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I get bombarded with Legos during the holidays. I found them everywhere: on the sofa, under the kids' sheets and bed, and in their shoes. The Lego pieces even get vacuumed up by the vacuum (Affiliate Link) cleaner - annoying! However, after over 12 years of Legos in our home, I tried every way possible to organize these little pieces and found this method was the best.
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To minimize the lone wolf Lego piece finding its way underfoot or in the vacuum (Affiliate Link), I tried organizing Lego pieces by throwing them in various bins by Lego theme. That method didn't work because my kids liked to mix the parts to create something new.
Then, I sewed a large denim bag with a drawstring to make for a quick clean-up. But, when the Lego collection got too large, it was not feasible to carry them around.
And now, as my kids are growing up, organizing them by color seems to be the best option. I guess I should have thought this was the best method since I saw (Affiliate Link) that the Lego stores have a wall divided by colored pieces. Oh well, live and learn. After the initial setup, my kids like to create their Lego masterpieces, so sorting my color works because they can easily create one-color creations this way. Here's how I organized these items. And, by the way, I made sure my kids helped me with the sorting.
Sort Lego pieces and purchase plastic bins.
I sorted the Legos first, then measured the space I was planning on using (under the family room table) and purchased these plastic drawer bins that pulled out and labeled them corresponding to each color of blocks. The larger drawers held the white grays, the Lego manuals (books), and the Lego Bionicle, which were already completed to organize.
These plastic drawer sets had wheels and were next to my fridge in my family room and under the table. That way, I save space, and the kids can use the table to create, and no more Legos on the floor. It worked well for the kids. Yay!
Sort smaller collections into smaller lock-lid bins.
On the top of these drawer sets, we added other bins for the smaller groups they collected. Instead of hunting through the entire container, the boxes (Affiliate Link) helped the kids know where their specific pieces were.
Clearly label each drawer.
I used my handy dandy label maker and labeled each drawer with a corresponding title that helps them know where everything goes.
I labeled the smaller drawers yellow, red/orange, and green/blue. They didn't have a lot of these colors. I found that by placing the Lego pieces in bins that were half full, there was plenty of room for the kids to add to them around the holiday when they got more Lego gifts.
On the top of the table was a whole town my son created; it's a work in progress, he said. Here are a few areas of the city.
Check new arrival rugs at Boutique Rugs
Whichever method you decide to use when organizing your kid's Lego pieces, get the kids involved and have them help you with the organizing process. You don't need to go it alone. They will use it, so they should organize it. When you finish, commend them on how well they did getting the Lego organized. Kids love to feel helpful. I hope this helps you get inspired to organize the Lego pieces in your home.
I would love to hear from you. How do you organize your Lego pieces? Did it work for you? Were there obstacles that you encountered using a particular method? Please leave a comment below.
Have other playroom areas to organize? Check out these articles from myself and other experts below.
20 Clever Kids Playroom Organization Hacks and Ideas
Creating Zones in an Organized Child Playroom
Julie Bestry says
I appreciate this. I never had LEGO (nor kids), and most of my residential clients tend to be older, so I rarely come up against the LEGO organizing issue. Years ago, I used to recommend the Box-4-Blox LEGO sifting tool. Clients liked it because it required little labor to sift by size, but it came from New Zealand and shipping costs were high. The company stopped production for a while as they were coming up with a version 2.0 that was close to half the price, but it's been stuck there for a few years.
I think your approach, by color rather than size, allows for quicker action and a more visually appealing solution. I'm curious whether you take this approach for specific LEGO kits, however, like the kind where you get an entire box to build the Star Wars "death star" or a set from a TV show? Or would you advise specific drawers for specific sets, but non color-coded?
Andi Willis says
Love the big, easy to read labels on your containers, Sabrina. My son would never sort his by colors so we opted for buckets that could be poured out and then just dumped back into. Personally I would organize them ALL by color! To each their own, right?
Sabrina says
So true, Andi! My son started out organizing the Legos in bins by type and then he got older and preferred to "sort by colors like the Lego store". He's older now, but if he wants to play with them, they are already organized and ready to go. And he can start creating. =) Thanks for commenting.