Lego Storage Solutions

Anyone else go batty trying to figure out how to organize all the kids toys?  Well we came up with two Lego Storage Solutions that work for us.

Lego Storage Solution #1

Store your Legos by sets. When you get a new set make sure you put all the pieces and instruction book (s) in a large ziplock bag (the ones with the zipper are easier for kids to use).  Then keep all the sets in a large plastic bin out of the way. When your kiddo wants to make one, just pick a bag and go to the table where the pieces are less likely to get lost.

My husband was so good to save his sets (40+) from his childhood. By sorting them in bags our kids have had so much fun discovering Daddy’s cool sets.

Downside – Kids can never just build what they wanted to, using their imagination for fear of mixing up the sets! (I suggest if you store your Lego’s like this that you have a small box just for building with.)

Lego Storage Solution #2

Store your Legos by color. Then your child can grab what they want to build a creation, but still find the pieces they need to make a complete set.

During one of our visits with my sister-in-law, she mentioned that they sorted there Lego’s by color. Then it was easy to find pieces from a Lego instruction book AND build lots of creative things from their imagination as well. I knew we had to try it! So I looked on the internet for ideas of how other people did that. My favorite was this one from I am Momma Hear me Roar.  The bins are super accessible, store well, look cute, and I love the surface to keep up the most recent creations!

We didn’t have a large space to get a storage unit like hers, so here is what we did.

Goofy helped me sort all the Lego’s by color. There was a separate pile for wheels / misc. accessories and one for figures (I didn’t realize we had so many! COOL!)

Then we put them in clear bins so it would be easy to find the piece we were looking for. We bought our bins from Wal-Mart (I looked everywhere for just the right size). They are homz brand 15.5 quart and measure 16.25” x 13” x 6.125”. I paid $3.25 each for them on sale! I really wanted bins that were big enough so we could add to our collection, but not too big that finding a shelf to hold them all was outrageous!

Each bin had a label (cause that’s the way I roll =-)  There are lots of great {free} Lego Fonts here at Font Space

Lego Instruction Binder

We put all the set instruction books together in a binder so we can make a set anytime we want to.  We slid them each in a page protector. This also serves as a great place to put pictures of creations we’ve made or things we’d like to build we saw in the Lego Magazine (did you know you can get the Lego Magazine for FREE?)

Then we put them all on a sturdy wire rack in a corner of our school room. We got this nifty 5 shelf (200 lb) storage unit from Target (the narrow one like this ~ $39). Now the Lego’s are easily accessible, but not in the way either. They are also safe from curious little fingers, but easy for big brother to build with.
Any recent creations are left on the top of the bookcase along with other crafts/projects we’ve made recently.

Which Lego Storage Solution is Better?

We have probably 75 sets so trying to find pieces even sorted by color was a difficult task. Although Goofy enjoyed making his own creations, he got tired of putting the Legos back in the correct color bin each time. We also found he never made his sets because it was just too much work. If you have 20 or fewer sets sorting by color may still be a good solution for you. 

We are still working on re-grouping the Legos by set. That is definitely our favorite way to store them. Grab and Go!

Our Favorite Lego Sets

And just in case you’re curious . . . here are our favorite Lego sets =-)