How DO you store your legos?

[jtbuko]

We hit the lego mother-load this Christmas -- the inlaws sent every lego in their house (DH is second of 5) to my kids. Now that we have ten times more legos then we used to we need a better system for accessible storage and play that does not drive me batty. Any one want to share their set up?

[vm9799]

my 10 year old son is a lego FANATIC! and has been since he was about 3, so we've been dealing with this for a long time now. he has some particular 'sets' that he puts together and they stay that way (the town plan, the christmas winter toy shop, and some individual sets as well).......those go on shelves to be brought down for play. the others he stores all the pieces in big bins that he pulls out to build whatever his heart desires. if there are other sets that he'd like to keep the pieces together, but doesn't want to put on display, those pieces go in large gallon sized ziploc bags with the instructions as they take up way less space than saving all the boxes. he has very few kept this way as most end up being broken down and mixed with the rest of the bricks.

he has a wonderfully wild imagination and loves to build so we've found legos to be such a great medium.

[hillymum]

Two of my boys share a room so that they can have a lego room. There is a bed in there, but it's now a guest bed, should someone be brave enough to risk crossing a lego strewn floor in bare feet. We have an Ikea coffee table with two large storage boxes in it for the lego, but most of it is spread out on the floor. There are "inventions" and "creations" on a bookshelf which stay there. I think I have managed to vacuum in there twice this year. i think my kids are obsessed with lego!

[meco]

I have these large, square, shallow drawer-like things that go under my son's bed. You can see the pieces easily, and they are accessible.

In two, he does basic legos pieces. In another, he has all the weird pieces like wheels, wings, doors, etc. And then we have a tackle box like thing with dividers that we put all those tiny pieces in (anything smaller than a 2 top). And another box for people, their accessories and pieces. This way he can find the pieces he needs really easily, and he does not have to constantly dump out tubs and pick them back up.

Then, we have a big shelf with the creations and inventions he wants to display and the Star Wars series. And right now, my dining room table is covered in an entire, big scene. I am thinking about getting a long, thin desk for his room so he can set up the themes there and still have access to them to play.

I would love a lego room! With a lego wall with drawers for all the pieces like at the store. Wouldn't that be nice?

[mamadelbosque]

My brother had one of those big rubber made tubs, inside of which was a sheet with all the legos inside of that - so you could spread them out on the floor to dig through, but also easily put them all away in the tub when you were done. I just have/had a tub that I had to dig through (never got a sheet somehow...). DS1's still into duplos and we just have them in a tub...

[boheime]

We have a long, shallow tub that is easy to dig through and easy to toss them in.

[Purple*Lotus]

At work we organize them in to plastic bins then lable what it is, for example "Fire Station", "Space", and our run of the mill legos. That works well and since we also put a picture of them put together on the outside, the kids can easily find the one they want to use.

[ikesmom]

I started thinking about this too since both boys are now really into the Lego thing..they got a bundle this year too.

I googled

For the serious.
.http://www.robotthoughts.com/marsrob...storageone.jpg

I think this is more doable
http://www.reasonablyclever.com/lego...ges/parts5.jpg

[meco]

ikesmom, that is some organization! It would drive my kid crazy because he likes to be able to see them without digging and dumping. But wow!

I love the under bed drawers because they shove under the bed, and they are out of site. I don't have to worry about storing a bunch of tubs or containers on the floor or on shelves. We have a small apartment so space is at a premium.

I also remember another thread with photos where a poster here built an under bed tray which is similar to what we do. We have 3 separate ones (it was a curbside score--they are dj cases that come apart and work perfectly for lego building). I think if I built one, I'd make separate sections to keep different kinds of parts separate (if your kid is like mine).

Also, for all the Lego lovers, Lego has a free Lego magazine, which is always a hit
http://club1.lego.com/en-US/legomagazine/default.aspx

And the Lego Digital Design Studio is as well--my kid loves this:
http://ldd.lego.com/download/

[jtbuko]

So great to wake up and find lots of responses. Thanks!

I really like the idea of turning the extra room into a lego room. The kids have their "own" rooms, but both sleep in one so it may be a possibility.

[greenmansions]

We also store lego (and brio builder) in shallow plastic tubs under the bed. The shallow tubs are great because it's easier to find pieces. Right now, what we have fits in one tub for each. We use the Sterilite brand ones with the nice flip-style lid closures on them.

I love the idea of fabric inside a larger bin - the kids' school always places a sheet on the floor before they dump the legos, to make clean up easier. I never seem to be in the right place at the right time to do it at home.

[CariOfOz]

We allegedly store our lego in an ikea trofast... but in reality.. they are stored under the couch cushions, all over the floor, in the toilet (the room where it's at, not the ACTUAL bowl ), in the sock drawer (hiding small creations from3 yo brother hehe), and even on the veranda

[JayGee]

When my brother was little, my Mom made a large circle of denim fabric that had a drawstring cord around the outside edge. Legos stayed on the fabric and when he was done playing, he just pulled the drawstring up and hung it on a hook in his closet, like a giant bag. It was great because you rarely had to actually pick up Legos, which is my pet peeve with any boxlike container. And it's easy to sew too.

[hteb83]

When I was small I had lots of small boxes (one for each colour and size!) but then I liked tidying them up more than playing with them...

[koofie]

My brother is 30, but still collects Lego. He stores all of his in plastic shoeboxes, one per color/type (with exceptions for other pieces), and larger bins for very common bricks, like red 2x6s. These are stored on bookcases. Obviously this might be more than you have, but in the past, he stored by color (a bin for red, one for blue, etc).

When we were little, my mom made a huge leg mat out of denim (6x6 ft, I think). She put in grommets around the edge, and strung rope through it. When bro was done, he just pulled the sting to make a bag... easy clean up. It didn't work when we got to many, but it was nice for disorganized moments.

[bjorker]

So jealous of the lego collections!

I just saw a contraption today that some of you might be interested in. It's basically a hopped-up storage container, but I still want one. ;P My cousin's son got this from his grandma as an xmas gift: http://www.zappos.com/n/multi_view.c...&ref=multi-pic

It comes with two removable lego bases on the top.

[bjorker]

Originally Posted by JayGee

When my brother was little, my Mom made a large circle of denim fabric that had a drawstring cord around the outside edge. Legos stayed on the fabric and when he was done playing, he just pulled the drawstring up and hung it on a hook in his closet, like a giant bag.

Originally Posted by koofie

When we were little, my mom made a huge leg mat out of denim (6x6 ft, I think). She put in grommets around the edge, and strung rope through it. When bro was done, he just pulled the sting to make a bag... easy clean up.

Are you two related?! LOL!

[mamababamba]

I bought about 10 plastic open bins that fit on ds's closet shelves. He chose categories and labeled them with our Brother label maker...things like basic blocks, specialized ship pieces, people, saved completions...etc. This takes up 3 of his 6 shallow closet shelves.

[jtbuko]

Originally Posted by CariOfOz

We allegedly store our lego in an ikea trofast... but in reality.. l

I am quickly learning that putting the legos in the Trofast inspires lego dumping... that's what started the post

And to the folks who recommend the round mat with grommets - thanks! Found two on etsy and just ordered one. There's another left for someone else not crafty who likes the concept

[gini1313]

Originally Posted by bjorker

Are you two related?! LOL!

Lol, dh's mom did that too

Ds has alot of legos, but likes to keep his "sets" intact (Lego Starwars, Indiana Jones, builders set, etc) so we have a bunch of smaller sized rubbermaid containers that fit on our shelves in the living room. He currently has 6 containers, but got two new sets for christmas, so I am going to get more and rearrange our shelves to make them fit. When we get a new set, we cut out the name of the set from the box and tape it on the outside of the box so he can tell what is in them.

We used to have them in a toy bin (the ones from target or where ever that have three rows of boxes without lids) in his room but he and his sister were fighting over them, so we moved them out of his room to be shared by everyone... We haven't had any battles about them since moving them to the living room and I think they get played with more now, too...

Duplos (which he and his sister (2.5) both still play with) are in a big rubbermaid bin all mixed together.