Lego-Fantastic

As any mother of boys will know, at some time in your life, the dreaded “L”-word becomes an important part of your world. Yes, it’s that famous love-hate relationship we have with Lego. Don’t get me wrong: I think Lego is wonderful; it inspires creativity, it fosters fantasy and it helps in developing important motor skills. Clearly a toy that we should all have in our house and encourage our children to play with. 

If only there wasn’t the cleaning up and storage problem that these multi-colored tiny pieces create (and the excruciating pain when you accidentally step on a piece!). Being an organizing-junkie-in-training, it has been my mission to find the ultimate Lego storage solution, the results of which I am still ambivalent about but will share with you anyway.

My first attempt to organize Lego was inspired by the blog iheartorganizing and consisted of several Ikea Trofast drawers in which to sort the pieces by color. Great idea I thought, until I realized that my boys are color blind when it comes to cleaning up and my endless hours sorting the pieces had gone to waste.

* image credits : I heart Organizing * 

So I thought, what better way to store Lego than in Lego? Available in fun colors, these storage blocks come in a range of sizes and can be stacked on top of each other into a wall or any fun design you can think of. Only problem being that my boys had to open every single box to find what that one specific piece they were looking for, which again meant cleaning up was not a quick matter (which in my house is, at the end of a long day, of great importance).

* image credits: LEGO opbergstenen vai Brickshop.nl *

* image credits: LEGO opberghoofd via Teitloos.nl *

An alternative to drawers and boxes of all sorts, which can be a stand in the way, is the Swoopbag, a product that combines a play matt with quick and easy storage.  Extremely practical and a must-have, in my humble opinion, for any playroom as it means there is no cleaning up (which is always a good thing in my books).

* image credits: Swoop Bags via Beresterk.be *

The solution I went for and that seems to work best for my boys? A very wide, but low drawer (from Ikea and originally intended, I must admit, to store my shoes) for under the boys’ beds. Big enough so they can rummage to their hearts content and wide enough to ensure they do not have to dig through layers of blocks to find just that piece they are looking for. And practical enough to permit a quick clean up at the end of the day (with the help of a broom and dustpan of course).

Last but not least a bit of advice from someone who learned the hard way: make sure you collect all the Lego instruction manuals and file them somewhere safe. You are bound to need them again in future when the castle or space rocket consisting of about a thousand Lego pieces falls and shatters on the floor!

[ssba]