Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Original poster

Right, How do we store all these Lego kits?

32 replies

clumsymum · 03/01/2008 14:44

We now have about 7 different lego kits of StarWars vehicles and the new Mars Mission stuff. DS adores them, they are really good VFM as presents, EXCEPT ....

The original boxes tear as they are opened, so are no good for keeping the pieces, The models fall apart as soon as you try to move them (or breathe near them), and they are made up of MINISCULE tiny pieces. I had to search the living room carpet with a torch before I dare vacuum this morning.

By Saturday all DS's presents must have taken up residence in his bedroom. A good storage idea please.

OP posts:
purpleturtle · 03/01/2008 14:48

Shall be watching with interest. Turns out Playmobil is much the same. Currently have a big stacker box and it's all getting chucked in together, although there might be some value to having lego kits separate.

What about resealable plastic bags in a big storage box?

I think you can get custom made Lego storage, actually, at a price. Must have seem that on MN somewhere...

murphyslaw · 03/01/2008 14:49

Im my opinion with 2 lego boy addicts in our house - trying to maintain the sets as a whole is an impossible mission! Quite often my ds age 11 is swapping pieces from model to model to creatre his own version anyway! We have a huge lego box and it all gets thrown in!

Anchovy · 03/01/2008 15:00

I am very familiar with this. Ikea to the rescue!

We have one of those "Expedit" book cases in our playroom (where the book case is divided into squares). For each square you can get a box/crate that fits in exactly. We have one crate full of "general" lego. Other stuff that is specific "kit" stuff when it is not being played with is put in zip top bags in the crate with the instructions as well (although tbh a lot of it is also "displayed" on top of the book case)

Warning: if you put specific things required for a kit bit of lego in the general crate you are absolutely stuffed. I have been there!

Playmobil also has a crate. (As do Polly Pockets and My Little Ponies etc etc).

We also have got some smaller clip top boxes (from Rymans-style cheapo high street stationers) that v small playmobil stuff goes in, which also live in the Playmobil crate.

This is the theory, anyway...

purpleturtle · 03/01/2008 15:26

Thank you, experts. Will continue as I have begun!

ChasingSquirrels · 03/01/2008 15:33

one big crate, sets are restrictive anyway, throw all the bits in a big box, as long as they have the instructions (ours are all in one of those zippable plastic wallets that the book people / red house sets of 10 books come in) they can always find the pieces and make the models anyway.
We have a blanket that goes in the top of the box, before the lego comes out the blanket is laid out on the floor and construction is done on the blanket - then when its time to tidy up you just gather the blanket and dump it all back in the box.

3madboys · 03/01/2008 15:45

we have those huge boxes on wheels that can go under the bed, about 5 of them? and all the lego goes in those, they keep the booklets seperately, but i will be buggered if i am sorting out what goes with what kit, there is far too much of the stuff, star wars, bionicles, fire and police stations, cars, technic lego etc, all just gets chucked in together, the boys dont seem to have a problem with that, they just build whatever and improvise if they cant find a specific part, tho tbh they normally build a 'model' once and then it gets adapted etc.

LoveMyGirls · 03/01/2008 15:48

CS - LOVING the blanket idea! Fab! So obvious, yet i've never done it!

fortyplus · 03/01/2008 15:50

We had huge plastic crates with the original cardboard boxes flattened to lay flat inside them.

But YAY!! It's all gone... hurrah! Kerrymum has had the lot. The dcs are 12.5 and 14 and decided that all the Lego 'kits' can go - they only wanted to keep the buckets of loose bricks!

Poor kerrymum - she and her xdh have spent weeks trying to sort it all out...

laura032004 · 03/01/2008 15:53

When I was smaller, all of our lego was stored in a huge drawstring bag. When we wanted to play with it, we undid the drawstring to form a circular playmat. End of play, just gather up the drawstring again, and it's all sealed in. I think my mum made the bags herself.

tassisssss · 03/01/2008 15:53

CS, that's a fantastic idea!

I've been pondering this whole thing too (sad but true), doesn't it defeat the purpose of buying very expensive kits if they all get bunged in together?

AllBuggiedOut · 03/01/2008 15:55

We have 3 drawers in Ikea Trofast storage - and try to keep the bits organised into (roughly) one for basic building blocks, one for wheels/gears/moving bits and a third for all the other stuff (windows, hinges, aeroplane wings etc etc). We make the kits, keep them "somewhere safe" (ie out of the 2 year old's reach) for a while then they get taken apart and kept with all the general lego. You need something shallow to keep stuff in, better for rummaging, otherwise I find the DSs empty the bits all over the floor which is, as you say, a nightmare!

andiemustlosehalfastonemore · 03/01/2008 15:56

I have two of these each individual lego or playmobil set goes in a drawer they are expensive but are very good quality and look fab

ChippyMinton · 03/01/2008 16:44

Ikea trofast and a blanket here too. All the sets are chucked in together, and the boxes and instruction sheets are in the loft, for when the DC decide they want to make them up or sell them on ebay(same for playmobil)

Original poster
clumsymum · 03/01/2008 17:01

Blanket is a Great Idea. Will adopt it very soon (altho' will need a plain blanket I guess, tartan very confusing for the eyes with tiny lego bits).

I can't imagine it's possible to keep all the sets seperately, life's too short. I am intent on keeping the instructions in good shape tho'.

DS already has a trofast in his room, which is about full. No room for another. I think I may have to do some 'filleting' when term starts next week.

OP posts:
ChasingSquirrels · 03/01/2008 17:33

laura - I have made a similar bag for some of his playmobil - it is an island set so I used a large round blue tablecloth (£2) from a charity shop and sewed a couple of yellow sand islands on them. Eyelets round the edge threaded with string and hey-presto. I considered it for the ledo, but tbh the box & blanket work just as well and store easier. I have seen similar (but smaller) bags for sale, can't remember who and they were very expensive.

LoveAngel · 03/01/2008 17:40

I am still trying to come up with ingenius ways of storing DS's toys. We also have 'the lego problem', but more pressing is the jigsaw problem (the original cheap boxes break and then we are left with random pieces all over the gaff...). I have taken to storing 'messy' stuff like playdoh and arty stuff in big plastic crates with lids (got from local discount shop for a fiver each), and lego / building blocks etc in smaller crates of the same kind, with the miniscule pieces stored inside the crates in zip lock freezer bags (not so dangerous as normal plastic bags, although maybe not ideal for really yound children...). Also about to get a couple of
these from Ikea.

Nobody tells you when you have kids that your house will end up a sea of plastic shite and that you will forever be bruising your bum on random pieces of lego hidden in the sofa and picking doll's ponytail hair out of your soup!

ingles2 · 03/01/2008 17:49

Having 2 lego mad ds's with all the star wars stuff we use those little ikea plywood boxes they're called Fira. Each drawer is colour coded (!) or for wheels etc (this is my son, who's 8 by the way !)
And all the instructions are filed in one of those plastic portable filing cabinet things!....
By the way..new Lego catalogue arrived today!!! They are poring over it right now!

MrsGuyOfGisbourne · 03/01/2008 18:02

Love this thread! They boys have learned expletives they have bever heard before when I tread on a stray pice with bare feet.
New year - new storage arrangement!!!

Threadworm · 03/01/2008 18:05

Buy a Lego Lego-storage-box kit.

MumRum · 03/01/2008 18:06

we don't have that much but what we do have get stored in a great big plastic tool box with a little plastic lid where all the little bits gets put.. (by me I may add)

southeastastra · 03/01/2008 18:10

argh lego, everywhere. and ds(14) decided to give 6 year old his two huge boxes just before christmas.

i try to keep all the new sets separate but it is impossible after a while. i try to at least keep the star wars away from the batman and spongebob. and keep the instructions they always come in handy even years later.

bagpuss · 03/01/2008 18:13

We have this frame from ikea and the smallest boxes to sit in it. It stores them at an angle so that you can see what is inside and ds1 has sorted all the star wars lego out so that we have it in different colours. The instructions are stored seperately and when he wants to build a model we just pull out all the relevant colour drawers and sort through for the pieces to build the model. When we only had a few sets we also used a large tool box with compartments to the same effect.

southeastastra · 03/01/2008 18:16

lego seem to be very good at creating new products, they should try and invent a lego sorting machine.

ladygrinningsoul · 03/01/2008 21:16

Indeed, there is a storage system that sorts lego bricks by size:

www.box4blox.com/

and Lego really HAVE invented a brick sorting machine:

here

purpleturtle · 03/01/2008 21:20

Well done lgs - the box4blox is what I was thinking of!