Lego blocks. LEGO. Legos. That word sounds really weird really fast.
We love and hate them. I only really hate them when I step on their razor sharp hard as steel tiny but you are gonna wish you were dead edges.
Tiny Twig started a little conversation about Legos the other day on twitter:
Then Heather chimed in:
And Caroline added some ideas:
I completely agree with Caroline that Lego blocks are an investment. You can’t play with them without using your imagination and getting creative~toys don’t get much better than that. And these days at 13, my oldest has outgrown toys and only plays with sports equipment, and the only toys that our 9 and 10 year olds play with are Legos, and not so much lately. Did you hear that? My kids are almost done playing with toys!!! Legos are all that’s left and they are hanging on by a thread. And it makes me sad. These boys are growing up so fast and now I don’t mind seeing a few stray Legos. I might even be guilty of sprinkling a few blocks around the house hoping to remind them to play with them.
While yard saleing {my favorite sport} with Angela on Saturday, we hit a house selling “fill a gallon bag with Lego blocks for $1″~ jackpot! I brought a bagful home and crossed my fingers that they would work their magic and sure enough, within the hour our two youngest were all about the Legos again.
A few years ago I finally gave in and accepted the fact that the easiest way for the boys to play with Legos is to dump them {the Legos, not the boys} in a wide mouth container so they can sort through their collection IN the container instead of dumping it on the ground. We moved from a metal bin to a large lined laundry basket and now it’s so full that they still can’t look through everything but, it’s easier than a tall narrow container.
So here’s Lego central in our house. Nothing all that life changing. The fella up there with Lego on the brain is the one most addicted so he keeps most of them in his room. We brought in a table so he could have a big building surface and there’s the basket full of Legos. As they’ve gotten older the Legos are downstairs less and less. Sometimes when we get in the mood they’ll bring the basket downstairs and we’ll dump it out in the family room and I’ll pick out the rouge marbles and hot dogs ends and used band aids. Then we have a contest to see how fast we can clean it up.
What about you? How do corral Legos? Do you love or hate them?
We use a wrapping paper box made by Sterilite. Its the kind that can fit under a bed, but we keep ours in the family room. The boys can rummage through the box to look for “the piece” without dumping, and when I find random bricks and toss them in, I have a better chance of getting them in! :)
That’s what we used, too. The long, skinny bin is perfect for searching, and rarely any Legos get loose. I just packed all the Legos in a bigger storage bin yesterday because they are going to the attic to wait for grandchildren…my 14 year old doesn’t play anymore. ::sniff::
My 15 yr old son still loves Legos. He collects them, writes reviews about sets, enters online contests, and blogs about them. He also in in charge of keeping them organized. After Nesters encouragement to get rid of things I don’t love, I cleaned out the built- in curio cabinet and turned more than half of it over to Lego display. Yep, Legos are displayed with my antique dessert glasses and tea sets. I wouldn’t have it any other way because it shows who we are as a family.
So sweet!
Legos ARE an investment! When my 3 kids (now 11, 13, 15) were old enough to play with them, we gave them the Legos my husband and I had as kids ourselves. (We were so anal rententive we both saved all the instruction booklets…) We went to yard sales and got Legos, we ate at McDonald’s when Legos were the Happy Meal toy, we let the kids pick out a set when they had been especially good. Now we have SO MANY Legos they are spilling out of the 3 Rubbermaid bins that house them. Luckily we have a playroom and they are banished down there. Each night the kids have to pick them all up or I get the ones left out. They go into a different bin that must be earned back. They are so upset when an especially rare piece ends up there that I rarely need to pick anything up myself.
We have my childhood lego collection plus lots of yard sale brick bins and birthday-gift sets…millions of pieces! We keep ours in a large rolling drawer under the boys’ bunk beds. Unfortunately I have not had luck with keeping them in one room, or even on one floor. They tend to migrate all over the house. So, I have a couple of small baskets in different rooms (kitchen, playroom, family room) where I stash the legos I pick up under foot. About once a week or so, I take them and dump them all back in the bin.
My son just turned 5 and got a TONNE of Lego for his birthday. I normally don’t allow toys in bedrooms (that’s what the playroom is for), but that is where his Lego lives. Finished projects can come out and play with other toys, though. He only builds stuff on a blanket on the floor, which can be easily dumped back into the bin. My almost 30 year old brothers still enjoy Lego, and at family gatherings, we usually find them with all their nieces and nephews crowded around the giant bin of Lego that my mom still has!
I should add that my kids are allowed to play in their bedrooms, but it’s easier to keep them tidy if the toys are stored in the playroom… I’m not a mean mommy :)
We are big fans of Lego here and we keep it in large plastic tubs where it can be easily stored after a play session. We have to pick it up or the dog eats it! :)
I put my coffee table into my son’s room (nearly 13- STILL loves to build with Legos!) for him to build on, and he keeps the Legos in bins underneath. MUCH better than building on the floor, with pieces going everywhere! (Oy do they hurt!)
Your lined laundry basket is nice, but nothing beats plastic “underbed” boxes. They’re shallow enough that not a lot of digging is required and they’re stackable too.
We tried keeping them in the bins sorted by color, which worked surprisingly well, and then putting the tiny heads, swords, glasses, bodies, antennae, wheels, etc., in a plastic, briefcase-style tool organizer with movable sections.
And then we kept an empty bin for projects that were in progress. Granted, we could keep all this stuff in the basement, so compactness wasn’t an issue, but it was a good system for us.
I think the under the bed bins are GENIUS! our boys all have trundles/underbed drawers or else we would probably use those genius bins. Let’s just call them Genius Bins now.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one! Just yesterday my son got grounded from legos for a couple of days because he is the one that leaves them all over the house. They were shoved in nooks and crannies in our dining room, and I was tired of harping about keeping them downstairs.
I like the ideas for storing them. Our lego bucket clearly isn’t big enough. And apparently I need a specific lego table as well. I hope rearranging a few things will help me love the legos more! They really are a great toy. But man I hate stepping on them.
Would you believe that my sons still enjoy creating things with Legos…and they’re mid 20s to 30s?
We have 2 huge storage boxes filled with Legos, just waiting until we have grand children. They are such a great tool for creativity, small motor coordination and memory skills. They are some of the best investments we made as parents. We also have tons of Brio train stuff…and Playmobile. Recently my youngest son found his soccer playmobile set…and took it home with him. He used to play for hours with these things…using GI JOE guys as the opposing teams.
If I could pick one toy, it would be legos. The more, the better. Not the specialized, specific sets, but the random pieces with endless possibilities. We love legos, and just deal with the creative mess. When they want to dump them all out of the large rubbermaid bin, we spread a flat sheet or old comforter on the floor. Then, they are easy to scoop up and dump back into the bin, or tie up the bundle and stash it in a corner if the play is still in progress…”I haven’t finished building [it] yet!” The sheet helps to define the play area too, and somewhat limits the wandering legos. Except when the imaginary battle rages and missles volley around the room….The variety of creative play makes them well worth the scattered clutter.
My youngest likes the kits, especially Star Wars, so we have them in zip-loc bags with the picture from the box and the instructions. Those bags are put in a big bin so he can rummage through and find them. The others are kept in big bins that we pull out when we know his 11-month-old niece won’t be around. I wish I had invested in a table for his room so he could keep them out, but the boy does not play in his room at.all. Wants to be where the action is.
We have a long underbed plastic storage box (like 3 ft long). The kids build on the lid and can shove everything under their bed when not in use.
Girl, you are singin my song today, I swear I’m under Lego attack! Who is the idiot, I mean genius behind these toys that makes all boys crazy for years? Cash cow, right? I can’t complain, for every dollar I’ve invested I’ve gained several hours of independent play time, love that. Quiet solitude as the mind creates, worth every penny. I pick them up from other mom’s who’s kids have outgrown them, thankfully they’re fit is universal (again, genius).
I store my kids in large bins too, but that classic ‘hand deep into Lego bin’ searching sound over and over and over can be like nails on a chalkboard sometimes, so if he pours them out on the carpet, I’m OK with that. That is until I step on the mini torturous toys in the middle of the night.
The battle continues . . .
xo
Kate
OMG…I’m laughing so hard right now. The first line in the second paragraph…”I store my kids in large bins too” well, yeah, I went there in my mind. Your children all tucked in for the night in nice big clear sided giant shoe boxes with color coordinated lids covered in cute vinyl cut outs. LMBO! Sorry.
Totally off topic, but the ‘store my kids in bins’ line reminds me of the time we made a family cookbook and discovered that my cousin had a chicken recipe calling for ‘cut up, cooked, children’! Talk about a Freudian slip. She never heard the end of that one!
And with my fourth boy on the way, my whole life is Legos. I have a love/hate thing with them. They keep my boys busy for HOURS, but they migrate all over the house. No matter what system we use the boys aleays have to update it to allow for expansion. And they build elaborate toys that need to be displayed for years. I had a friend who gave her entire sunroom to her kids as a Lego room. If I had a big enough house…
I bought some plastic scrapbook supply drawers. We labeled each drawer with the name of the kit of the Legos inside (Star Wars, Batman, etc.) Keeping the kits separate seems to have worked well with my two boys, who are 10 ad 13. The nice thing is that each “drawer” has a lid, so when you slide the drawer out of the frame you can open it and play with the Legos right there or you can take the kit with you when traveling to grandma’s house or anywhere else. Here’s a photo:
http://bookhuntersholiday.wordpress.com/2008/03/05/chapter-133-extreme-home-makeover-well-kind-of/
you are so organized!
My two boys are 4 and 7 so just getting started on their lego craze. We have them in a large storage tub which is stored under a play bench that I made in their playroom. I still find them everywhere but they get tossed into this bin immediately. My eldest keeps the instruction books for the various creations (not sure he’ll every actually rebuild any of them) so they are stored in the desk drawer also in the playroom. The newest lego-love is Lego Heroes – little lego men that have interchangeable parts. Those now have their own bin, too, under the bench.
We try to keep kits together, using plastic storage boxes (the cheap ones made for food) but for the inevitable, loose Legos, we’ve started using Box4Blox (http://www.box4blox.com/order.html ). There are 4 stack-able, square trays that have graduated holes in the bottom of each, except the last one, and as you throw your Legos in, they are automatically sorted by size. It makes looking for certain pieces much easier.
I like using those lego “mats” that can tie up like a bag or drawstring bag. Similar to this:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Design4Generations?ref=seller_info
I really love legos but we’re just getting into them in a serious way. My oldest is 7. I love the sets and currently, as he gets a set – then builds it – the final product and accompaniments (read – extra men / parts / instructions) all go in a ziploc bag. These bags then go in his basket of toys on the lower shelf of our family room coffee table – his little brothers basket is on that shelf also. So in the end it’s all readily available but generally out of site when you walk in the room. Can you tell we’re organized – everything – in – it’s – place engineers?! Judging from the size of your sons basket of legos – I’m fearing that my son’s like of them will result in a similar accumulation and then I’m going to have to revisit this post and really study up on my options.
Thanks for your inspiration on making a beautiful home and also your honesty about actually living in it.
Blessings.
Love your post! A BIG time (9 year old) LEGO lover lives in my house! In fact, we even made our own LEGO mini-figures to add to the collection!
http://michellepaige.blogspot.com/2011/03/kid-crafting-making-your-own-mini-lego.html
We have big, clear, plastic bins to store all those LEGOS pieces and a full size TV cabinet (with no TV inside) that is dedicated to LEGOS. All of his crazy, creations are stored safely in the cabinet. This makes it easy when it’s time to clean up, since my child does want to break apart his masterpieces and I want everything behind closed doors! The cabinet is located in the family room.
I LOVE Legos! My oldest son, now almost 23, played with leogs until he was in High School. He would build the most AMAZING things with them. So amazing that I told him he needs to work at legoland. We have kept all his leogs since we had a suprise baby when our oldest was 20 and we had another boy. We have always kept them in rubbermaid containers that slides under the bed. That served 2 purposes. One it kept the legos contianed and under the bed clean cause there was no whereto shove stuff under.
I have TWO lego fanatics around here, so the house is swarming with legos. I keep small bins in each boy’s room and one downstairs to toss the stragglers in, but the main storage is upstairs in the bonus room. I recently bought one of these IKEA storage units…
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S49857350
I have THREE of those large blue bins to store the legos in. The bins transport easily to any room in the house and I keep an old vinyl tablecloth around so if they want to dump them out they can on the tablecloth. When it’s time to clean up, we scoop them all onto the tablecloth, gather it up and pour them back into the bin (a little trick I learned from the kindergarten teacher!)
That’s what we have! They work perfectly. I bought the skinny drawers so we don’t have to dump them out everytime. And, like you said, the bins are super easy to take out and move around…
LOVE THEM…think of all the things they can imagine with Lego’s. Under the bed bins are the best.
My oldest is 3 so we are merely at the dawn of the lego phase… thanks for all the tips! The one thing I love about them so far is that you can lose one (or a few) and the set isn’t “ruined”. I am so tired of worrying about the pieces-parts that go with games, toys and puzzles that become worthless when a piece breaks or goes missing.
Legos – the bain of my existence. My daughter is 6 months old, so I told my 9 year old step-son that any Legos I find that are randomly on the floor are getting vacuumed!!
We finally just gave him a wide mouth bin, so he can easily dump them and put them back. There really isn’t anywhere else to put them! Those things just grow and multiply so much!
When we had a baby in the house, we had to make pretty strict Lego rules. We confined them to upstairs only. The baby only crawled and played downstairs, so that was a good enough separation for us. Any Legos that found their way downstairs were going to be mine to keep!
Our solution to the Legos, wooden train sets, play food and dishes, Polly Pockets–anything with lots of pieces–has always been to go with a container that is very wide and very shallow. So we have about a dozen of those under bed storage boxes. We usually keep them stacked on utility shelving, not actually under their beds, though. The rule is, rummage to your heart’s content, but never ever dump! Since it’s shallow, they can see what is there and will even use the lid for sorting. Once my son started getting “valuable” lego sets, we started bagging those pieces together within the tubs so he could rebuild that particular Star Wars vehicle or whatever. We put the instruction sheets in a binder that he could flip through any time he wanted. We also put the Lego magazines and catalogs and things in that binder as well.
Lego has been great for us. Such a good toy!
No Legos here (yet! I’m still hoping for a boy some day!), but I remember my brother had tons and tons of them. I think my dad had just as much fun playing as my brother. The Legos lived in a long, shallow military style wooden box that my dad made.
I imagine that Lego clutter must be similar to Polly Pockets. I have many an injury from stepping on tiny Polly Pockets accessories. We keep the shoes in one repurposed baby wipes container and the small accessories in another, and the furniture and dolls in a larger plastic bin. They all fit inside a giant canvas bin that sits on the shelf.
Like others said, we use the big plastic drawers so the Legos stay mostly sorted by color/thing and they don’t have to be dumped out. We only have Legos in the bedrooms and they’re pretty good about that rule – I always warn before I vacuum that any Legos will be sucked up – I do not pick them up. I’m impressed that some keep them sorted by kit. My son builds the original thing one time and then it never appears again. He’s all about making up his own stuff. He also has a table in his room for displaying and/or building.
I will add that my girls like Legos too. Not to the extent that my son does but they frequently get their Legos out to make houses and furniture for the Playmobile people. It’s funny to see how differently they play with things.
My oldest is almost 7, so we are still in the beginning lego stages. He pretty much puts the sets together then puts the finished project on display (you should see his room – legoland). He has not gotten into the “let’s see what I can make with this pile” stage. My sister had a ton of legos that were her son’s (who is now in college) and gave them all to us. So I bought 2 of those drawer/chest toy storage pieces from IKEA and filled them up. They are great because you can buy thin drawers, which means you don’t have to completely dump them out to find a piece. We are keeping the legos contained….for now. I’ll let you know in a year or 2 what the house looks like!!
Danielle
Such memories! My son was a Legoaholic even into his early teens. They were everywhere and I thought the day would never come when he stopped playing with them. But it did. Today they are stored in plastic bins in the basement awaiting grandchildren (years from now!).
Excuse me, I think I’ll go cry now.
We haven’t gotten to the world of little Legos as of yet. We are still in the mega block stage but storage is still an issue. We have a rack that holds bins (found at target). We seperate ours by kind due to having the large mega blocks, Thomas mega blocks and some other different themed ones. My boys like this so far but I don’t know how it will translate to little legos.
Quite a few people are mentioning boys, boys, boys, but I wanted to point out that girls love Legos too! My best friend and I split our time pretty equally between Barbies and Legos, and I still made things up until middle school. I used to love building multi-story houses complete with furniture and stairs. But then, I did major in mechanical engineering in college!
I’m actually tempted to bring back the Legos from my parents’ house next time I’m home since we have a house now. I have my set from childhood, and my mom also has the set she had in her kindergarten classroom until she retired. Might be fun to play legos with my husband; he still likes them too!
We have them in a rolling suitcase. It happened by accident when my son was picking them up and put them in there instead of the original tub I had. Now he can take it anywhere in the house and they are easy to sort through, without dumping. Love the legos!
I love that!
great!!!!! and perfect for rolling right into a closet if needed.
We put them in one of those clear plastic, under bed storage bins so the boys can just roll it out and sort through them easily. I have mixed feelings about buying those expensive Star Wars ships that they get so excited about at Christmas because once they build them, they are DONE. No one touches it again until…. it breaks!!! and the pieces get all mixed up in our big lego bin!! Aha, then the REAL creativity begins again. We now need like 3 BIG under bed storage bins. Thanks, Nester, I’m going to pull out those legos right now and see if I can get the boys to discover them again!
My son who is almost 13 loves his legos. He has a big rubbermaid bin that slides under his bed full of lego. Also I made sure that he had space on his bookshelf to house those creations! We also have a rubbermaid thingy on wheels with drawers full of more lego that just tucks into his closet. His lego stays in his room and we just sweep things under the bed!
I put all of the legos in a large box that slides under the bed. Its one of those long flat boxes. makes it so much easier for them to find the pieces they are looking for.
We used underbed boxes for a long time, but now we have 4 boys in one room and they have all collected legos. Last year, we were given a trundle bed frame that we filled with legos instead of a mattress. They can roll it out, see everything, and then roll it away. The things they build even stay put together. It is working great! (and I don’t even want to think about them outgrowing legos, but we are moving in that direction)
THAT is so smart!
I think we may win the prize as the house with the most LEGO bricks. My two oldest, at 20 and 18, are too old to play with them. But my 14-year-old? Still going strong. What’s cool is that now his LEGO YouTube channel has advertising, so makes a little money with his LEGO hobby. (For reals! So far he’s gotten three checks from Google AdSense!) You can check him out on YouTube for reviews of any LEGO set you might be interested in: LegoLee329.
As for corralling LEGO bricks, I’ve been working on that for 15 years now. Yep, it’s now been 15 years since my oldest got his first “real” LEGO set. And for 15 years I’ve had LEGO bricks strewn across my tables, counters, and floors. Over the course of those years I’ve discovered that nothing really works very well. But it’s worth a bit of mess to have my boys using their imaginations and enjoying themselves so much. (Bonus: if you get LEGO sets, they have to follow directions carefully to put them together!)
I’ll have a spotless house when they’ve all left home, which will be here before you know it. For now I’m enjoying the mess and the kids who got with it. :)
Yes, I think Richella’s boys win the lego fanatic award. You inspired me to buy certain sets for my boys!
Ok…this is the best way to organize legos…Purchase an xL flat under the bed container. (They fit under coffee tables too- hee) Also purchase a large 3 slot divided container (like for silverware) We put or lego bricks and such in the flat container so kiddos can spread through and get the leggos in a single layer while searching. In the 3 slot bin we keep wheels in one slot, guys in another slot and little pieces (goggles, weapons, chains, steering wheels) The 3 slot container sits in the larger container with the bricks. Keep adding bins as needed so you have them in all rooms. :)
This has been a lifesaver for us! Hope it helps.
I think my organized boy would love that!
Our legos are in a big rubbermaid bin. . . .when kids play with them. . they dump the bin onto a sheet. . .and then when they are done. .you pick up the ends of the sheet and dump them all back into the bin. . takes a total of about 2 minutes. . .
And you made me laugh. . .it so bothers me that there are other things in the lego bin. . .why can I not let that go. . I mean I have, but deep down it still bugs me. . .
a sheet. A SHEET. Why haven’t I ever thought of that?!
Neat ‘n Tidy Playmat Bags are a great way to play, pack, and store Legos! It is perfect for all busy children. The bag opens up to create a perfect play area for all those toys that come with numerous pieces. Open it up and use it as a large playmat for activties such as Legos, Kynex, blocks, dolls, and more.
When playtime is finished, push all materials into a pile in the center of the circle. No safety concern about drawstrings here… with just 3 simple folds, all of the toys are safely stored in a convenient bag and ready for the next play time.
My 40 year old husband has received LEGO for a birthday or Christmas every year since he was 6. He and his brother have TUBS of Lego sorted by color in a closet at my MIL’s house. Luckily, my 4 year old hasn’t inherited them yet. We have one huge LEGO tub in his room plus a table for building on. We TRY to make sure everything goes back into the tub at night to avoid stepping on the in the dark.
I love the creativity they allow my kids. I do not love stepping on them. We store ours in a three drawer cart on wheels in my son’s room, with the pictures for the sets in a binder in the cart.
Okay, I’ll feel a little crazy admitting this now but oh well. Our legos are seperated by set into plastic see through containers (with their instraction booklets). The containers are then stacked under the folding banquet table that my son has in his playroom to build on. On the back of the table he has a few of the big “cups” that they sell at the lego store where you can buy random parts. We are almost obsessively organized about our legos, but I promise it doesn’t translate into other areas. :)
I am just about sure this was not the intention of your post at all…. but when I read that your boys are almost done playing with toys, I just about dern near lost it.
here is darlene.
crying in front of a lego post.
oh dear.
I’m on the fence. I HATE stepping on them…and HATE having them ALL over the house in various places. But LOVE how they inspire imaginative play.
I have a story for you…how sad is this…my stepson has NEVER had to use his imagination and build stuff (not even BLOCKS!!!)…he’s 6 and his Mom has always lets him play video games or with his trucks/wrestlers/etc. We got him some for Christmas because he was eyeballing my son’s star wars set (had to diffuse that situation fast!). He had NO clue on what to make or HOW to use them! I was dumbfounded! How does a 6 year old have NO CLUE how legos go together? It took us showing him about six times on how they can go together. Then he was whining because he couldn’t get some of the parts to go together perfectly…LOL! We told him it was okay for some of the parts to be sticking out…just use his imagination and turn it into something. After about 3 days…he was a pro…taking apart “cars”, and “planes”…having a blast!
Another thing to do with legos when your kids are done with them – send them to missionary kids or kids in poverty-stricken countries. (They tend to be very expensive overseas, but are such a great toy for creative brain development, something very necessary in poverty situations). As for the MK’s, I grew up as a missionary kid and legos were our favorite toy (but again, too expensive to buy), such a great surprise when we got any “new” ones to add to our collection :)
My youngest son, Chase, who is 9 and is a “Lego Maniac.” Seriously, we buy more Legos than I can tell you! And they can be expensive but they build creativity so as long as he will play with them than we will buy them! May 25th is his 10th birthday….I am hanging onto to him being 9 until then…ya know, my last baby and I am not crazy about the “double digit thing.)…of course, I digress…..anyway, a trip to the Lego Store is on the list for next week and Chase has a ton of things circled in his Lego catalog for his birthday list.
Oh, storage….bins with lids and they all slide under the bed or stack nicely in the closet…..wish I could keep them sorted (used to do that….LOL) but I have outgrown that kind of control! LOL
Have you ever seen http://www.thebricktestament.com/ ?
It’s Bible stories told using Lego bricks!
I’ve used portions of it to tell stories in Sunday’s school. (Portions, Because beware, some of it is X-rated!)
With two girls, we had very few Legos. They had a bunch of Bratz dolls which they sold 3 for $5 (!!!) at our garage sale last year. I really was not sorry to see them go. LOL