Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Works for Me Wednesday

Welcome to Works for Me Wednesday, each Wednesday bloggers come together and share great tips for the house and family. The first Wednesday of each month is usually a themed WFMW, and this month the theme is The Greatest Tips/Hits Edition.

This may not be the greatest tip every, unless you have Legos lying all over the floor. And we did. As the Lego collection grew, with each birthday and Christmas, the little tub holding the Legos was overflowing. Even 6 year-old ED came to me one day and told me the Legos needed to be better organized, he couldn't find anything.

OK, if my 6 year-old is telling me the Legos need an organizational system who am I to argue?

After talking to a friend, with a much larger Lego collection then us, and Googling "Lego storage ideas." I came up with this solution:



Plastic storage drawers. For less then $20 I bought two stackable three-drawer storage units (size?) and a smaller one.

What is in those drawers? 1 - instructions and manuals, 2 - wheels, 3 - long skinny pieces, 4 - unique Lego pieces, 5 - flat pieces, 6 - normal Lego blocks. Mini 1 - Lego people and a few other items, Mini 2 - K'nex (shh) cogs and rods, Mini 3 - random small pieces.

This has helped keep the floor clean of Lego pieces. They aren't always in the drawers, but now ED will take out a drawer or two and place them on the train table.

Now they are all organized in drawers, helping ED find the pieces he needs. They are off the floor, helping our feet and my vacuum. They are not always put away, but if they are scattered they are scattered on the train table not the floor.

Hmmm, I'm looking to sell the train table. Check in this spring for my solution when we get rid of the train table.

And for more Works for Me tips head over to We Are THAT Family.


***Note the lack of Legos on the floor. Yes, the table is a mess, with about three Lego drawers on it, plus various Legos and Lego creations, a Rescue Hero helicopter, a Labyrinth game, expandable ball, and various other toys. But, they are NOT on the floor. I don't sweep the train table.

6 comments:

bridget {bake at 350} said...

Just wondering...what do you do with all of the CREATIONS?!?!? My son loves to build Legos, but wants to keep all of his "work" out. :) I guess I'll just completely line his walls with shelves. :)

Anonymous said...

Wow, I love this idea. My kids are just now starting to get into legos. They would have sooner, but I have been reluctant to get them for them because we have a baby that likes to put everything in her mouth (what baby doesn't?) and I was afraid she would choke. We really have to look around after lego time to make sure there are not stray little pieces out for the baby to find.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this! My oldest has just gotten into Legos and I'm trying to find a system that will work to keep them organized!

Michelle said...

I love this idea! We have tons of legos and right now they are all in a huge bin. There is a ton of digging every time something is made. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the tips. We have a new Lego aficionado in the house and my plastic storage bowls are disappearing like crazy!

Raise Them Up said...

Legos are definitely an ocean of foot hazzards when they aren't contained! I'm glad this is working for you! :)