Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Do you sort Lego by colour?

59 replies

BabyInTheJungle · 28/01/2022 10:01

Sorry for the boring question Blush

Months ago we decided to sort DS's Lego to make it easier to play with. I read online that although sorting by colour looks good, the 'proper' way to sort is by brick type as you will need a particular type of brick and once you identify the type you can find the colour you need more readily.

Literally HOURS AND HOURS of sorting later and we are nowhere near done, sorting by brick type is incredibly slow and boring as hell.

I'm just wondering if others have sorted by colour and if it made it easier to play with?

OP posts:
narcdad · 28/01/2022 10:08

I don't sort it al all, all gets shoved in a mixed box and my kids prefer it that way

emmathedilemma · 28/01/2022 10:08

I think sorting by brick type (or groups of type) makes more sense than colour. It'll look pretty but I can't see how it makes it easier to play with.

Change123today · 28/01/2022 10:09

No - it’s in a box all mixed up. And the odd random bits of Lego I find everywhere Grin

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Toys
angelopal · 28/01/2022 10:10

Ours is just in a big box. Didn't even occur to me to try and sort it.

VitaminA · 28/01/2022 10:10

Good lord no.
They would all get mixed up again within half an hour.

No3No2No1 · 28/01/2022 10:11

I did, it was the only way I could split it into the least amount of categories. There were too many decisions otherwise and I couldn't cope!
dp laughed at the time (in a very judgey way!) but it worked for ds and made finding bricks and tidying them away much easier.
We had the ikea kallax draws, one for each colour

EezyOozy · 28/01/2022 10:12

Ours all just gets chucked into one big box, no sorting whatsoever

CoodleMoodle · 28/01/2022 10:12

We sorted by shape! All in IKEA sandwich bags... And then we have a bag full of misc bits that don't have their own official bag. It was very satisfying. One day I'd love to sort by shape AND colour, but I'd need a lot of bags!

ToffeeForEveryone · 28/01/2022 10:13

Watching with interest! DS has 3 almost full Ikea kallax size boxes of jumbled lego (we keep inheriting more of it!), the more he gets the harder it is to re-build anything. It is great for inventing from scratch, but it's too much to rummage through for remaking the sets.

I just got started sorting by colour yesterday...

ShinyHappyPoster · 28/01/2022 10:14

DS sorted by brick type. We got little cases split into compartments from B&Q. I think they were supposed to be for screws and nails.

Grumpyoldpersonwithcats · 28/01/2022 10:16

If you can sort your lego - sort by shape.

Much more useful than colour since it's FAR easier to spot different colours in a box of Lego pieces, than it is to spot different shapes in a box of the same colour.

Postdatedpandemic · 28/01/2022 10:18

Large box and a cheap brush and dust pan. Tip box out onto a large charity shop blanket and let them go. Life is too short to sort Lego.

DaisyDozyDee · 28/01/2022 10:18

Sorting by colour is the worst option for me. Sorting by brick type is the quickest for building if you want to be able to rebuild sets from the instructions. Unsorted jumble is fine if you want to do more creative random builds.

We have both - drawers sorted by brick type for the full sets we’ve bought (with a folder full of instructions) and a separate jumbled bucket of hand me down stuff.

NannyR · 28/01/2022 10:19

If I can be bothered to sort it, it's sorted by shape/type rather than colour - I find that kids are more bothered about finding the right shape brick, they are not too bothered if it's the wrong colour. But, it only stays nicely sorted for a week or so, it's unreasonable to expect children to sort out bricks as they dismantle models.
The best way to store and play with lego is on a big drawstring mat or a blanket, or a shallow box or underbed drawer, with plenty of space to rummage in.

HeadToToesNo · 28/01/2022 10:20

I think sorting lego at all sounds like a fabulous waste of time - how does anyone play with it?
I've got a big blanket with drawstring edges, seems to do the job and leaves more time for all the other fun stuff that 5 year olds enjoy Grin

babyboyHarrison · 28/01/2022 10:26

We have these

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sumbabo-Toy-Storage-Mat-Bag/dp/B07QP6D659/ref=mpssa114?crid=2UE0M159XYW74&keywords=lego+play+mat+storage+bag&qid=1643365486&sprefix=lego+play+%2Caps%2C72&sr=8-4

Small interesting prices along with people and accessories go in the small bag and everything else in the big bag. Really easy to tidy up after.

QuizzicalEyebrows · 28/01/2022 10:28

I'm the kind of child who would have happily spent hours sorting out the coloured bricks into separate colour piles and sizes

However I'd never do that for my DC life's way to short for that kind of madness

Doomscrolling · 28/01/2022 10:30

Brick type.

trumpisagit · 28/01/2022 10:31

I wouldn't bother. It will just be disappointing when he has a friend over and it's all mixed up.
It also might put him off playing with it.
Unless your child wants to do it don't bother.
Kids are creative and will build amazing things without everything being "in order".

britnay · 28/01/2022 10:34

We sort by brick type. Each drawer has a picture label showing which type of brick is inside. Once you've got it sorted, its easy to tidy up.
We have 3 of these for bigger blocks
amazon.co.uk/Really-Useful-Drawer-Tower-Rainbow/dp/B00AZL79UI/]]
We have 3 of these for smaller bricks
amazon.co.uk/VonHaus-Drawer-Storage-Cabinet-Organiser/dp/B01AO1C1VK/r]]

BaconOmelette · 28/01/2022 10:35

I think it depends what you want to do. For free imaginative building then it’s probably best to sort into 4 broad categories (bricks / plates / people & animals / odd pieces).

My daughter has a huge collection that she wanted to sort back into sets so that she could follow the instructions and rebuild things. Sorting by individual piece type wasn’t an option because there are just too many different pieces, so we have sorted by colour. It works ok for us as the piece lists in instruction books are ordered by colour, so we go through the black drawer to find all of the black pieces first, then the next colour and so on. We do keep people, animals and base plates separate. It has been a very lengthy process though, and it takes up more space than jumbled Lego. I’ve had to do most of the sorting, and DD just enjoys the re-discovered sets.

Bettybantz · 28/01/2022 10:37

Surely rummaging in a big tub of Lego to find the bit you need is half the challenge?

And the sound of the Lego box being tipped up one of the defining sounds of parenthood?

YABU to sort Lego out at all.

YesIKnowIABUbutIamreallytired · 28/01/2022 10:46

We have boxes for sorting screws. Every time we get a new set it gets a sorter box. Then it's sorted by colour as only pieces from one set is in each box. Once different sets get mixed up it's a pain in the ass to try and rebuild anything.
If they want to invent anything themselves we have a big box of mixed lego.

ScatteredMama82 · 28/01/2022 10:48

Ours is in tubs by type. Bricks, planks, 'tiny pieces', 1 & 2 hump bricks, wheels.....

FlamingoDust · 28/01/2022 11:08

Life is too short for sorting l
LEGO! I can understand keeping sets separately but I think it takes some of the fun out of imaginative play if it's not just mixed up in a random bit box. It feels along the same lines of not allowing children to mix playdoh

Swipe left for the next trending thread