What do you do about Lego?

[Pyjamaramadrama]

Ds has had 5 or 6 Lego sets for Christmas from us and other people.

On Christmas Day ds wanted to open everything but didn't have the concentration to build whole sets as he was overwhelmed with toys. He's 7.

Dh has done nothing but moan about the Lego. Moan, moan, moan at ds not to open them, how expensive they are. He's made no attempt to build he Lego with ds or put it out the way.

Now the excitement of Christmas is over ds wants to build the Lego. He's sat all morning and built the sets but one has a few pieces missing. Dh is moaning now " oh I told you ds, I told you not to open them, I'm not going to bother buying Lego if you're going to do this', he's even told him he's got no self control ffs. Ds just keeps saying he didn't lose them.

It's driving me mad, I see his point, it's annoying, but ds is just a kid, I think we should have put the sets out of sight ds was bound to want to open them. The boxes are quite hard too 8+ and he's sat and built them really well.

He also moans if the sets eventually end up getting broken up and mixed. I've said he should glue them together if he's going to be so anal about it.

Thanks all. It seems most people think I'm at least partly right.'

Ideally it would be lovely to keep all sets separate but as soon as they're played with bits break off I'm not sure ds would want to build the same one again anyway.

They built a couple of sets together yesterday, dh seemed to stop moaning when I pointed out that you can request missing bits from the Lego website and instead started noting down missing bits. I pointed out that the set just wouldn't stay together forever and he said "I know I know".

I'm not actually sure that there were any bits missing in the end though. Dh does this whenever we buy anything to build furniture wise he starts saying there's a piece missing but there never is.

I do think ds should open one box at a time but the trouble was Xmas day he had all these toys and it felt like dh didn't want him to open anything from Lego to board games because of losing bits i think sometimes you've just got to let go and sort out the chaos later or be the adult and put the things you don't want opened to one side and open the things where it doesn't matter. It's called being a parent. Anyway he's not all bad at all he's like this about his own things. New clothes and shoes but won't wear them in case they get ruined

I have a small amount of sympathy for your dh as the thought of a lego kit getting unpacked on Christmas day amongst all the chaos makes me a bit twitchy! That said he does sound unnecessarily miserable about the whole thing, where as I think I would just be matter of fact 'lets put that to one side until we have tidied up a bit....'

With dd (9yo) I wouldn't let her open a kit until she had the space and time to sit down properly and build it. There is nothing more frustrating than losing one crucial piece

"Ideally it would be lovely to keep all sets separate"

I disagree, part of the whole fun of lego is to mix it up and be creative. As long as the set gets built once that's fine IMO.

A big box of lego all mixed up is what you want! Or maybe sorted by colour or type of piece, but not by set.

Your DH has some kind of anxiety about this and he needs to lay off your DS, it's his issue.

DH's Lego has recently made the move from ILs to our house.

All still assembled: 'this is the pirate ship built on Christmas Day c.1990' with boxes and instructions filed away accordingly. H's family does not get the mixing-it-all-up-to-build-something new thing.

I had already anticipated it, but 13 years together, 5 years of marriage, joint finances, and even joint cd collection pales to insignificance on the 'how we are going to handle the Lego thing' issue.

basically i am not going to be my otherwise lovely mil and keep everything perfectly preserved for ever and ever

DS(7) was building a new Lego set on the dining table on Christmas day before lunch - had to shift it all onto trays...
He loves his sets and plays with them intact, before heavily modifying - all the 'interesting bits' go in a shoe box and his room is full of Lego buildings and vehicles, we keep the instructions in a ring binder but he has never completely demolished a set. We also have a big tub of bricks, he built a hospital for his new ambulance set
DD(4) likes to watch me build her set I will be gutted when she starts doing them herself.
There is never any bits missing, usually a handful of spares in a set.

Hoovering is a very delicate operation...

Surely Lego is designed to be creative and imaginative? Not just there to follow set given instructions and only make just one item from them?

So in my mind Lego should end up mixed up and the child have free reign to build whatever they like.

Hence why I bought my godson a big box of mixed Lego and some base plates rather than a particular set.

Jenijena my DP has no interest in lego, unlike me, but there is no way I could keep every set I own on display at all times.
Gutted to be currently breaking up my xmas village today though.

I confine my sets to one display cabinet. (used billy bookcase from ikea with glass doors and adjustable shelves so stays dust free. Glass shelves wouldn't take the weight.) If no room for a new set then an older one gets broken up and put away.

The good thing is your DH has the boxes and instructions so could easily break them up and put them away. Then re build when he wants to display a few at a time

My DD's lego however is everywhere. She also pinched my tardis for the lego friends

Don't glue it together. I felt like your husband for years when my kids were little. They played with sets all the time, pieces everywhere (it doesn't really matter if they get mixed up as bricks are identified in the instructions). Are now teenagers and about to sell 11 stars wars sets for a substantial amount on eBay. Any missing pieces can be purchased from Lego store for small charge. Now I feel sad that those days have gone but hopefully some other children will enjoy the sets

Ps we just put all the boxes with instructions and loose pieces on a large tray under the children's beds (covered in plastic bags to protect from dust once they stopped playing with it). Wish we had taken better care of some of boxes now we are reselling but judging by listings on eBay it does not seem to affect resale too much

We're having the Lego debate too...

DS (5) had his birthday within a week of Christmas and his present list for both was Lego, Lego, Lego and Lego. We were drowning in models before Christmas Day...

DH thinks following instructions is an important skill. I don't disagree, but thinks he needs to free play too.

My compromise is to bag up the kits with lots of parts that would be hard to find again and to put the simpler kits into the general mix. DS does like following the kits and has built simpler ones like fire engines by himself. Our current set up is a general box, and some segmented boxes for small fiddly bits that are hard to find.

DH may have been called President Buisness several times this week, especially after he commited the crime of saying "glue"...

We have a LEGO room. We send DS is and shut the door

DDs (5 and 6 yo) and I have just spend all day building their Xmas lego sets. They started getting it a year ago, and we have several large kits.

As an adult fan I collect the minifigures and kept them away, I also mostly had the sets together, instructions hidden away safely.

Then we decided to do DD1's homework (3D Scutari hospital) out of lego. Mostly the police station with a lot of train station (mine) in it. Then I handed over the minifigures so we could create the characters by swapping heads and bodies. (I also ordered lego rats online). Now the previous lego sets are in a muddle and it's a good thing. DD1 creates characters, sets and stories with it (I'm a creative writing student).

I could put it back into sets, and probably will over the next few weeks. I kept the inserts from the lego advent calendars (mine was Star Wars) last year and this year so I have 6x24 small pots to store the little bits, then shoe boxes for the rest.

But free-range lego play is what we're aiming for:

I love hearing about everyone's different storage solutions. We keep ours all in a big tub, but as we get more and more, it's not going to fit any more.

I am wondering whether to go down the separating everything by colour into smaller boxes route, or whether I should get some big see-through underbed storage boxes for it to be all jumbled up. I think if you have a shallow enough box, it's not too difficult to rake through and find the piece you need, and it would be easier to tidy away afterwards if you just shoved it in one box.

At the moment, we tip it all out onto a rug, and then DC build while I sort it out according to colour and find them any bits they need. (Usually by the time I have got it all neatly sorted, they have got bored of playing, but on the other hand, they like to have me with them, - but not interfering! while they make sets, and sorting it by colour every time is quite therapeutic in a way.)

I suppose the more you have though, the more you need more complex storage solutions, otherwise it will take ages to find the piece you need. But not sure if separating by colour at this stage is a bit of overkill.

I do keep all instructions carefully, in a plastic folder, and the DC like looking through and choosing which set they are going to build. Built sets get chucked back in the box, and eventually they'll get broken up.

My DS DH got quite a few Lego sets for Xmas this year . He's 2 by the way

My 3yo is obsessed with Lego - and instructions. He will sit down and not move until he's finished the model, which can be inconvenient - especially if he's plonked himself in a doorway to do it . The biggest problem is with the Creator 3 in 1 sets, as he gets extremely upset at the thought of breaking up the first model to make the next one, but won't put the set away until he's done everything in the instructions...

All the basic bricks/planks etc go in big see-through boxes here, with smaller specialist bits in toolbox-type things (ones for holding screws as well as a couple of tool ones). Instructions all go in an A4 portfolio book, the kind with the clear pockets. The DC can then find the one they want easily, though my 6yo prefers to ignore instructions and make her own alien vehicle (mostly in order to upset her brother, I suspect).

I feckin hate lego, I do...

Oh i'm so sorry - this sounds totally miserable! Lego is meant for imaginative play. you don't have to just stick to building the model on the box - build anything you like. and of course bits will get lost, that's the nature of the game. But it doesn't matter. the point isn;t to create a perfect replica of the picture on the box, it's to make your own creations.
I feel quite sad now. Lego was my favourite toy as a child.

Lego is the best toy in the world . No question. it is made to be played with, built, broken, rebuilt into something better. we store all our instruction books in A4 folders and the pieces are kept in plastic tubs of basic colour co-ordination. My two girls like nothing better than building the sets and then improving them with changes of their own. I think your DH needs to get a grip and just relax. Lego is creative and let's kids imagination run wild. Simple storage and filing instruction books and it will be safe!

Look at this for what you can do with Lego!

we put a big white sheet on the floor, all the Lego on it and then it can easily be picked up and put in a big plastic box and put away, we have all the instructions in a separate box for anyone who can be arsed to follow them and a third box for "things that must not be broken up because I am still working on it/it is special" works for us....

I was a BIT gutted when DS smashed up the fire station after I spent hours building it, but not for long, now he builds his own free style, they are always much more interesting.

Pain in the arse!
Dd had the frozen castle, it's built now so I asked dh (Lego geek) what hapoened next? Does it get broke down agsin or does it stay up looking untidy as a bloody ornament/toy.
He looked at me as if I was deranged!

Spent hundreds on Lego the pieces are all mixed.

Dh has learnt coping mechanism on the sets being mixed. Must learn them for play dough.

If I bloody step on one all hell breaks loose.

Seriously people standing on Lego bricks is damn painful

I have lost count of the Lego sets here, and also of the clear plastic ikea boxes we keep them in. We are colour sorted, with boxes for wheels, see-through, mini-figures as well. But minecraft, ultra-agents and built items all have their own boxes too. Then you have the 30 Lego friends sets, currently all bagged up in clear boxes, with separate boxes for the pop-group stage lorry and built items. Then there's the technics sets, currently all built in clear boxes, with a spares box as well. We've run out of display space, so the technics prop aeroplane with battery operated engines, cargo deck, flaps and wheels, 50cmx50cm, is suspended from the ceiling.

All boxes are in the roof, three folders for books (Lego, friends, technics), and a huge cupboard solely for Lego is how it is managed.

My DS (8) is Lego mad. He just completed the adult T1 camper in 2 days by himself, and is underway with the technics motorised snow-station crawler thingy. Keeping it reasonably under control can be frustrating, but I love it too, and our lazy Sunday's in pj's on the floor of the DC's bedroom surrounded by the stuff listening to Cabin Pressure is currently our fave thing.

Sorting and storing LEGO bricks is literally a science. Defining the criteria to group bricks into bins is the classical work of for a taxonomy expert. In any case, the topic fascinated me and I ended up writing a little book about it. It has all you ever wanted to know on how to sort your bricks: The Ideal Order.

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