crucial, so we made a list to take to the lego store near us.

DS did build his own creation using different pieces.

Doing the lego this way was DS's idea, and he helped to set it up. I agree that I'm not sure if it's something he'll be able to keep up. I think we'll have a catch all container and then he can sort by colour when it gets full. DS has surprised me with keeping our toys together - I used the idea of container store boxes for our expedit shelves and DS has kept his cars sorted into the 4 different containers - we have lots of cars so divided them up by size. He dumps them all, plays with them, then puts them back in the containers. DH laughed when I did it saying that DS would never keep it up, but he has.

I'll post back in a few weeks to let you know if it's working or not. At the very least, I now know that we're missing several parts that we need to replace or we can't build 3 of our sets.

niccig
10-03-2010, 05:00 AM
My son has a bit of engineering genealogy in him and has his sorted by color also.
We have two of these in his room:

http://www.target.com/Sterilite-Drawer-Storage-Cart-White/dp/B002SYKHH2/ref=br_1_30?ie=UTF8&id=Sterilite%20Drawer%20Storage%20Cart%20White&node=14034461&searchSize=30&searchView=list&searchPage=1&sr=1-30&qid=1286069966&rh=&searchBinNameList=subjectbin%2Cprice%2Ctarget_com_ primary_color-bin%2Ctarget_com_size-bin%2Ctarget_com_brand-bin&searchRank=salesrank&frombrowse=1

Each drawer is labelled, for each color and then one of the big bottom drawers for "specials" like wheels, people, trees, etc.
He has had them organized like this for over 6 months and love it. I had my doubts as to whether he would maintain the organization but he has!

I like this better than the underbed box. I might see about doing this and keeping it in the family room tucked into a corner. It would be right there where DS plays, and eventually we're going to have much more lego.

How many legos do you have in each drawer? Do you divide them up within the drawer?

I'm going to give a try and see if DS can keep this up. He's surprised me by keeping his clothing drawers organized after I put dividers in the drawers, and he has no difficulty with putting his toys into different types of bins based on what they are - I think it helps that the toys bins are clear, so he can easily see.

I'll post back with updates.

niccig
10-03-2010, 05:12 AM
Remembering that DS is a son of 2 engineers and a grandson of 2 engineers, I showed him the picture and he said "it'll be too hard to find the right piece because they're in by color. You should sort by the shape and size". Ha ha. He's doomed!

I said the same thing to DS, but he was adamant that he wanted it sorted by colour. I'm the librarian with OCD according to creative, just pile it in a box DH - so I think DS might be a combination of the two. He wants some organization but it has to be easy to dump into a box and for him it's easier to sort by colour.

KrisM
10-03-2010, 07:12 AM
I like this better than the underbed box. I might see about doing this and keeping it in the family room tucked into a corner. It would be right there where DS plays, and eventually we're going to have much more lego.

How many legos do you have in each drawer? Do you divide them up within the drawer?

I'm going to give a try and see if DS can keep this up. He's surprised me by keeping his clothing drawers organized after I put dividers in the drawers, and he has no difficulty with putting his toys into different types of bins based on what they are - I think it helps that the toys bins are clear, so he can easily see.

I'll post back with updates.

Or, this, if he really likes color http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4110585.

niccig
10-03-2010, 12:42 PM
Or, this, if he really likes color http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4110585.

Ok...that is WAY too much colour for me!
I like the idea of clear storage containers for DS, as it seems he needs to be able to see what is in there. I've tried numerous options in out expedit shelved and the only thing that has worked as been the clear containers from the Container Store. He can easily see what he wants and easily put it away.

cono0507
10-03-2010, 02:41 PM
I like this better than the underbed box. I might see about doing this and keeping it in the family room tucked into a corner. It would be right there where DS plays, and eventually we're going to have much more lego.

How many legos do you have in each drawer? Do you divide them up within the drawer?

I'm going to give a try and see if DS can keep this up. He's surprised me by keeping his clothing drawers organized after I put dividers in the drawers, and he has no difficulty with putting his toys into different types of bins based on what they are - I think it helps that the toys bins are clear, so he can easily see.

I'll post back with updates.

We just have them divided by color and then a drawer for "special" (people, plants, windows, etc). That level of organization is enough that he can find what he wants but isnt so much that he is overwhelmed when it is time to put them away.


Here are some photos:
http://i1103.photobucket.com/albums/g468/cono0507/IMG_0405.jpg


http://i1103.photobucket.com/albums/g468/cono0507/IMG_0403.jpg

niccig
10-03-2010, 04:33 PM
We just have them divided by color and then a drawer for "special" (people, plants, windows, etc). That level of organization is enough that he can find what he wants but isnt so much that he is overwhelmed when it is time to put them away.


Here are some photos:



Thanks so much for taking the time to take photos. I mentioned it to DH and he agreed that if DS can keep the colour organization that he seems to want, a set up like yours would be better as DS gets more lego. The underbed box can only hold so many pieces.

I'll file this away and look at getting similar drawers on a Target run.

What do you have the manuals in on top of the drawers? I put us in a folder in plastic sleeves, they were all scrunched and torn, so I had to go through and tape them back together.

cono0507
10-03-2010, 05:56 PM
It is actually just a gift box from DS's birthday that we are reusing for the manuals. It seems to hold them well enough.
He keeps his works in progress on the top too. And then I had to go a little crazy with my labelling machine and label all of the drawers. :)

niccig
10-03-2010, 06:54 PM
And then I had to go a little crazy with my labelling machine and label all of the drawers. :)

This is me too. :D