Friday, September 9, 2011

Lost in Lego?

It is no secret we love Lego at my house. Keeping it under control, easily accessible, easy to play and build with and out from under foot, is a work in progress.  I thought I'd share our Lego corner with you - it has been working for us for awhile.

Since that's where all the Lego building action is, we will be starting at the ground for our tour.   (Just FYI I'm going to note my resources for supplies, but I don't have any sponsors for the post) My sister Joanna sent us the labels for the shoe bins (from the Container Store ~20 bins for $35, I really love these boxes, with clear lids they are super durable and stack really well).  We have our Lego sorted by colour and then a few sets are in bins by themselves and a few by theme - Star Wars, Lego Agents, Harry Potter, Atlantis or whatever.  These bins are labeled with stickers and pictures from Lego.com.  The blue bin (other colours too and comes with a base plate) is available at Amazon.com (which we actually found at a thrift store) is for any mini-figures and accessories, often a built police car or certain small specialty pieces.
Next above the storage bins are the tables and shelving (thanks Ikea $10 LACK tables and EKBY BJÄRNUM Shelves).  I learned it is pretty important to have lots of display and play area for creations.  It helps keep things off the floor and they love to show what they are working on to everyone who comes over.  The creations tend to move around a lot on the shelves and are changed often.  Bigger sets like the Atlantis fortress are more fun to play with and I do less repairs when they are off the ground.  The tables are also great because they are mobile and can be moved to the middle of the room or another wall (two was kind of important to have once for each boy, one just didn't have enough elbow room).

I actually put up the shelves completely by myself and I'm not very handy. I liked this system because of the 1) Style is industrial/boyish 2) Price 3) Custom - You decide the length of shelves (I got 3 smaller shelves from one board purchased) and there are two depths to choose from 4) No painting, the ends are covered by the bracket.


The sorted by colour system seems to work for us.  Once a project has been disassembled the pieces can be found in their matching colour, we've been able to rebuild sets easily from the instructions. It can take a little work to re-sort after a massive building session, but it is worth it and the boys are getting speedier.  I promise it doesn't always look like this...maybe one of these posts I'll show you and action shot :)

Oh not pictured we have a binder 3-ring binder with plastic sleeves to store the instructions for the sets, it makes them easy to find and flip through and keeps them from losing pages.

I'd love to know what works for you to organize toys - Lego or otherwise, Any thoughts?
Happy Building!

8 comments:

ade said...

Love this...you are so creative and fun. wish my toy room was that organized.

Diane said...

I've actually rebuilt my toy collection a little bit for the grandkids. I have white plastic bins, a little smaller than a laundry basket, and put like toys into each bin. One each for legos, blocks, puzzles, little people, cars, brio trains, etc. Every once in a while I have to do a big sort, but they stay pretty organized. Each bin fits on a shelf in my family room.

Jamie said...

As always, you are a genius.

Lorna said...

Looks very organized but still fun and easily accessible. Always wondered do you sort by color or keep it in sets.

Dyann said...

The Type A uber-organized side of my brain is giggling with glee. Color organized? LOVE IT!!!!

Nice job, Mama, in coming up with a solution for the needs of your creative boys AND yourself!

*pat on the back*

Jana said...

This is so awesome!

Elisha and Scott said...

Oh that is great. I know one day Foster will be into Lego's and this is a great system. Thanks for sharing your amazing ideas!!!! Miss you guys!

Michelle Paige said...

Super great idea to hang those shelves for display. I love those IKEA tables too. Inspiring!
--MichellePaige