How do you keep Legos organized?

[OrionGrad]

My boys are just really starting to get into Legos, but I'm not sure the best way to keep everything organized. They keep all their duplos in an enormous plastic tub, but now they've been getting these Lego Juniors sets. Should we get individual plastic boxes for each set? Organize the Legos by color? Just combine all the Legos in a giant tub, like we do with the Duplos?
What's worked for you guys??

[SoonerTexan]

I saw [MENTION=915]SuzySunshine[/MENTION] post of picture of something that looked insanely organized on Facebook a few years ago

Struggling with this too. We don't have room to store individual sets easily

[Howfunitis]

The big block legos I keep in the plastic bag it comes in. I use to keep al the pieces in a box and then she got a couple of more and then I decided (depending on the #of pieces) I put them in a ziplock bag. I labeled them with the character and the book inside and all three fit in a basket.
I have the playdough organized the same way too. Much easier than having everything in one pile and then I have to hear cries and whining how she can't find a certain piece


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[spotty_dog]

Yeah, I was going to ask SS how her organization plan has worked out. It looked great!

We've had at least one other thread about this. Hm...not finding the good ones though.

A lot depends on your kids' play styles. I know people who build a set once and then KRAGL it for display and play, and other people who never buy sets but just get bulk bricks on Ebay for free play. My kids choose a set in large part because it has a cool piece they want. They play with it until it breaks and then cannibalize the pieces they had their eye on. They have a ton of Lego and prefer to build very specific things when they free-build -- always searching for that one EXACT piece -- so they need *some* organization. We sorted by color and it kinda works. But it's time once again to re-sort (nearly half the Lego having ended up in the "miscellaneous" bin) and DS now says he really needs to sort by type of piece. So we're brainstorming again. He wants one of those Lego man-caves where every single piece is cataloged by color and shape in its own tiny drawer. I don't have any hope for the maintenance of such a system, not by a 10yo and CERTAINLY not by me. >.<

But some kids let the pieces inspire them at random, or don't mind digging for what they want, and so a single big bin is the way to go. I think Pollyanna's kids prefer that style. Bonus, easy cleanup, and under-bed bins can get shoved out of the way fast.

[civilspouse]

We just have everything in a big tub. DS has enough trouble cleaning them up on his own. If he had to sort by color he would never do it. I keep all the instructions in another tub in case he wants to rebuild something or fix something that breaks. I put some shelves up in his room for things he has built. He is really into the Star Wars logos and likes to play with them after he builds them. It's a mess but they are the only toy he really likes now.


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[OrionGrad]

Right now they're both mostly into playing with what they've built. I'm *thinking* this would be the ideal setup, but we don't have an IKEA nearby, and even if we did I'd want to make sure this would work for us before we got it all setup.

[Thirteen]

Clear, stacking, snap top bins from Ikea.


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[OrionGrad]

Clear, stacking, snap top bins from Ikea.


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Do you guys organize by color, set, or just mix everything together?

[ides]

We have the giant lego shaped containers and simply separate blocks and random pieces. We also have a bin for mini figures and there accessories, windows/doors and wheels/axles.


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[MrsK]

We just have everything in a big tub. DS has enough trouble cleaning them up on his own. If he had to sort by color he would never do it. I keep all the instructions in another tub in case he wants to rebuild something or fix something that breaks. I put some shelves up in his room for things he has built. He is really into the Star Wars logos and likes to play with them after he builds them. It's a mess but they are the only toy he really likes now.


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This. And they are mostly all over the house until I insist he put them in the tub

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[spaz]

Yes, we kept each lego set ( My boys were into Star Wars sets) in its own separate container with instructions. So beautifully organized.... Until the day in their that they decided to dump all the sets in the middle to go through them. So much for the organization....

[SuzySunshine]

Here is my advice - don't do anything until you really know how your kids will play with them, until then just make them manageable.

We started with color but that didn't work because if the kids wanted to rebuild something from a book it took us FOREVER to find pieces. So we switched to by piece - I spent hours/days/weeks making labels buying bins, etc. they looked great they were organized and it worked until it didn't.

We are moving now so I had to clean the playroom up - we have two good size plastic tubs that are a variety of legos. I'm not sure what we'll do once we get moved, I'm not sure what the answer is. My kids like to get a kit, make the kit and play with the kit - the problem becomes when the kits falls apart they don't take it apart and sort the pieces...

I don't know, I wish I did - trust me.

[alotofyarn]

I know my mom used to organize by color in clear Rubbermaid bins.

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[gcuthbe1]

We mainly preferred to be creative and build our own so we never separated by sets or colors, just had a big bin. If there was something one of us loved and wanted to keep in tact, we stored it separately or displayed it on a shelf.

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[MrsK]

What do you do if they want to keep Everything they build? I have a million Lego structures everywhere.

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