Lego ?s

[msmama]

Kind of budget related because those suckers are expensive!!

My 4 1/2 year old is just getting into them (he got his first sets for Xmas last year) and this year Santa is being VERY generous with the Lego because it's the only thing the kid wants.

But, they are already starting to take over my house!!

Does anyone have any good Lego storage solutions? Do you (try to) make sure the pieces of the sets stay together or just whatever happens happens?

At this point, once the things are built my son likes to play with them (rather than building over and over again) so that's nice but it also takes up tons of space!

He has some of my Lego's from when I was a kid and I know he has MANY years of Lego ahead of him before we'd even think of getting rid of them (if we ever do, obviously I didn't), but is keeping the instructions books enough for possible resale in the future?

Anything else I need to know as a parent of a lego loving kid, lol?

 

[LoriNSC]

I bought a plastic storage unit from Walmart that has 3 drawers. I think it was about $20. I actually bought it to store some of my couponing stockpile but his Legos were getting out of hand so I converted it into his Lego storage. It works great. He can put his green building mat on the top and build away.

 

[mickeymaker2003]

I store sets in ziploc bags ;abeled with set name and have one of those accordian files for directions.

My random pieces are sorted by color into ziploc bags by color (or the zippered bags sheets come in for things that were too big for the ziploc). I have A LOT of legos, with more on the way for Christmas. My mom saved every Lego set my brother and I got as kids and now my DD5 is getting Legos too and they are all together. We have a whole city built on a large train table.

 

[FLmomof6]

I bought a used train table and refinished it. We have both of the large drawers full and keep the rest in plastic boxes that slide under the table. I like the table because it gives them a place to keep things they don't want to take apart, storage and space to build.

We began our collection when our almost 20 year old was old enough to play with them. Our 8 year old dd and 10 year old ds play with them everyday. I have no intention of every getting rid of ours, we have at least 10,000 bricks. By the time my kids are finished(haha I won't lie...... I play with them too just a fun way to spend time with my kids), it won't be long before we have grand kids playing with them.

I love Legos. They are fun, entertaining and educational. They are definitely a worthwhile investment. Our 10 year old has become so good at creating working machines (candy machine, trash compactor, water dispenser, soda can dispenser..... that actually accept one size coin and reject others)...... we finally decided to invest in Mindstorm nxt this Christmas. I can't wait to see what he can do with that.

 

[riley2008]

I store sets in ziploc bags ;abeled with set name and have one of those accordian files for directions.

My random pieces are sorted by color into ziploc bags by color (or the zippered bags sheets come in for things that were too big for the ziploc). I have A LOT of legos, with more on the way for Christmas. My mom saved every Lego set my brother and I got as kids and now my DD5 is getting Legos too and they are all together. We have a whole city built on a large train table.

Wow!

Um, we're in the dump it all in the Rubbermaid containers and be done. The ONLY time we've ever sorted, is last Christmas...the boys wanted to make "everything" all over. It took nearly a full day and a half to sort (all 4 of us working). I won't encourage that again, although it was fun to see how many duplicates we had - think 3 police helicopters.

We do NOT keep sets separated - where's the imagination in that? We have 6 (I can't believe I just typed that), yes, 6 of the large rubbermaid containers like you store Christmas decorations in. They are all about 2/3 full. There are also 6 rubbermaid shoe size boxes and two sweater sized boxes. (Not sure what's special about the bricks in these). The boys keep their treasures on top when they have to clean them up. (We don't have a formal dining room, instead it's the Lego room - hey, they're only kids once.)

Any guesses what my 9 year old boys want for Christmas?....(Any guesses as to what Santa and parents are not bringing, but I'm sure grandma and uncles are?)

To OP - I'd store the set directions in page protectors in a binder. I'd store the bricks and pieces in plastic containers and just buy bigger and more containers as the collection increases.

Also, if you ever find someone selling bags/boxes of Legos at a garage sale - pure heaven for every kid in the neighborhood. (Winning the lottery for boys!)

 

[riley2008]

I bought a plastic storage unit from Walmart that has 3 drawers. I think it was about $20. I actually bought it to store some of my couponing stockpile but his Legos were getting out of hand so I converted it into his Lego storage. It works great. He can put his green building mat on the top and build away.

This is what we started with too! There is also a larger gray lego mat that works well on top too - it's a bit big, but nice area to build.

 

[pigletto]

Last years gift to ds was a desk we bought at Ikea. We bought Lego baseplates and attached 8 of them to a board the size of the top of the desk.
It is fixed onto the desk with velcro strips. It can be removed and stored behind the desk for homework time etc.
Then we put up 3 wall shelves and I bought clear plastic storage bins. Each set that is unfinished has it's own bin for pieces. One of the shelves is for display and storage of finished items. Boxes are kept under his bed, and instructions are placed in binder with plastic sleeves.
He has a small room and this system works perfectly. Also it's an expensive habit and when he is done and really not into a set anymore we sell them online for part of what they cost and have all the pieces, manuals and boxes.
That way we recoup some of the cost and move onto the next set. He doesn't have to sell them. He just chooses to if he's done and wants to collect something else.

 

[bumbershoot]

We had lots of shoe-sized boxes, but that started bugging me. Then I found Iris/Lego co-branded storage boxes, and I wish I had stock in them. Right now we only have two; one bigger one and one smaller one with two drawer/cases that have small dividers in them. The drawers in both units are actually cases that you can take with you if you wish.

DS loves rebuilding and loves making brand new things, so he does like having things divided by color, AND he has a smallish bedroom, so things have to be as neat as possible, lego-wise.


OP, since you're on the beginning of this journey with him, be sure to sign up for a Lego VIP account. I personally don't find that many big deals on Legos, so I tend to buy mainly from Lego (either at the store or online), and the VIP account gives you rewards.

 

[Swimalie]

So far we have the large general box that Legos come in and the small general box as well plus we've added 1 shoe-sized container to the pile where all the figures go. We don't sort them out any more but we keep all the instructions in ziploc bags.

 

[Nina1]

We have one of those plastic drawer units. I keep the directions and extra pieces for each set in its own labelled Ziploc bag in the drawers. Our son likes to play with them once they are built. These are kept in his room in a wall unit. He sometimes takes them apart and rebuilds, but right now he plays with his Star Wars Legos all the time. Those have yet to be disassembled. I also have a large Rubbermaid container in the game room that is filled with Legos that weren't part of a set. Santa is bringing more...will probably need more storage. Love the train table idea!

 

[scottmel]

I kept all lego boxes and instructions and did mandate that sets remain a set. As a result when DD13 wanted some extra cash, she sold her Merry Go round for close to 500.00, green grocer for 400, etc etc. She has made a killing on ebay!! She has MANY Sets still left but wants to keep them displayed. That is fine.But a boxed set has to remain together. Now she has oodles of building legos purchased in a tub that she creates with but she lets a set alone. I really recommend keeping original boxes with instructions in the attic, etc. Honestly these sets resell themselves at triple the value.

 

[crl]

We also have the 3 drawer plastic set to store Legos. We also have shelves to store the models that can't be torn apart. You could either get a book case type unit or put shelves along the upper half of a bedroom as a display area.

 

[thebeesknees]

Walmart and Target sell a good-size (about 14x18x10) clear plastic lego bin that comes with a baseplate for about $10. There are 4 colors and each has a different lego scene on it. We have about 5 or 6 of them, and my son splits his types of legos (Star Wars, Lego city, etc.) into different bins. They stack up nicely in his closet.

 

[pigletto]

I kept all lego boxes and instructions and did mandate that sets remain a set. As a result when DD13 wanted some extra cash, she sold her Merry Go round for close to 500.00, green grocer for 400, etc etc. She has made a killing on ebay!! She has MANY Sets still left but wants to keep them displayed. That is fine.But a boxed set has to remain together. Now she has oodles of building legos purchased in a tub that she creates with but she lets a set alone. I really recommend keeping original boxes with instructions in the attic, etc. Honestly these sets resell themselves at triple the value.

Interesting. My son has many of the Harry Potter sets. I know he wants them for now and probably will for some time, but now that the series has been discontinued I imagine they will be worth something when he is older if he chooses to sell them.

 

[HM]

We got under-bed Rubbermaid storage boxes and just put all the pieces in them. I put the instruction booklets in a binder with drop-in page protectors to hold them.

One of my friends designated a big part of her son's closet to his finished products and had shelving built in to hold them all. In his case, once it was made, it was a showpiece.

 

[jetskigrl]

I buy the big ziplock bags and once DS is done playing with a particular set, it gets disassembled and put in the ziplock bag with the instructions. The bags are stored in a cabinet. That way when he is ready to play with that set again, he just pulls the bag out. We have way too many sets so he would never build them again if he had to go searching for all the pieces first.

We also have a big collection of loose pieces for when he wants to design his own projects. DH spent hours sorting the special pieces like body parts into their own little sections of a storage bin/tray. Then all the regular pieces are in one big storage bin.

 

[rachael95]

My husband used to buy multiple copies of Lego sets, break them up and then sell the parts in bulk. We still have a ton of Lego pieces in the house. What we did was set up the bins that you can get for storing screws or fish hooks. They are gray and have clear plastic drawers that are only a couple inches wide each. So each bin has about 50 drawers in it. Perfect for Lego pieces since the clear drawers let you see what is in each. And the bins stack on top of each other.

For regular bricks, we used clear plastic bins and made sure the same brick went into each bin.

 

[msmama]

Thanks so much for all the suggestions!! Of course, not budget as now I want to do them all, lol.

I have to admit, I LOVE that he's finally into Lego.

 

[DisSarahK]

My little boy is Lego obsessed. We have Sterilite drawers with Legos sorted by color--one color per drawer--for the bricks. Then he has all the parts sorted into tiny wall mounted drawers that are meant for sorting screws. I labeled all of those drawers for him. For example, I think the wheels are sorted into four different drawers based on wheel size. The axles are in another drawer, the steering wheels are in another drawer, etc.

He loves this organization and it means he knows exactly where to go to find the piece he needs.

 

[MinnieForMe]

Hi:
Our older sets are in rubbermaid containers but the last two year's worth are displayed on a shelf. My son is 11. His Mindstorm NXT robot fits nicely in a tool box that is three tiered. Actually, it's an art box sold at AC Moore but it looks just like a tool box. It's perfect for carrying to Lego FIRST meetings. I noticed that alot of the teams at First had rolling teacarts holding their pieces.