Sorting, Storing, Playing. Kids and Lego

[ColdBricks]

Here's a bricky situation.

I have an almost 5 year old and he loves playing with the lego almost as much as I love buying it!! He loves making vehicles, planes, rockets, battleships, spaceships and anything in between. He can build from instructions - The Airmail Plane was his crowning achievement (I helped on 2 steps). But he loves dismantling them as much as building so we always have lego out. I don't have a massive amount, maybe 20,000 pieces, and I'm not a huge moc'er. So I'm not so precious about what he can play with.

My problem is trying to find a setup whereby the kid can play with the lego, but still find the pieces he needs, and then some way of him being able to put (some of) it back. I have toyed with the idea of just giving him one of the blue storage boxes full of his own stuff but he likes to pick out instructions and have a go at making stuff, which I don't want to discourage. Currently I've sorted most of it all into a couple of sizes of snap-lock bags, but now I've got a couple of hundred of the damn bags full of lego and the kid and he snaplocks disagree!

Unfortunately, we don't have a big house, no spare room where the lego can stay out all the time and my wife and the vacuum cleaner happen to be my minifigs nemesis!!!

So has anyone got any ideas?

[SWMAN]

I am a big fan of plastic storage containers. I am not sure where you live, but Bed, Bath, and Beyond or the Container Store will carry what you are looking for. So will Wal-Mart and Target.

[ColdBricks]

I'm starting to put some of it into 2ltr ice cream containers. I would love to put it all into plastic storage, but I have to get it out and put it away, also I'd have to have a couple of hundred containers if I were to have each piece sorted separately.

Unless there is a better way to combine pieces that I haven't figured out!

[Squeaker]

Use plastic storage bins around 6 inches deep and have them sorted by:

1. Color

or

2.Type(Bricks, plates, slopes, special pieces, minifigs*, wheels, etc.)

They should be around 4-6 inches for optimal piece hunting to practicality ratio( ) . Option 2 is better especially considering his building level. Good luck, and have fun!

*you might want to consider having one or two bead craft boxes for minifigs and their accesories, it makes it easier and works fantastically for me.

[Lorentzen]

This is really a tough one - I love how my 2½ year old daughter just recently began to play with Lego instead of Duplo, but because she's still very young, I've sorted all the regular bricks from everything else, which means she can build walls, houses and basic cars, but all of my sets are hidden away because I know that there will be lots of important pieces that will disappear in time if she starts to play with that now.

Your son is a lot older than my daughter, so you have to face the fact that he loves to play with more complex Lego sets and bricks, and when he does, he maybe forgets to think about keeping track of all the smaller pieces. I think you should just encourage him to keep building the sets, but at the same time, show him that the blue bricks belong in this box, the flat plates belong in this other box, and the minifigs should be put into this box after playing with them. Maybe you should be the one "helping" him clean up every night before he goes to bed,becuase then you can help him make sure all the bricks are in their correct boxes.

You should use small ice cream buckets with lids, as one has suggested, or maybe buy a few of those IKEA boxes than can roll under the beds - they have wheels underneath them, and they have enough space inside to put all the ice cream buckets

Kristian

[KimT]

Start out with simple colour sorting.

When he becomes the master of colour-sorting, then you could sit down a talk about/learn him the different types of bricks.

Then design a system with him. A system that fits his sorting and recognition skills.

And as time passes by you can always expand the system.

I think the main issue is that he's able to understand and agrees with whatever system you decide to use for sorting.

Just my idea/thoughts.

[Col. Brik]

I am a big fan of plastic storage containers. I am not sure where you live, but Bed, Bath, and Beyond or the Container Store will carry what you are looking for. So will Wal-Mart and Target.

Use plastic storage bins around 6 inches deep and have them sorted by:

1. Color

or

2.Type(Bricks, plates, slopes, special pieces, minifigs*, wheels, etc.)

They should be around 4-6 inches for optimal piece hunting to practicality ratio( ) . Option 2 is better especially considering his building level. Good luck, and have fun!

*you might want to consider having one or two bead craft boxes for minifigs and their accesories, it makes it easier and works fantastically for me.

Bingo!, these two responses are spot on.

Same for our house. A 6 year old and just 4 year old that play with LEGO with me.

Different size plastic bins, from half-gallon up to twenty gallon. The small, one gallon size are great for color, type, or theme. Large parts or odd parts that are big go in the big bin. We also seperate by shape in three four gallon bins that are in shelves.

Older picture of our LEGO area. If you see under the table I have the shelving at one part then the small individual one gallon bins spread out. If they decide to build they grab one, start filling it up then start building. If they don't finish it then they will leave it in the bin for later.

The smallest parts I do as Squeker mentioned, bead craft boxes, the parts are seperated and easy to find then.

And as mentioned above, Wal Mart, Target of a craft store, dirt cheap to buy also.

[eti]

I love how my 2½ year old daughter just recently began to play with Lego instead of Duplo, but because she's still very young, I've sorted all the regular bricks from everything else, which means she can build walls, houses and basic cars, but all of my sets are hidden away because I know that there will be lots of important pieces that will disappear in time if she starts to play with that now.

Same here, our almost 2½yr old twins love playing with the little Legos. Sometimes I will get a plastic bin full of unsorted bricks (that I didn't use on a MOC or on a MOC I am taking down again) with some regular 2x4 and doors and windows and car bases added to it.

They don't specifically like basic pieces, and I see that the building sets designed for young children don't really fit their needs either. My son loves to put rows of 1x2 bricks or plates all next to each other, or make a tower of 2x2 bricks. If he hits on a 1x2 he will look for two 1x1 bricks to fill it up. And my daughter loves to change hair on minifigs... 'For junior' figures wouldn't really do the trick.

Anyway, I'm not sure what I'll do when they get bigger. My Lego is all in the attic, sorted on plastic bins on (and under) tables and shelves, but it's way too much for a, say, four year old. They won't have much fun building if they have to hike and climb somewhere to get a 1x2 brick or a window... Maybe I'll give them bits and regularly change it. I am a MOC'er but I let them play with everything - Lego is there to be played with, and I'm not a collector anyway, so if anything goes I'll replace it or do without.

[Brickadier General]

Plastic storage systems with all the crazy drawers and stuff can get expensive. My method is to sort by part rather than color and then to put each part in a different zip-lock bag. Glad-lock freezer bags would probably be the best for a younger lad such as your son, as they are easy to open and close. You could then look for a picture of the part on peeron or bricklink, then print it out, glue it on some cardboard/thick paper, then staple it to the bag. When I was a kid, my mother sorted our puzzles in a similar manner, except with a small cut-out picture from the side of the puzzle box. Buy a big storage container to keep all the bags in, then you have a nice way or organizing your parts. At least it's worked for me. Hope this helps.

-Brickadier General

Edited December 19, 2008 by Brickadier General

[winbrant]

I picked up a couple of Box4Blox for the kids for Xmas. Looks promising and will give it a try!

With the whole assortment, from larger plates to small fiddly bits they were always dumping the bin or unloading the bags on the floor. As for clean-up...kids don't put things back where they got it from!

[Dadster]

I picked up a couple of Box4Blox for the kids for Xmas. Looks promising and will give it a try!

With the whole assortment, from larger plates to small fiddly bits they were always dumping the bin or unloading the bags on the floor. As for clean-up...kids don't put things back where they got it from!

Those boxes look great!

My 4 1/2 yr old is getting a 2x4 play table with drawers underneath for hers.

[Corvus]

When I was little I had a table with a lip on it which I used to put all my bricks. This acted like a really big bin, but I could kneel down on the floor and dig through the bricks, build, etc., and all the lego would stay on the table.

I had about an inch or so of bricks covering the table, and I used to have endless fun building tractors and bulldozers to push all the lego around. Ah, good times.