How To: Ultimate Lego Organization
I am a momma to four boys. I am also an older sister of three brothers. Legos have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Even before I had any brothers, my sister and I had Duplos and would build with them regularly.
I distinctly remember when we lived in Spokane, WA just about every morning my sister and I would wake up to some amazing creation my dad made the night before with the Duplos while we were in bed. We would take it apart and try our best to recreate what my dad had made. My little 4-year-old heart just thought my dad was the most amazing dad for doing that for my sister and me every night. I still think my dad is the most amazing dad!
Then my brothers came along, and that was around the same time that the Lego company began selling themed Legos and Lego kits instead of just the blocks. Which meant there was a mass Lego unboxing every holiday and birthday.
My boys have been Lego lovers from the very beginning as well. We have been to Legoland a ton and my kiddos ask for Lego sets on the daily. Needless to say, we have acquired A LOT of Legos. Organizing them has been on my to-do list for YEARS!
This whole pandemic stay-at-home time has caused a lot of organizing and home renovations that have been put off. Because I’ve had some extra time on my hands, and Matthew has been spending half of his time working from home, I was finally able to figure out the best way to organized the Legos so the boys would not only be more willing to play with them, but also have the ability to keep the organization ongoing.
We’ve had the 2×4 cube storage piece for years. I originally purchased it from Costco. I think they still have it in stock. We’ve been using it to store toys in, but I knew it would be perfect for my Lego vision.
Depending on the amount of Legos you would like to organize, you could easily go with a different size of the cubed storage.
When I had thought about how best to organize the Legos in the past, I knew that I wanted the plates to be able to be stuck to something for security, but also I wanted the boys to be able to peel the plates off and move them around if they wanted to. Sticking Velcro to the plates and the top and sides of the cube storage were the perfect solution.
This way the boys could take the plates off and play on the carpet or table and then stick the plates back on when they were done.
After measuring the top and sides of the cube storage I knew that unless I cut the Lego plates I would have gaps between each plate. Then I remembered a few years ago seeing Lego tape in a store. It has a silicone feeling and has adhesive on one side. There are a ton of colors and types. I tried two different types, but in the end, this is the one I liked the most.
Other block tapes, I found the adhesive would peel away from the silicone easily and wasn’t as sticky. This block tape doesn’t have that issue. You can also find more colors of the block tape here.
The actual organization of the Legos had to be easy to maintain and use. I was lazily walking through Target one afternoon when I found these plastic drawers.
The size of these drawers fit perfectly in my cube storage. I ended up deciding to purchase 6 sets because we have a TON of Legos. I weighed them before beginning this huge organization overhaul and we currently have approximately 45lbs of Legos.
I wasn’t entirely sure how I wanted to organize the Legos. I initially started out with organizing by color, and only having blocks in the drawers. Then as I moved along, I realized I would need to rethink my process. In the end, the Legos are organized by color unless it is considered a plate, minifig, button, piece of a vehicle, or an extra like a tree. In all, there are 9 drawers that are divided into colors (we have 2 drawers for the grey Legos), 1 drawer for minifigs, 1 drawer for square and rectangle plates, 1 drawer for funny shaped plates, 1 drawer for vehicle parts, 1 drawer for buttons and other small circular parts, and one drawer for miscellaneous parts. I also made sure to have a couple of drawers for the instruction booklets and any tools like this one, the Lego Brick Separator.
That left 2 cube openings where I decided to place the Duplos we have. Goob is constantly following his brothers around and I knew that if the three older dues were playing with Legos, he would want to be right beside them. It was a no-brainer for me to just keep all of our Lego brand toys in one spot.
How do you keep your Legos organized? Do you have a genius organization setup? Or do you have them in one or two bins and end up stepping on them all of the time? I have to say that although I hoped the amigos would keep the Legos somewhat organized, I fully expected them to make a complete disaster of my hard work. I am pleasantly surprised that they have maintained the organization and cleaned up after themselves. In fact, they have been playing with Legos almost daily because of the ease of play. In the past they would pull the bins out, play for an afternoon or two and then leave them to collect dust or be shoved under their beds. I only wish I would’ve organized the Legos sooner.
Other items that I used and may be of help:
What DIY projects have you been doing during this crazy stay-at-home time? Have you been diving headfirst into large projects or working your way one room at a time? Or are you just enjoying this lazy time and not worrying about organization? Tell me below! Hope y’all are having an amazing week.
