legos are everywhere {and our way of containing them}
If you have school-aged boys, perhaps you’ll identify with this one …
Legos are overtaking my house.
We’ve got ninjas on the coffee table
a knight protecting the entry table
randoms on the tv room chair
this awesome dude parked on my desk
They even hang out in the bathtub {deadliest catch, anyone?}.
For my own sanity, I ask that the boys keep most of the legos upstairs. The ones that are left downstairs go in this drawer in the living room. It helps having a place for the stragglers rather than walking them upstairs.
My kids are builders {and keepers of their creations} so most surfaces in their room are covered with all sorts of ships, speeders, robots, weapons and battle scenes.
Their floor is usually covered with them too.
The legos-everywhere part drives me crazy. Have you ever stepped on a lego with bare feet?!
At the same time, I love that I have such creative boys and want to encourage them with this imaginative pastime.
We’ve done our best to equip them with an organization system to keep things under control and it seems to be working pretty well.
These three sets of storage drawers {from Target} are perfect for color-sorting legos.
Each boy gets one drawer to hold their special things – you know, blue light sabers, Anakin’s hair, the monkey from the pirate ship. The rule in our house is that they are not allowed to open their brothers’ drawers. We figure everyone needs their own place to keep their special things. This has worked out great for us and has avoided lots of fights over who’s legos are who’s.
We also have this big bin that has not been sorted. It is helpful for when we need to do quick pick-ups and they can just toss the pieces in here. Every once in a while we do a little sorting {mildly therapeutic, I will say}.
So that is how we organize our legos. Someday I’d like to create cubbies for all of the creations to be stored in so that the dresser and bookshelves and floor can be cleared.
Do you have a system for organizing/storing legos?
The moms in the legos-are-taking-over-club would gladly take your suggestions!
Becca
My mom created something similar for me when I was young. But someone has “perfected” the “Lay-n-Go” mat. It keeps the lego in one place: http://layngo.com/
Melissa
I have 4 kids. Boy, Girl, girl, boy. My boy is almost 8 and he has a huge train table that he uses for legos. The table is always covered in loose pieces, so he builds his creations on the floor, which means there are loose pieces all over the floor as well. He shares a room with 14 month old brother, so it is an issue. Your drawers look like a great solution–although it seems a rather large footprint for small rooms. Sorting by color seems logical. We have loose pieces from ninjago, star wars, pirates of the carribbean, space police, alien quest, etc., etc, etc. so there’s no way we could sort by style or theme.
I stopped saving the instruction books a while back because once the sets were built and destroyed, the pieces were put to good use from his own imagination which is the other half of the fun of legos.
We don’t save creations that are built–from instructions or from imagination. Too little space to display.
My girls are now really excited about the new line of Lego Girl sets.
Good luck to us all! Long live Legos!!
Kristen K
Wow, that looks like my house…and car…and sometimes my purse! I’m constantly threatening to vacuum them up, and boy, they get cleaned up fast. But like you, I’m thrilled that my kids ( ten year old boy and eight year old girl) are so creative with the legos.
Michelle B
I need help with this too! Right now I just have a big rubbermaid that I keep dumping the legos in. I have a type case drawer hanging on the wall of my kitchen an I put the little lego guys in there if I see them laying around. Whatever system you figure out let me know – because I relate to the Legos everywhere thing oh so well!!!
Sarah
Stepping on Legos brings out some crazy animal in me! Those little buggers hurt!!
I love that Legos can keep my little ones entertained for hours, that they are so proud of what they create, and their imaginations get a workout. We have the huge Lego heads & they’re awesome! I got each boy one from Target & once you put the Legos in the top section of the head the appropriate sizes all filter down to their own level-instant organization! The top locks & there’s a handle for going upstairs/downstairs! Plus, they’re really cute for decoration!
Sara B
I see some Ninjagos! Legos dominate my house, too! The little Lego-lover in my house tends to hide them in every room, so he can have them wherever he is! Love your home and posts!!
stephy-lou
in 17 days away i’m due to give birth to my first bebe so not quite at the lego phase but boy do i appreciate a good organisation system………. i’m taking notes!
Kay
My lego builder is a freshman in college. I got tears in my eyes as I read this post and remembered all the legos everywhere!!!!!! Maybe I should send him one in his finals good luck packet!
Amanda
We have a combo of three solutions:
1. Bins labeled with the logo cut out from the box for each series – ie. Star Wars, Ninjago, etc. Special series-specific pieces are usually kept in these boxes.
2. Giant flat bins for creation storage. They slide under the bed.
3. Drawstring playmat for all loose pieces currently being played with. My mom made it from an old round tablecloth, then added a nylon casing at the edge and ran a nylon cord through, so it can be pulled and cleaned up instantly.
It works great….in theory. We still have pieces everywhere and stuff is constantly getting “lost” only to be found in the wrong box, swiped by baby brother, under the bed, etc. The only tried-and-true I have found to get EVERYTHING cleaned up is to tell him “I am vacuuming in 10 minutes.” Works every time!
Brandy
We got the Lay-n-go! It’s great we don’t organize we don’t fret! We just lay it out and play and once we are done we bundle it up and put it away. We got the large one, but to be honest we might need 2 as the collection grows!
http://www.layngo.com/
I do not sell these I just really liked the product!
Michelle
You may want to check out tipjunkie.com/lego-picturess/
There are great ideas how people store legos, decorated with legos, and display their legos.
Rachel
pinterest has some really great ideas for Lego storage, displays and organization.
Wendy J
Thank you. Thank you soooooooo much for this. If it weren’t 11 pm, I would head off to Target right now and get those drawers. Legos are the end all at our house. I have four little guys, the oldest is about to turn 9. They adore them, but my 3 year old wants in on the action just as much as the oldest. I love their own drawer thing, that is perfect.
I love your blog, your honesty, and your spirit. Thank you Emily.
Kat
My big brother is 32 and still puts Legos. Some might think that’s nerdy but I think it’s pretty cool. And what I love is that he has introduced my 2 year old to Legos. I have a feeling they’ll be all over my house in a few years! Great organization!!
Van
We have a 14-year-old son who now RARELY plays with Legos.
I long for the days of stepping on Legos and being driven crazy by the mess.
Enjoy these precious days!
** TIP: I always gave my son a sheet to put on the floor first. Then after all the Legos were done being played with, it was a breeze to clean up. Just close up the sheet.
Suzie B
It has been many years since my boys played with Legos, but for storage and clean up, we used a big Rubbermaid bin lined with an old crib sheet. There was nothing to buy; when they wanted to play they just pulled out the sheet and built on it, and when it was time to clean up, all they had to do was fold in the corners and drop it back in the bin. Easy peasy…except the months before we discovered this system.