Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 18
  1. #1
    niccig is offline Clean Sweep forum moderator
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    CA.
    Posts
    23,493

    Default Lego storage - small

    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


    Lids on



    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.
    Last edited by niccig; 10-02-2010 at 03:39 PM.

  2. #2
    KrisM is offline Clean Sweep forum moderator
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    MI, USA.
    Posts
    26,498

    Default

    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.
    Kris

  3. #3
    niccig is offline Clean Sweep forum moderator
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    CA.
    Posts
    23,493

    Default

    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

  4. #4
    kristac's Avatar
    kristac is offline Emerald level (3000+ posts)
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Posts
    3,020

    Default

    Loving this idea! Let us know how it works out!
    "Someday, I am going to go to bed without toys on the floor and sippys in my sink. Things will stay where I put them and I can have nice, fragile items on display. But when I do, I will look around with a wistfullness in my heart and miss the days where vibrant imaginations ran wild and there was evidence of life happening around me all the time!"

  5. #5
    niccig is offline Clean Sweep forum moderator
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    CA.
    Posts
    23,493

    Default

    There's different storage solutions here
    http://jdorganizer.blogspot.com/2007...e-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.

  6. #6
    hellokitty is offline Pink Diamond level (15,000+ posts)
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Land of boys
    Posts
    16,657

    Default

    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.
    Mom to 3 LEGO Maniacs

  7. #7
    KrisM is offline Clean Sweep forum moderator
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    MI, USA.
    Posts
    26,498

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by niccig View Post

    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!
    Kris

  8. #8
    cono0507 is offline Platinum level (1000+ posts)
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Posts
    1,632

    Default

    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-Draw...k&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!

  9. #9
    Tondi G is offline Red Diamond level (10,000+ posts)
    Join Date
    Nov 1999
    Location
    So. California, USA.
    Posts
    13,707

    Default

    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-Draw...k&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.

  10. #10
    niccig is offline Clean Sweep forum moderator
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    CA.
    Posts
    23,493

    Default

    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.
    Last edited by niccig; 10-03-2010 at 05:07 AM.

Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •