Lego organization

My kids have all been working very hard at keeping their rooms clean and their beds made. Each week if they’ve done that every day they get $2, one for the bed and one for the room. They’ve been saving for a month, and they proudly went out and bought their first Lego sets (sadly I didn’t get pictures of them buying, and thankfully we had a very understanding cashier at Wal-Mart). We got home and spent a long time putting it all together. Everyone’s been asking lots of great questions about my Lego organization (Future Ticia 2019, I’m also going to explain our current LEGO organziation plan, such as it is, it’s 10 years later and they have a zillion more LEGOs). Hopefully I’ll answer them all, so here goes:

1. Where did I get my organizational drawers for LEGO organziation?

You can get a very similar one, if not the same at Home Depot. I’ve also seen similar at Lowe’s, Joanns, probably Michaels, heck probably even Wal-Mart. It’s part of the garage storage at the home improvement stores, at Joann’s part of their general storage area. I’m sure there’s also a version at Container Store. I haven’t seen anything like it at Ikea’s yet.

Future Ticia 2019 here, that worked so much better when my kids were younger, but now we use recycled Parmesan containers with a nice screw-on lid and sort it by color. This works great because now LEGO has so many specialized pieces, that it is easier to sort by color rather than size. If you don’t go through Parmesan like we do, then I would suggest something like these. I’ve found the lids on plastic shoe boxes don’t always stay on super well, and this holds it on better.

Because we have a zillion LEGOs, I’ve also kept a large number of them back in some extra tubs (recycled animal cracker bins (my Mom works at a library, so I have loads of them),  just to cut down on the mess. I occasionally rotate them around from time to time.

2. What do I do with sets?

I break them up and put them in the drawers. In the long run it actually does make it easier to find the right piece because you always know it’s in this drawer, or that’s the theory of LEGO organization. I do let them keep some things put together and in a small box, that’s just self-defense for the whining.

Now, my kids have a couple of IKEA tables, and a giant wall unit, they store special sets on the wall unit. They used to have a giant Minecraft world on those tables, but we’ve cleaned them off to create a giant place for playing board games with friends. Or, so goes the theory.

3. What do I do with the instruction books?

I ALWAYS save them. I also save the backs of the boxes. Usually, the backs will have pictures of different ways you could put it together. This is a great problem-solving activity because you have to figure out how to put together the picture with no directions. They go in a small tote bag that’s on the side table.

How our LEGO organization looks (messy room and all)

The large bases store between the TV table and the wall.

The lego drawers are under the table. The kids don’t like this arrangement as much, but they can be pulled out if need be.

The bag of instructions is on the other side of the coffee table. This is the same bag the instructions were in for me as a kid. I’m pretty much stealing my Lego organization straight from what my Mom did (only slightly simpler, it’s not by color). Sigh, I just noticed the empty soda can…..

Now, the LEGO instructions reside in a couple of drawers in the cubbies I have from when I was teaching elementary school. I’ve discovered my kids don’t care about them as much as I do. I’ve actually caught them recycling a few of their set instructions. This makes me so sad because I LOVE LEGO instructions. I’m weird, I know.

And when I went to get the pictures, my sons who had come down about 5 minutes earlier complaining about being awake were asleep.

Superman on his favorite spot on the couch.

Batman stumbled in to cry at me, and then I told him to go sleep on my bed. He apparently took my advice.

A bit about how we use LEGO in our homeschool

• LEGO history
• LEGO Fountain of Youth
• LEGO Discovery of Greenland
• LEGO Paul’s missionary journeys
• LEGO journeys of Leif Ericson

“Lego” by Slack pics is licensed under CC BY 2.0.