to ask for your help to deal with this (a light one, LEGO!)

[VacantExpression]

I need to learn to deal with lego packs not being kept separate. That the chima might end up with the Ninjango, with possibly a city police car (in pieces, obviously) for company.

That this really is ok, and nothing to worry about and my trek to ikea for 50 small storage boxes on which to stick the picture from the box and store instructions was a waste

I need to deal with this, before Christmas as I fear the worst and that things are going to get worse long before they get better.

Can anyone help me? Or suggest easy child-friendly ways that lego can be sorted and stored so everyone can have inner calm and when it comes to toy storage?

I'm not really a Lego fan (too much of it has ended up in my hoover!), but I think the mixing of sets and encouraging children to use their imagination is the beauty of Lego. We buy sets, but once built they never stay together for long. I keep the instructions in the vain hope they may be built again, but generally it all goes in together and gets mixed up.

Try not to stress about it. You're fighting a losing battle trying to control it!

Oh you are ambitious. I gave up a looonnggg time ago to keep each set separate. For one, my DS always mixes them anyways. Two, to avoid that very same trip to Ikea. In the end I just bought a giant plastic tub and left the boy to it. He kept his creations put together for as long as he could stand it and then into the tub it went to be mixed amongst the rest.

I gave up.

DS1 now has more than his own body weight in Lego all dumped into one box under his bed.

There are only two routes. Glue it together or one big pile of chaos.

I used to have this with Playmobil, and had separate tubs for each set of them. But Ds knew exactly who went with what.
Even now (he's 19) he could tell you what sword or helmet goes with a particular knight, or what gun belongs to a certain cowboy. Accurate, to the picture on the box, I kid you not (even though I didn't keep the boxes).

I hated it when DD mixed up Playdough colours. Until I realised I was being a bit silly - it did take me a while, though. (Only because I wasn't allowed to do it as a child myself). Once I told myself it was okay for my children to do this, actually, it was okay, really it was.

I feel your pain, VacantExpression - but let it go - Honestly, let it go. You will feel better for it

Give up. You've no hope. Unless you intend to kraggle stuff together just embrace the carnage.

Our lego storage is from ikea, all of these tubs are full of lego.

We love lego.

There are some battles that are not worth the fight...lego organization is one of them

Keep all the instructions, religiously.

Let chaos ensue, but every now and again (6-12 months) try and do a full on sort ( all pieces by colour) and then rebuild as many as you can from instructions
If you have missing bits, lego can replace them and sometimes will for free

Plus the process might make ds see the benefits of keeping things organised (ish) when he discovers his ninjago now has no hands!

Lots of little hands have been hovered up, and are now lost forever . . . . . .

hOOvered

All lego instructions are available online

I'm the opposite of Usually - don't worry about instructions. They're all available online in pdf format so don't bother keeping the leaflets just in case (unless you really want to and think they'll actually be used).

We have LOTS of Lego! Each set is made when first purchased but will eventually be broken up.

We have those same storage/sliding boxes from ikea. We have 1 box per colour, so it's easy for little ones to sort and tidy up. They can't make an excuse about not knowing where it goes if it's all based on colour!

It works well for us and creates a display area on top for those beautiful creations lopsided cars and planes

If it helps, my Lego was all muddled up. My parents kept the boxes in the loft. I sorted it all out when I was in my late 20s, and it's now all organised ready for when DS is old enough. Just be patient!

We just sort by colour now as there is so much of it. DH is a Lego fanatic so he's in charge of it

I tried with duplo. It now has its own drawstring bag (it's a big one). The kids are happier and it's so much quicker to tidy up with a dustpan to shovel it in.

Watch the Lego Movie. If you still think Lego should be separated into sets rather than combined then you clearly have no soul!

We have over 50 sets of Lego.

All are in food bags with a sticker on with the number and then inside the original box or margarine tubs or plastic boxes I have bought.

We have 1000s of spare bricks, freebies from the paper we can't rebuild as the packet was thrown out and a tub of random bricks brought from the lego shop. They are all in individual boxes.

ones, twos, threes and fours share a box with a divider, clear ones, dots, jewelled colours, two boxes with 12 compartments, a box with people and animals, roofs, doors and windows, etc etc,. They are all in drawers on wheel trollies with the big boxes under the stairs/our bed.

Initially all the spares were boxed by colours but it took far too long to find a particular piece.

I'm like this with sylvanian families and have to obsessively rearrange the bits when the dc have gone to bed. Nurse rabbits in the school? Restaurant plates in the house??? Arghhhhh!

My friend sarcastically said I should superglue everything down in its right place. I'm seriously considering it.

I have just faced this myself. Honestly, it made my teeth itch if a piece didn't get put back in its own box, but the boxes were getting too damaged.

We got some of the lego storage bricks and have combined some of the little ones, but mainly themed it eg, lego City police and fire is all in one brick. I do find it hard though and have kept the piece lists so that I can occasionally audit the bricks to make sure everything is where it should be.

After spending an entire weekend sorting lego into different categories - bricks, flat pieces, wheels, people, small time pieces, long pieces, odd shaped pieces, etcetera only for it all to be mixed up again within a week I have given up.
Dd keeps her lego friends stuff seperate from the rest as she generally plays with it as f little dolls houses etcetera but does nick lego from the main stuff to make own creations

Oh God don't even go there. We have thousands of pounds worth of Lego collected over the years. We just got more on Saturday as we were at legoland. It all just goes in under bed storage boxes (eight full) plus some stacking crates and Ikea trofast units.

We do keep the instructions until they get ripped/fall apart but the joy of Lego is in mixing the sets.

We have star wars, chima, ninjago, friends, city, creator, Lego movie sets. Police, fire, harbour, boats and planes and helicopters and technic Lego and much much more. Five kids who ask for Lego every Xmas and bday so we have built a huge collection!

Ds2 and ds3 have just today done a word document for the sets they want this Xmas!

I myself want the Lego ewok treehouse set, a bargain at £200! But if I got it no one would be allowed to touch it!

Good lord, I cannot imagine having the time to regularly sort Lego! DD has a big box for all Lego, a bag for Megabloks (going soon though), a box of Brio trains etc, a toy box for big toys, a toy box for small toys, and a box of assorted jigsaws.

The jigsaws box does make me twitch slightly but sorting it out is fun for her.

itsfab that sounds so .. joyless Sorry but where's the fun in that? DS's great joy is in making a Ninjago/chima/lego movie super fighting bike with hover chair and Emmet's leg's replaced by a pirate's

[Thinks back to the long weekend DP spent helping DS sort his Lego out into boxes according to blocks, wheels, flat bits, weapons, corners, technics, etc]

Two days it lasted. DP was gutted.

It looks like this now