How to organize Legos?

[tema]

Hi ladies,

I'am trying to declutter my home and simplify my life like many others here.

As far as the kids' toys are concerned, we're doing ok...except for LEGOS...

What do you do about those? My son loves to build with them...and has lots of pieces (no sets...just the regular boxes of like 400 pieces etc)...

I can't really declutter any of them because he really plays with them for hours every day...but how can I organize them better? Where do you keep them when the kids are not playing with them?

He gets frustrated sometimes that he can't find a piece that he's looking for...and that they're all just dumped in a big pile...

Also any ideas on how to make clean up easier when everything's on the floor?

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

[FiveLittleDucks]

We only have several sets, and some from when DH was little, but I got sooo tired of seeing random little pieces all over the house. I just got a plastic bin with a lid and threw them in there. I couldn't think of anything better. Oh, and the lid is hard to open, so the kids have to get me to open the lid (which actually helps).

[ollineeba]

We are trying to declutter SO much and ds just had his 5th birthday. Guess what he got?? We just opened them this morning & I'm so afraid they will end up everywhere.. but he & DH are having a lot of fun with them. I'm just going to have to stress that they stay in one room & every piece gets picked up before we move on to another activity. But they're so darn small, I can see how it would be a problem.. especially if you have multiple sets.

[Mom4tot]

tema, we have a lot of legos and playmobil. One tip I might share is from our organizing the playmobil pieces. We have several containers and the smallest pieces go into one container, furniture (including smaller building pieces) go in another, people and animals in another, larger pieces (the helicopter, teepee in another. My son has several Star Wars lego sets that we are *attempting* to keep seperate for now. They go into their own smaller containers with the picture or directions in there with it. We also have one larger bin with assorted legos. Maybe your son would like to help organize the legos into very small pieces (might include faces, special pieces) and then go by type? Good luck... it is a lot to keep straight. My son loves to build so much, I am trying to make the effort

[mommaof3boz]

Donate em' to Goodwill?

[Marcee]

:

[Noisette's_Maman]

When my cousins were small my mom made them each a Lego sack---it's a large circular piece of cloth with grommets around the outside edge and a thick cord through the holes. The kids would play with the Legos on the cloth and when they were done they'd cinch it closed into a bag that could hang from a hook or sit on a shelf. It'a good way to quickly clean up the little pieces and keep them together, also makes carrying them from place to place easier.

As far as finding specific pieces...you can sort by shape or by color and keep them in separate bins/bags. Our kids haven't accumulated too many Legos/Playmobil pieces yet but I'm sure we'll have this challenge in the future.

[AuntLavender]

You want a shallow plastic under the bed box

It's like a baking sheet for Legos with a lid! This way your child can paw through them and it's a shallow one layer box of Legos rather than a deep tub which makes finding Legos impossible!

It's also easy to toss in Legos since you have a large area to toss them in versus the tall skinny storage tubs Legos often come in.

*We got a HUGE Banker's box of donated Legos. We actually have 2 under the bed boxes; one for bricks of all sizes and one for all the special Legos that are not just bricks!

Sincerely,
Debra, homeschooling mom of 4 ages 10, 9, 7, and 44 mos

[folkypoet]

Originally Posted by AuntLavender

It's like a baking sheet for Legos with a lid! This way your child can paw through them and it's a shallow one layer box of Legos rather than a deep tub which makes finding Legos impossible!

We have used a clear under-the-bed box in the past, but while I was downsizing, we switched to the bottom drawer of a Cargo dresser. I like keeping things out of sight, but accessible (it's still shallow and is at floor level), and this has worked great.

[Quaniliaz]

I just want to also agree with using a big shallow container. This is what we do, and it works great!! Its way less work than dividing different types, as well.

[minimunklemama]

that's what super glue was invented for
no more little pieces everywhere

only joking:0)

[sweetpeas]

When I was a kid I had a cardboard "chest of drawers" that were tiny little drawers, I think it was originally intended for index cards or something, guessing it was something that had been used in the office building where Dad worked & was no longer needed so dad brought it home. Anyway it worked GREAT because I could sort the pieces by size into all those little drawers and then no hunting to find what I needed Would guess there are plastic "organizers" out there (for sewing supplies, scrapbooking supplies, small things on the workbench, etc) that would work equally well.

[annethcz]

We just have a couple of big tubs that the legos came in originally. Our legos get played with at least once a day, if not more frequently. Yes, sometimes they get dumped on the floor, but they have to be cleaned up when the kids are done playing with them. I guess for us, it's not a big issue. When the kids are done playing, they all get tossed back into the tub, and the tubs are stored in bedroom closets. My kids have been given several different lego sets, but after a week or two, the sets just get dumped into the big tub with the rest of the generic legos. The duplos are stored in the bin they came in, the bin is stored under DD's bed.

I will admit that I'm ruthless about vacuuming/sweeping legos up. If I happen to find a stray lego on the floor, I will sweep or vacuum it up. We have enough that I don't stress about losing one or two occasionally.

I have a friend who requires that her DD lay out a large blanket on the floor before getting out the legos. The legos have to stay on top of the blanket. When her DD is finished with the legos, they just pick up the blanket and funnel the legos back into the lego box.

[lanamommyphd07]

ditto on the under-the-bed (or couch, or whatever) rolling shallow thing. The one piece of cheap plastic crap that is fantastic.

[4evermom]

We have some plastic bins, but I recently got a set of those little plastic drawers, like small hardware parts are kept in for the special lego parts. It's not ideal simply because ds is not at the point where he will put things away, so we need to help put them away. It helps ease ds' frustration with not being able to find things. This means he can work more independently when creating and I can choose when to help him (by putting the special parts away on my own time table instead of dropping what I'm doing to help him find something NOW). I mounted the drawer unit on the back of a book shelf that sticks out into the room as a divider of sorts. It is mostly out of sight while being accessible.

That grommet lego sack sounds neat!

[mrsuribe]

: :

My boys love Legos. At first I didn't want them because of the mess, but I finally gave in and I'm so happy. All my boys (including dh) love them! They get so creative. Yeah it sucks sometimes when I'm stepping on them or finding them at the bottom of the washing machine (for someone reason my 4 year old always keeps some in his pocket), but when I watch them create and play it makes it worth it. Especially on a rainy day.

I don't have a great organizing tip. I love the large, shallow bin.

I found this on the web:

http://www.box4blox.com/

I've never tried it but it looks pretty cool.

[folkypoet]

Originally Posted by mrsuribe

I found this on the web:

http://www.box4blox.com/

I've never tried it but it looks pretty cool.

What a cool idea! I wonder how well it sorts.... Won't work for us, though. We've got waaay too many pieces.