How do you sort your legos?

[hillview]

I got 2 of these (in the store you can buy them individually)
http://www.target.com/Small-Countertop-Drawer-6-pk/dp/B000AVNG14/ref=sc_qi_collection_item_0?ie=UTF8&altString=Small%20Countertop%20Drawer%20%26%2345;% 206%26%2345;pk%26%2346;

So I have 6 medium size drawers for DSs legos. Do you sort them by color? Size? Other? What is easiest for building?
TIA
/hillary

[RunnerDuck]

Oh I like those! We just got the giant cart at JoAnns yesterday and I am thinking it is a mistake. It's TOO big. DH said for real organization of legos you need lots of small drawers - we have a friend who has tool boxes and tool boxes of meticulously sorted pieces - but I say for a 7 year old lets start with just some broad categories he will stick to. I had thought we would do color but we actually have more lego colors than I thought - I had figured gray and black could go, and clear and white, but I didn't realize we had orange and brown. But orange and brown could go together, and then yellow and red maybe. Anyway I would do color groupings to start and then see how it goes from there. You'll doubtless work out what's best for you over time. I may have to go check out those bins and see if we can return the cart.

[saleenl]

Let me warn you, I find sorting Legoes enjoyable and it is my sick addiction. I'm not totally crazy, though - I sort so that we can easily rebuild things we have directions for. I am using the same kind of container I would use to sort beads, kind of a small craft box with a lid and divided sections. We are currently using a cheap one from Ikea but the dividers are removeable and frequently get pulled up such that Legoes travel from one compartment to another. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10073345

I sort all specialty pieces and singles (tall and flat) and flat twos. Tall twos and up are all in a large bin, unsorted. It is easy to do a visual search and find larger things, so I gave up on keeping them sorted. So much work for such a small payoff.

In the bin, I have all round ones (tall and flat and conical) in a section, all flat twos in another, all tires/wheels in one, all windows in one, axles and wheel-related car parts in another, and specialty car parts in another. Plane parts have their own section. Various connectors, like hitches and hitch connectors in another. Another is miscellaneous specialty pieces. Oh, and one with all angled pieces, like roof pieces. It is pretty full, though, and I'd like to split it into two subcategories. People and weapons/accessories have their own section. I can take a pic when I get home, if it would help!

[hillview]

Let me warn you, I find sorting Legoes enjoyable and it is my sick addiction. I'm not totally crazy, though - I sort so that we can easily rebuild things we have directions for. I am using the same kind of container I would use to sort beads, kind of a small craft box with a lid and divided sections. We are currently using a cheap one from Ikea but the dividers are removeable and frequently get pulled up such that Legoes travel from one compartment to another. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10073345

I sort all specialty pieces and singles (tall and flat) and flat twos. Tall twos and up are all in a large bin, unsorted. It is easy to do a visual search and find larger things, so I gave up on keeping them sorted. So much work for such a small payoff.

In the bin, I have all round ones (tall and flat and conical) in a section, all flat twos in another, all tires/wheels in one, all windows in one, axles and wheel-related car parts in another, and specialty car parts in another. Plane parts have their own section. Various connectors, like hitches and hitch connectors in another. Another is miscellaneous specialty pieces. Oh, and one with all angled pieces, like roof pieces. It is pretty full, though, and I'd like to split it into two subcategories. People and weapons/accessories have their own section. I can take a pic when I get home, if it would help!

Yes a picture would be great!
/hillary

[niccig]

We just redid our lego. DS wanted it sorted by colour and we did this in ziplock containers in an underbed box. He now has too much lego for that. We bought 2 6 drawer carts from Staples. He now has a drawer for each colour, a drawer for wheels and a drawer for people/accessories. All 12 drawers have something in them. Some don't have much, but there's room to grow. They're right beside the playtable and DS likes having it all right there.

What we still have to work on is putting all the broken pieces from the table to the drawers. DS loves to build a set, then it gets modifiied broken up and he builds other things, so there's always a few "still in progress" pieces on the table but then many individual pieces as well. I think I might put a container on the table and have him pick up all those separate pieces and then sort those by colour and into the drawers.

DS is 6, so we involved him in the process about how to store them. We'll see how it goes and tweak as needed.

[o_mom]

We sort by size. I have about 10 containers for the standard sized bricks, then one each for minifigs, plates, long pieces and wheels. The rest go into four cases for each layer of the Box4Blox.

I find it far easier to find, say a red 1x2 brick in a pile of 1x2 bricks than to find it in a pile of many sized red bricks.

[saleenl]

Here's what we have. Since my son loves building sets from their directions, we have a couple of tubs with the big pieces plus a box with small pieces like this. So far, we keep about four to six sets per large box + small piece box. Eventually, I know we'll outgrow it but it works well for us now.

[hillview]

Ok thanks. I get the feeling I need more than 6 slots. I think I will start with these by shape and then see if I need to add more.
/hillary