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JennGM
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| Posted: Nov 27 2012 at 5:07pm | IP Logged
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Inspired by this thread on Lego Bargains I thought I'd ask how do you organize your Legos.
My sons don't keep sets together. After a while, they are taken apart and mixed in with the other Legos. I'd like to go back to gathering some of the pieces and making the sets again (it would be like Christmas all over again!). But in the meantime, we organize by color. I have 6 drawer/bins in the IKEA Expedit that are dedicated to Legos. I have the colors marked with labels, and inside the drawers for multi colors have individual Ziploc bags. Minifigures are in their own Sterlite container, and that drawer has Brickmaster and Minifigures.
There are some sets that are partially made, so I kept a drawer for those. I have wheels/tires in a separate bag.
The instructions I tried putting in 3 hole binders, but that didn't work. I'm thinking of using a file crate and organize them that way, so visually they can see the sets and put them away when done. That's my next step. I spent a whole weekend organizing the Legos, Playmobil, K-Nex, Duplos and Little People in two Expedit shelves.
I'll try to share a picture.
But I'm always open for new ideas for storage, because NOTHING seems perfect. The boys mix and explode things all over the floor and play in all nooks and crannies and Lego always seem to be EVERYWHERE (almost like mice droppings....  ).
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jawgee
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| Posted: Nov 27 2012 at 7:48pm | IP Logged
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We gave up on any real "organization" of the Legos. I have to admit, I cringed every time a $100 set got put together once and then thrown in with the other Legos. Ugh.
We tried sorting by color, using a Lego table, etc. What works best for us now is just keeping all the Legos in a 18-gallon tote. The instructions (which dont get used, because the Legos are all mixed together) are kept in their own desk drawer.
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SallyT
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We just do a gigantic tote, too. I actually like it when the sets dissolve into a general fund of Lego, because then the kids make things that *they* make up, and not what the sets say they should make. Making the set piece once around, following the directions, is an interesting challenge, but once they've done that, and they've gotten over the tragedy of the thing they made falling apart, they don't seem to care much about making the same thing again (though they have on at least one occasion gone online to look up directions to try to rebuild something -- that's its own challenge, once the pieces are all mixed up). And that seems totally appropriate to me, right-brainer that I am.
I hate that the sets cost as much as they do, because having paid the money, I do kind of gulp when the masterpiece gets destroyed -- I think that's *my* attachment to the thing because I know how much it cost! Otherwise, as I say, I'm just as happy when they get over doing what the set has directed them to do, and do their own thing with the Legos, which was what the original purpose of Lego was anyway.
We do now have Lego wars which happen because my daughter has some of the girly "Lego Friends" sets . . . but then she goes and raids the boys' huge Lego bin for more pieces to build houses and shops for the Lego girls. Not quite sure what to do about that, so right now I'm doing nothing about it. But it is a wrinkle I had not exactly foreseen.
Sally
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Claire F
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I also gave up on any real organization for our Lego collection. We used to sort by color, but it was nearly impossible for the boys to sort and put them away by themselves - it was too overwhelming. Their lego table would end up piled with a thick layer of lego bricks (and other assorted randomness) and the idea of sorting it all back into the color-coded bins seemed too monumental of a task. Eventually, I just started throwing everything in bins randomly. It does make it harder for them to find specific pieces and it makes my husband cringe in horror (he's a big Lego enthusiast/hobbyist, and has his own gargantuan, and very carefully sorted, lego collection). But my criteria for successful lego storage was a system that was simple enough that my kids could be responsible for cleaning it all themselves.
We have some shelves where they can display built sets, so we get a little more life out of some of the sets that way. But most (all, eventually) wind up in the general lego bins.
I also cringe when the sets get destroyed (definitely because I know what they cost) and my husband is constantly giving them minifigures or other "special" pieces that he thinks they'd love, only to have those disappear into the mass of bricks and pieces. But oh well - they have fun building all sorts of things and I figure legos are something they will play with for years.
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JennGM
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We've been doing the color organization for a few years and it works pretty well. My sons do free styling and use of books for other inspiration, so I'm not worried about that not happening. Our next door neighbor sold his son's old Legos a few years ago--two paper boxes of Legos with old instructions from the 80s--llots of fun to build those old designs.
The main reason I leave it color separated is less frustration for rummaging for a piece.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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SallyT
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Oh, wow, old Legos! My mother has some that were my brother's, from the 70s, and my kids love playing with them. There are windows that open and close, doors, wheels . . . all kinds of stuff that certainly doesn't come with the Star Wars sets!
Now you make me sort of want to organize our Legos by color . . . but "up off the floor" and "not in the vacuum-cleaner bag" is probably as good as it's ever going to get around here. Also "not painfully under my bare feet."
Sally
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JennGM
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I know! The old ones are fun. We haven't brought them home yet because we play with them when we visit, but my Mil has dh's old Legos--the original red, white and ble ones with windows and doors.
I had the same growing up...shall we date 60s and 70s? My mother was trying to make sure we had not just feminine toys. But all my sisters and I did with the Legos was build houses for the Little People.
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CrunchyMom
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We sort by color, too, though it was my oldest who started doing that. Dh thinks it makes more sense to sort by size/ type of piece. I'm indifferent about building the exact sets again, so I've never even tried to organize that way. Dh's SIL uses one of those sandbox turtles to hold the Lego.  I've considered a Lego mat as well, but I think my boys actually prefer them to be sorted, at least my oldest. Pretty sure my secondwouldsimply prefer what is easier to clean rather than what's more efficient to work with.
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SeaStar
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 I am happy to see a built set get taken apart (on purpose),
If it doesn't merge with the rest of lego world at our house, then it is fiercely protected, there is a lot of crying if it is bumped or a piece falls off or is lost, etc. 
I agree that it's better to see the parts recycled into a new creation.
Sorting by color... well, not happening here. My dc would view it as another chore. We do have a few smaller recipe box size plastic containers with attached lids from the Dollar Tree that work well for keeping sets of special pieces together, though what is special varies by day.
As far as taking apart a $$$$ set, I have to view it as buying an experience, similar to buying sports tickets or opera/Nutcracker/etc tickets. You pay the hefty price and enjoy the show, but then you don't camp out in the empty arena after everything is over, hoping it will last forever. In that respect, Legos are even better, since they last longer than a 2 hour show and can be enjoyed over and over. 
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JennGM
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CrunchyMom wrote:
| We sort by color, too, though it was my oldest who started doing that. Dh thinks it makes more sense to sort by size/ type of piece. |
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My oldest started the color sorting, too.
And when my dh suggested sorting by type, I was fiercely opposed. Same with my son. It does make sense, but it goes against beauty and order in my mind. Sort by color, THEN pieces, but not all different colors in the same size. I thought dh was off his rocker, but now I know he's not the only one with the same idea.
My son reads all the different Lego books and would prefer to keep by color, since that's the way the "experts" do.
I'm glad we're not alone in the breaking apart of sets. I was thinking we were the only ones.
Does anyone save the boxes or images from the boxes?
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We save the instructions, but they just go in a bin and live under the big lego table. The boys do get them out from time to time to reference them and use them for building something.
My boys love to build the "special set" once...and then the set is dis-assembled and incorporated into the larger collection.
My boys have their own, rather mysterious organizational system... ...and it's fine with me as long as it's off the floor. For what it's worth, their intuitive organizational method does organize by color, too. They keep mini-figs in a separate container. I'd love to get a better collection device for them - a larger shelf with shallow organizer drawers maybe? I haven't really started looking yet, but it's been on my radar.
A key to our system is the big lego table. My dad and brother built it for the boys several years ago. It's essentially like a train table, with sides (important so legos don't spill over). The boys like to build scenes or cities or some kind of themed collection...and these live on the lego table.
Love the classic legos, too!
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JennGM
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We never got a Lego or a train table, which I think is a downside.
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jawgee
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JennGM wrote:
| We never got a Lego or a train table, which I think is a downside. |
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We had a Lego table. It turned into a catch-all for clutter and underneath was piles of Legos (and other "treasures"). Taking away the Lego table made things much, much neater. It was one less spot in their room to accumulate clutter.
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Mackfam
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jawgee wrote:
JennGM wrote:
| We never got a Lego or a train table, which I think is a downside. |
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We had a Lego table. It turned into a catch-all for clutter and underneath was piles of Legos (and other "treasures"). Taking away the Lego table made things much, much neater. It was one less spot in their room to accumulate clutter. |
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It can be a source for clutter accumulation, esp. with boys! Here's how we avoid that:
** Weekly cleaning of toys - my kids are only allowed 3-4 toys/toy collections out at one time and each of these has a place to live.
** All legos off floor (because vacuuming takes place immediately after clean-up and whoever is in charge of vacuuming has STRICT instructions to vacuum up ANYTHING left on the floor!)
** Only built structures are allowed to remain on Lego table during clean-up time. All loose Legos go to their containers.
Maintaining regular clean-up of toy spaces means that the Lego table is actually a really good place for Lego building/construction because it CONTAINS them and though it doesn't eliminate ALL Legos from landing on the floor, it does really help with that! And immediate vacuuming after clean-up time means that those boys are motivated to get EVERYTHING off the floor if they ever want to see it again!
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stellamaris
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I'm so impressed with those who organize Legos! Having had a gadzillion of the little pieces over the years, I have to admit I have surrender the Lego Wars  . Here's what I do now:
1. Never sort, organize, categorize, or otherwise attempted to maintain any sort of order with our Legos.
2. Keep them in large plastic buckets with lids.
3. Play with them on sheets spread out on the floor. When finished playing, dump all Legos back into buckets except those that are actually attached to some likely-looking space ship or other construction.
4. Collect all built Lego structures, which multiply like rabbits and take over all available horizontal space , every so often at random times and return them to the bucket. Super big Lego structures like the Death Star get to remain on display.
I guess I believe the fun in Legos is building creatively with them and I really think my life is too short to be sorting them out....
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SallyT
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| Posted: Nov 28 2012 at 12:46pm | IP Logged
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But the sheet on the floor is a fantastic idea. That's the worst of them -- when they're out, they scatter, and there's always something that doesn't make it back into the bin.
Sally
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I have small stackable bins each labeled. I think they are : people, moving parts, vehicles, buildings. . . I know there is more but I am too lazy to go up and look! The instructions are in a large expandable file folder. My 9 yr old likes to build his own thing rather then rebuild from original instructions.
Barb
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stellamaris
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Yeah, love the sheet!
Also, I forgot to say that we do keep minifigs and their accessories in large ziplock bags for easy access! Just toss the bags on top on the Legos in the bins.
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Caroline
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Claire F
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The sheet is a great idea!
We had the same problem with the lego table - it was such a mess all the time, and they never really liked building on it anyway. I think if they had used it (even when it was clean) I would have kept it, but they never did. They always built on the floor next to the table, LOL. Silly guys. We moved the lego table out of their room (stored in the garage for now) and they love all the new space they have.
Part of why the lego table wasn't great for us is that I'm not careful/particular about what they have out when. It's pretty much a big free for all in our house, which obviously makes keeping toys cleaned and organized a lot harder. But I decided a while back that I'm ok with that; I'm not naturally inclined to keep things orderly all the time, so we just have to deal with a big clean up at the end of the day, since they tend to make pretty big messes. If I had more boundaries/routines around what toys could be out, or picking things up as we go throughout the day, it would probably have worked well. Alas, that is not me, and I'm ok with it  .
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CrunchyMom
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Has anyone used one of the Lego mats that is a round sheet with the drawstring so that it can be pulled into a duffel to hang on a hook? If my oldest and dh weren't natural sorters, it seems like such a nice solution.
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Lindsay
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Topic: Lego Organization
