Storage solutions: Jon
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Jon in Ottawa shows us how he keeps his kids' LEGO under control:
While not AFOL level, we hope that a few AFOLs and kids alike can benefit from one or two ideas from our kids’ Lego setup.
My son is 5 and my daughter is 3. They share a Lego table, with a blue Lego studded "river" running through the middle of it. They each have the final word on what transpires on “their” side of the river, which helps keep quarrels to a minimum.
So as not to disrupt their creativity, photos were taken of the table and shelves’ in their most recent state of play. The kids have spent countless hours playing around this table throughout the lockdown and it’s been interesting to watch it “urbanse” as the weeks have dragged on (the 7-storey police station was a mere 3 stories tall when the lockdown first started).
Don’t underestimate the passion and capabilities of a 3-year-old. She assembled the vast majority of The Hulkbuster: Ultron Edition herself this past winter with help from her brother and minor oversight from mom and dad...
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The Lego table is on wheels, so when not in use, it tucks away neatly in the corner. The table is based on an Ikea Lack coffee table, with 48x48 stud Lego plates glued to the top. A hole was drilled into the bottom of each leg of the table to accommodate a set of wood floor casters. A future improvement would be to add a second shelf to the Lack table for an additional level of bin storage.
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Bricks are organised by colour in a combination of large and small transparent, TUFF storage containers that are kept under the table, along with several bead organisers for smaller parts.
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One of the smaller organising bins is also where the brick separators are kept along with a small basting brush to remove dust from their buildings and other creations. The stiff, nylon bristles are great for cleaning dust out from in between studs.
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Favourite minifigures get a special place of prominence in a small frame on the wall under the loft bed when not in play.
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A 2x4 Ikea Kallax shelf serves as a place to store sets and creations that aren’t in play on the Lego table.
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Instructions for sets are stored in page protectors in binders beside the shelf.
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Meanwhile, the top of the Kallax shelf serves as an airport, with various helicopter pads for flights to and from their “Lego city".
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A Lego deer bust, built with instructions from David Scarfe’s Geeky Lego Crafts book, mounted across from the doorway helps to bridge the woodsy decor in the rest of the room and Lego together.
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31 comments on this article
Nice to see shouty win kid make an appearance.
I am totally stealing that shelftop airport idea.
Those are not kids, they are just very very young AFOLs.
Seriously, good to see the starting position of storage. We have all been there.
Great to see some more 'real world' solutions, rather than 'AFOL dream world' scenarios. I imagine more of us are on this level... (but it's fun seeing the both).
Really nice to see an adequate Lego collection! Thank you for sharing your storage solutions!
AFOL: adequate fan of Lego! Ha-ha-ha!
It's not very interesting to see more and more rooms and basements full of every possible Star Wars sets and hundreds of different containers and drawers! :P
As a parent for kids the same age... I need to steal your ideas! It is so much better organized and looks easier to play!
That table is a wonderful idea, and organizing by colour is perfect for small kids! The simplicity of your solutions for both storage and cooperative play are admirable. I am sharing this article as I was just asked for advice on this and my mind went blank.
Also, I love reading about how people organize and display their Lego no matter how large or small, structured or unstructured, predictable or unique the collection and methods used are. It is just fun to see how people manage it. Thank you, Huw, for running the series!
you better keep a close eye on your daughter, if LEGO finds out she’s not following the age guide there'll be trouble...
@ALFIE22 said:
"you better keep a close eye on your daughter, if LEGO finds out she’s not following the age guide there'll be trouble..."
Haha... so true... my little one builds Technic sets up to the level of the Corvette (42093) on his own and throws a minor fit if he nevertheless needs help or made a mistake. I usually point out then that the set was designed for ages "9+" (or whatever it is)... he's currently 4! That mostly soothes him... ;-)
I like the "This side up" on the instructions, very helpful info for young ones :)
I gave up long ago trying to organise my son's Lego in any way shape or form, it starts well but always the same result, it all just ends up on the floor in mini creative hubs of projects.
That table divided in two is a great idea. Am gonna try it
Certainly a nice idea to keep it compact, yet playable.
Galaxy Explorer (497), yay!
I recommend a makeup brush for dusting Lego. Nylon can scratch plastic.
Lucky kids.
Nice setup! I like the idea of the play table on wheels with the storage underneath. We are currently building a loft bed for my son and I like the idea of putting a minifig frame like that on the wall under it.
@EvilTwin said:
"Nice to see shouty win kid make an appearance.
I am totally stealing that shelftop airport idea."
Go for it!
I had no idea "Shouty 'Win!' Kid" was a thing. Can't unsee it now.
She certainly does mean business. I'm constantly impressed by how quickly she can spot a piece she's after in a jumble of Lego and find it even more remarkable how precisely she'll describe a piece she's having trouble finding, "Dad, can you help me find a flat, dark grey 2x10?"
Ha-ha ;)
I concur with @kyrodes about the nylon bristles. I picked up a similar brush (can't remember what it was intended for, but it wasn't basting) and very quickly abandoned it. What I ended up buying instead is a bunch of synthetic dusters (I packed a couple of them with the display materials that are most likely to need dusting, and which have room to accommodate them). They're not really useful for caked-on dust, but if you're using them regularly the dust won't have a chance to fuse to the plastic. And the material isn't stiff, so there's not enough force behind it to scuff the plastic.
Sadly my kids didn't show much interest in Lego as much as I do. They turned out to be Tech-heads.
Kallax is HORRIBLE for Lego. Too deep and not enough wide. It takes AGES to clean.
@PurpleDave @kyrodes Thanks for the brush tips! I'll dig up a make-up brush for the kids. They had previously been using the basting brush when they played kitchen and it migrated in with their Lego tools after they noticed the wings on one of their planes were getting dusty.
@merf71 said:
"Galaxy Explorer (497), yay!"
Good eye!
@lordofdragonss said:
"Kallax is HORRIBLE for Lego. Too deep and not enough wide. It takes AGES to clean."
Agreed. Not ideal for display.
For the purposes of play, the only real downside is that there's no backing, so small pieces sometimes wind up falling behind the shelf. Otherwise, it works great as an area for the kids to play on and store their builds. Dust doesn't have much of a chance to linger as they cycle through playing with most things on the Kallax over the course of a week (sometimes in a day). It also set a reasonable boundary for the number of builds, which helps them develop useful life skills—like identifying what they value, being ok with dismantling something they've made to make way for somethings else, grounding the fact that things can always be rebuilt (this one pays dividends in thwarting meltdowns when things break by accident), working within constraints, keeping things tidy, and so on.
@J0n said:
"She certainly does mean business. I'm constantly impressed by how quickly she can spot a piece she's after in a jumble of Lego and find it even more remarkable how precisely she'll describe a piece she's having trouble finding, "Dad, can you help me find a flat, dark grey 2x10?""
Not sure why this didn't thread, ^ this reply was meant for @backtobricks comment:
"I love your river scenario; it's so cute and very practical. Your daughter looks like she means business bless her!"
@Spartan_Ghost said:
"I like the idea of using a basting brush for dusting Lego. One thing i will add, is that i’ve had pretty solid results using cans of compressed air (of the type one would find in an office supply store for cleaning keyboards,) for that purpose.
Also, if the author’s reading this, how many days did it take you to put together all the IKEA furniture?"
I have no idea how long it all took to put together. A slow accumulation over many years. The Lack table didn't require any assembly, as we picked that one up second hand.
@SweSarah said:
"As a parent for kids the same age... I need to steal your ideas! It is so much better organized and looks easier to play! "
Go for it! My wife deserves the credit for kickstarting the Lego organization. It definitely makes for much more fun and productive play.
@mfg3000 said:
"That table is a wonderful idea, and organizing by colour is perfect for small kids! The simplicity of your solutions for both storage and cooperative play are admirable. I am sharing this article as I was just asked for advice on this and my mind went blank.
Also, I love reading about how people organize and display their Lego no matter how large or small, structured or unstructured, predictable or unique the collection and methods used are. It is just fun to see how people manage it. Thank you, Huw, for running the series!"
Thanks, @mfg3000! I'm happy to hear you found it worth a share :)
@scottd said:
"I like the "This side up" on the instructions, very helpful info for young ones :)
I gave up long ago trying to organise my son's Lego in any way shape or form, it starts well but always the same result, it all just ends up on the floor in mini creative hubs of projects."
The arrows were introduced the third time one of the binders was put away upside down—should've done it from day one
@J0n:
If you click the "REPLY" button in the bottom right corner of a post, it will prefill the comment box with the " @Name:" and a copy of the text from their post. And if you click another REPLY button, it will nuke anything that's still left in the comment box and replace it with a copy of the new post that you're trying to reply to. So, you either have to reply and post, reply and post, reply and post, or you have to copy/paste all the names over yourself. I do the latter, in part because I long ago grew to hate reading through two pages of repeat text looking for a snippet of a comment that someone posted in reply. Besides, Huw has a character cap set on posts, and if people keep attaching redundant copies of entire conversations, eventually you'll hit a point where simply adding the " @Name" will put you over the limit.
And third time on the binders? That's a hard-learned lesson, right there.
@PurpleDave Good to know. Thanks!