To be totally overwhelmed by Lego?

[sonshineandshowers]

DS5 got given some lovely Lego sets for his birthday. Today we started putting together a Campervan, it took about an hour but it was fun and he was very good at it, even his little brother 3 wasn't too unhelpful. I'd explained they needed to be careful with it whilst playing with it, but naturally within 10 mins pieces started falling off and I was getting requests to fix it. Only it's quite tricky to fix without dismantling the whole thing and starting over, especially given by this point pieces are behind sofa cushions, stuffed in the back of a lorry by DS3 etc.

I tried for a while but in the end I gave up as we are going on holiday tomorrow and I should really be washing, packing etc not playing with Lego! I put it back in the box, DS5 was a bit upset and I feel bad that after all that effort there's nothing to show for it.

But it's annoying, are we meant to try and keep all the sets together? If so, how are people doing that? Or do we just put all the tiny pieces from a multitude of sets in a massive box, make it a free for all and never build them again?

Are they supposed to just be kept as display pieces once built? My kids arent particularly rough in their play and were mainly just driving it around, putting the figures in and out, so seems wierd if you're just meant to stick it on a shelf out of reach.

Do I need to buy a box, a shelf, loads of little storage bags?!

How are we doing this? Appreciate I may be overthinking.

Big box with a lid, maybe a smaller one to be kept inside it with particular pieces. Download or photograph the instructions so the original thing can be rebuilt at a later point.

DON'T glue them together. The point of Lego is to build, breakdown and then go off on your own inventions.

Lego is a brilliant toy for enabling kids to build whatever they can imagine. When they're slightly older, they may want to build and keep the "set piece", but let them play however they like.

I feel your pain! It's very tricky. I have no solutions for you, sorry!

In terms of storage if they do want to keep sets intact, the Kallax from Ikea with the glass doors and little shelves are very good.

If you want to store the sets unassembled, you can put them in freezer bags with the instructions.

If they want a load of lego for 'free play' you can sometimes get a big bag second hand on Facebook. If you do go this route, these bags are great.

You can do what you want, basically.

I find as kids get older and the sets more complex that they are more likely to want to keep them together and put the finished pieces on a shelf to admire, but at the age of 5 that's probably not going to happen. Looks like that set is destined for the big random lego box. Keep the instruction booklet, so that if he really, really wants to resurrect the lorry he can find all the bricks and do it, but that's probably not going to happen.

Plastic takeaway boxes are great for the smaller kits. For the larger, just label them ‘Campervan 1, Campervan 2 etc’. They can then be stacked together in a larger clear plastic box, or under the bed or sofa in storage boxes.
Makes it much easier if/when DCs want to sell them too!

We had this too, DS is also 5. I couldn't deal with how annoying it was so I took it off him for a few months. I don't think he was old enough to play with it tbh. Especially if he can't rebuild it himself. Then I randomly saw a Lego drawer set so I got him that and stored it all in there. Over a year since he got the sets, he uses it occasionally to build random things but if he does want those specific sets, I'll help him build them but now he's abit older, he breaks them less.

The point of Lego is to build, breakdown and then go off on your own inventions.

This has actually alleviated some of my anxiety around my sons breaking down their Lego sets. I feel like they're supposed to stay together but rebuilding using their imaginations can't be a bad thing

I think you just have to make peace with it coming apart, but teach your son how to work out how to fix it. Then it motivates him to a) problem solve for himself, b) not run to you each time, and c) be resilient.

Lego is a great way for kids to learn how to challenge themselves and get creative - I used to construct whatever was in the instruction manual first, then adapt or build something else with the same pieces afterwards. I think it's better to not make the experience a constrained one.

Little bits of lego everywhere is a pain though, I guess you'll have to teach your son to clear up any pieces that fall off immediately and have a box available to store the random bits in.

Glad it helped!

To give you the alternative, I was over the moon aged 4 when I opened a Lego Police helicopter on Christmas Morning, loved putting it together and making sure my brothers didn't take over. I went to bed that night, thinking of how fun it was going to be to make it all over again in the morning.

When I picked it up in the morning, nothing would move, not even the lovely, spinny rotors.

They'd superglued it overnight so I 'couldn't ruin it'.

That thing lived in the bottom of a box under my bed, completely untouched, for the rest of my childhood, along with the clockwork train set where they'd glued the track pieces into a circle (having decided I wouldn't need the long pieces) and the key into the side of the train, also rendering it impossible to wind up.

Oh god I would have been so cross! I certainly won't be moaning at them about playing with their Lego in ways they clearly want to!

My 6.5yr old is now pretty good with building lego boxes by himself, with instructions. He also know to keep bits together and largely manages it himself. Yes we have a shelf for the bigger builds! I agree it was a painful two years before he could do lego management himself though!

Grab a pack of random bits second hand and then approach each model as "make the set, then customise". Praise the DC lots for their "new designs" and modifications. Win-win for both enjoying the original set and for creativity.

if you have a big windowsill or similar where ongoing projects can be stored & wont be too out of the way, that's a big plus.

Warning: with this approach you will eventually end up with a massive bucket which in theory contains amazing sets, but when they want to rebuild them it will be a PITA finding all the bits. I quite enjoy the jigsaw-like challenge of finding the exact required piece, but it's not everyone's cup of tea!!

also, if your kids are that way inclined, they will eventually get better at piece-identification than you. "What's this, is it rubbish?" "NOOOO Mummy that's Lewis's gold ninjago hat for fighting in the mech dragon jurassic techno turbo flying car!!" etc

@NeverDropYourMooncup I am outraged on your behalf! What kind of monster glues lego together!

I feel your pain! I used to get worked up about it, the mixing of the sets, the sheer quantity of it, I have threatened many times to never let them buy any more sets as what's the point if they end up getting mixed and why do they want any more of it anyway! In the end I have (sort of) resigned myself to the idea that it is theirs to do as they be please and just provide storage and insist they keep it all in one place and try to ensure nothing gets lost or hoovered up. (Well, I have to confess to helping them keep the smaller pieces sorted by colours in compartmented boxes made for storing Christmas baubles _ and I have also been known for finding the pieces among the chaos and helping them rebuild some sets). There is no right answer, some might like to keep it built, I suspect most like to mix and get creative! Just try to not get worked up about it and keep telling yourself how good it is for them 😝

They build each set once using the instructions then the free play begins!

Gluing Lego together is psychopathic

They build each set once using the instructions then the free play begins!

That's certainly what I did when I was a kid. I spent many happy hours building random things in lego. I was really quite disappointed when neither of my children shared my enthusiasm.

OP. I have a 14yr old who started getting his first lego sets age 5.

We now have £1000's of lego, mainly in pieces in those massive Lidl bags you used to get.

He started keeping them as sets once he was 11/12. Until then the joy of the gift was the building and then the dismantling and making something else.

It is possible he was different from the norm as he is ASD. But as far as we were concerned it is his toy do do with as he wishes.

I also feel your pain! My mum and I once spent hours separating the spare Lego pieces into colour co-ordinated boxes, only for the kids to mix it all back up again within hours! We've had loads of sets over the years and none have remained built up in their original form. I give up now, I let the kids play with it however they want however I won't be spending hours rebuilding and I'm not buying any more either!

Oh, and my DS can decide to do a free build and remember that he needs a specific tiny piece AND remember where said tiny piece is. It boggles my mind.

definitely break and rebuild your existing sets. We have a 'lego shelf' where completed models can be kept on display, but if a new model wants to get space on the shelf then an old one has to be broken down. pieces are kept in a series of boxes below the lego shelf.

there are some good books with ideas for simple things kids can make from a bag of bricks too.

amzn.eu/d/0clvV6tf

Forgot to mention, the app Brickit might be useful if you have lots of random pieces. Not used it myself, but the idea is that you use it to scan a load of random pieces and it gives you a set of instructions and a picture of what to build. Might not encourage free play, but good if you have a child who likes following instructions or just needs a bit of a nudge to get them going.

I like the very 'adult' perspectives on this thread, about parents lovingly sorting out the lego by size/colour etc - just embrace the chaos that is lego 😂

Bear in mind you can download the Lego Builder app and it has all the instructions on there for the various lego sets, so you never need to worry about losing the instructions.

CaribouCarafe · Today 15:00
I like the very 'adult' perspectives on this thread, about parents lovingly sorting out the lego by size/colour etc - just embrace the chaos that is lego 😂
Oh my god hi and high five to this😅 We keep built pieces on shelves but the pieces not used for a specific set all go into giant boxes. We then pour onto a huge sheet where they can play, and afterwards we fold the sheet over, carefully put it into the box and empty the Lego back in.No labelling here!!