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LEGO Organization and Storage Considerations

LEGO organization and storage is something that I hear a lot of moms talking about. After all, those little bricks certainly add up quickly when you have a brick lover (or several!) in the family.

If you find yourself getting a bit upset about all of the LEGO that is spreading across your house, you need to find a solution that is going to work.

Do you buy a system, or DIY one? Should you organize by color, by piece, or a combo of the two? Would big bins be the way to go? We will cover all of these questions in this series on LEGO organization and storage.Got LEGO? If they are taking over your house, or you want to get organized, read this to help you choose the a LEGO Organization solution that will WORK!

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LEGO Organization and Storage Considerations

You can get your LEGO bricks organized and find a storage system that is easy for your boy to use. There are a lot of different ways to do it, so read on for things you should think about before you start.

Before you put a system into place you really need to take some time to think about what will work best for your family. Here are some things to consider.

What is the Best Way to Organize?

The best way to organize LEGO bricks depends greatly on how your boy plays with the LEGO he already has.

Take some time to watch and think about the way your boy plays with LEGO and how he needs things to be before making any big changes.

Does he like things super organized; is he always sorting his piles before he builds?

If he likes things organized, you need to find a way to help him with that. We cover some ideas here.

Or does he lean more free-form and likes to be able to dig around in his bricks? ie: he dumps them into a big pile and swirls them around looking for pieces.

If he prefers toward dumping them out, you have an easier task ahead! You should simply find a place where he can dump them out and play to his heart’s content. Then include some ground rules for cleanup.

Where and How Should You Store the LEGO?

Where is the best place to store the LEGO? In a bedroom, in a play room or in a family living area, or perhaps a converted dining room?

You will need to think about where the LEGO will live 😉 If everyone knows where they are suppose to be housed, you will have much better luck keeping things organized and tidy.

How much room do you have to store LEGO? Is space limited or can you spread out? If space is limited you need some good organization methods to deal with them. We will get to that in a future post. Right now just think about the space you have available.

Do you need multiple storage options for several kids or would one work best? Some families keep their boys’ LEGO bricks separate for less “discussions” on which piece belongs to each child. If you need to keep things separate you may wish to have them store their LEGO in specific bins or maybe even in separate rooms.

Where and How We Store LEGO

Personal Experience: We store in the bedroom and he takes them into family areas to play.  I know my son has dug around in his bricks, spread them out, and by just seeing certain pieces next to each other it gave him an idea for a neat build. He also likes to build the sets. This is exactly how we store things.

Deciding on the Best Way to Organize LEGO

Enlist your boy’s help in making decisions for organizing and storing his LEGO. It will do no good to put a system in place that he can’t use or that isn’t a good fit for him. <<<Important

Make sure he wants to make a change. As you will see in this post, I had the great idea to organize and sort a certain way but it didn’t really work for him. Bit of a fail!

Go to Part 2

If you have taken a look at how your boy plays with LEGO, and where you might want to store it, you can now move on to part 2 and tackle actual methods that will help you store them.

Here is our next LEGO Organization and Storage article where we will show you several methods of organizing and give you tips on setting up different storage types. LEGO Organization and Storage: 3 Methods for Storing

Be sure to take some time to observe your boy playing with LEGO. It will help you find the best method.

Storing and Organizing LEGO does not have to be a chore. It took us a while to figure out the way that worked best for my son and our family but we are super happy with the results.

 

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Feel free to share what works for your family by leaving a comment. We are always interested in how you and your boys use LEGO.

Melinda Kohn

Thursday 2nd of January 2020

I (and my son) would love to have my son's Lego stored by set but currently, they are sorted by color, making it very difficult to re-build sets. And we have a lot of sets. Any suggestions for a storage re-do?

Sheila Rogers

Wednesday 15th of January 2020

I understand what you want to do. I'll tell you that reorganizing from color to by set isn't going to be easy, but it can be done.  

You are going to have to go through all of your sets and find all of the pieces for each one.  Since you have them sorted by color, that will be easier than if you had all pieces mixed together in a big bin, but it will still be a decent amount of work depending on how many sets you have.

If I were doing it, the first thing I would do is to sort your colored segments down further by piece so it is easier to find them as you are building the sets.

Then, start with the sets your son would like to rebuild first. That way he can just find the pieces as he is building the set. Or, you can work together to pull all the pieces for a set. I would pull the bigger pieces first as those will stand out more in the piles.

I would likely do this project over time and do a bit at the time so he isn't overwhelmed.

If you have all of your booklets, this should be a fun project as he will get the chance to rebuild all of this sets. 

If you do not have the booklets, then you can get them here: https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/buildinginstructions  

Sue Lively

Sunday 25th of January 2015

As my son's collection grows and grows, this is definitely something I've started to think more about! We seem to need storage and then a place to keep projects that currently being worked on as well. Enjoyed reading your tips! Best, Sue

Sheila Rogers

Sunday 25th of January 2015

Hi Sue, Yup, those LEGO seem to multiply quite quickly! We do have a place for completed projects as well. Thanks for the nice comment.

susen @Dabbling Momma

Thursday 22nd of January 2015

Always looking for ways to store/organize our lego collection. Never thought of it like that before.....to watch how your child plays with their Lego's to help determine how to store them. I definitely have a spiller who loves to sort through. This new perspective will hopefully help us find the best way to organize. Great post!

Alli

Thursday 22nd of January 2015

I can't wait for the rest of this series. At first my son wanted them organized by color, but he got frustrated when it came time to put them away because it took too long. We opted for the big bin for a while now with a handheld broom and dustpan for quick clean up. Lately he's been asking about other ways we could organize it so that it is easier to find the pieces he wants, so you series is very timely for us.

Rach D

Tuesday 20th of January 2015

Some really neat tips here! We have tons of LEGO & have used numerous containers to store it. But not always successfully :)

Thanks so much for linking up with us on the Mom 2 Mom Encouragement Party! Hope you can join us again :)

Sheila Rogers

Tuesday 20th of January 2015

Thanks Rach, I too have tried several things :) it seems to be a moving target to find something that will work for everyone.