Lego Organization

Hubby has always loved Legos, and still keeps his stash organized in our room.  So I knew it would be something we would get our kids into.  Legos are great in so many ways, however I refuse to step on stray pieces.  I also refuse to spend money (so much money!) on a toy with small pieces just to have half of them accidentally lost, vacuumed, and thrown away.

That's why we didn't encourage Lego play much until the kids were a little older and we could have a specific place for them to play with and store them.  A few years ago, we acquired this huge book case.  For a long time, the two sections pictured here (which now hold science kits, paint supplies, scripture stories, and history resources) were the designated Lego shelves.  It gave the kids plenty of room to build and display completed projects. 

 After a while it became clear that Primus didn't really care about Legos, and Secundus and Tertius were very territorial about the things that they built.  So each was assigned one section so they could keep their loose pieces and completed builds separate.

Soon though, Quartus grew up and started building.  Thankfully, we were given this cabinet (sideboard?) and it's awesome!

The top opens up to double the work space for the kids to play on!

These 2 small drawers hold all the loose pieces.  This is plenty of space for us because we hardly ever buy new Legos and the kids like to leave their projects intact until they need a piece (at which time they will finally break apart something old.)

The cabinet space below is a nice size to hold all the things they've made and aren't ready to destroy yet.

When we made the move to this cabinet, Secundus and Tertius were very upset that they would no longer have everything perpetually on display.  So we had to come up with a compromise.  This small book case is right next to the storage cabinet.  I've used masking tape to divide the top into 3 equal sections.  They're allowed to display their absolute favorite things that they are the most proud of right here. 

One final rule that we have that helps keep the Legos contained is that if any are dropped on the floor and found by me or Hubby, then those pieces become the permanent property of Hubby.  This has all worked really well for us! The kids get to have fun and be creative, and the mess is managed.