# Parents, how do you store your kids Legos? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 15, 2014, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-how-do-you-store-your-kids-legos/688516 "2014-05-15T11:25:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-how-do-you-store-your-kids-legos/688516/1 "2014-05-15T11:25:29Z")
Most little Legos fans wil have lots and lots of Legos. Several kits, some inherited logos, lost and found parts, brick sets…I was wondering, how do you store them? What are the pros and cons of your system? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-how-do-you-store-your-kids-legos/688516/2 "2014-05-15T11:49:22Z")
Large, tough canvas bag with a soft drawstring top. Tipped out onto a sheet when we want to play with it. And it’s Lego. No S. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-how-do-you-store-your-kids-legos/688516/3 "2014-05-15T14:30:35Z")
Not being a parent, I can’t really answer the poll, but when I was a kid, we had two big containers, one for my brother and one for me. Periodically, my parents would have to divide the legos up because my older brother would have taken most of them from me. It was always a big production on dividing day with my brother complaining that he deserved the best ones. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-how-do-you-store-your-kids-legos/688516/4 "2014-05-15T14:33:22Z")
We keep them spread out on the bedroom floor. That makes them easier to find at night when walking barefooted. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-how-do-you-store-your-kids-legos/688516/5 "2014-05-15T14:34:17Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > And it’s Lego. No S. That’s a UK vs US difference. “Lego” without the “s” as an uncountable noun sounds jarring to my American ears. Anyhow, growing up, it was just all dumped into one big container. We didn’t even save the instruction sheets. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-how-do-you-store-your-kids-legos/688516/6 "2014-05-15T14:47:25Z")
When I was a kid we had a big drawstring bag that opened up into a flat circle and our Lego came from that. We did have some sets but they got mixed up, and it was fun trying to hunt for the right pieces from the pile. Lego play seems a little different now. But still rockin’ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-how-do-you-store-your-kids-legos/688516/7 "2014-05-15T14:47:35Z")
I built a table similar to [this](https://www.flickr.com/photos/rb3wreath/4216365553/sizes/l/in/photostream/) one. The storage units and buckets which form the base are from Ikea. I built a 5’ x 4’ melamine tabletop with edges to keep the pieces from falling off. The pieces are sorted into buckets by their general types: small plates, large plates, 1-by bricks, 2-by bricks, slopes, vehicle parts, etc. The many thousands of small parts are kept sorted in [toolboxes](http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-25-Removable-Compartment-Professional-Organizer/dp/B00005QWYF) with removable bins. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-how-do-you-store-your-kids-legos/688516/8 "2014-05-15T15:57:18Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > We keep them spread out on the bedroom floor. That makes them easier to find at night when walking barefooted. :eek: Ditto. I’m secretly convinced that tiny, single node transparent Lego(s) are proof that the Danes are trying to kill me. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-how-do-you-store-your-kids-legos/688516/9 "2014-05-15T16:11:39Z")
Once everything starting being sold as “sets” with lots of weird shapes that aren’t very interchangeable, we started storing those in gallon ziploc bags. I’d cut the picture of the thing off of the box and slip that in the bag so the kid would know which one it was (I tried saving the instructions, too, but he never used them and frequently lost them.) The bags all lived in a big bin. Non-set Lego went in their own big bin. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-how-do-you-store-your-kids-legos/688516/10 "2014-05-15T16:31:12Z")
The kids had to keep the loose Legos in some container of their choice, or we used the trashcan as a container. If something was assembled they could put it on a shelf or something like that. Years later pieces of Lego still show up in some nook or cranny, in the boxes of old tax records, in the trunk of old clothes, under the seat of my car, just about anywhere. Maybe they reproduce via mitosis or something, but I doubt they’ll ever be completely gone from the house. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-how-do-you-store-your-kids-legos/688516/11 "2014-05-15T16:32:58Z")
99% in one big communal box. 1% in the sole of my F#@%#& foot. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-how-do-you-store-your-kids-legos/688516/12 "2014-05-15T16:40:40Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > 1% in the sole of my F#@%#& foot. I don’t have daughters, but I’ve been told a high-heeled Barbie shoe is the only thing worse. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-how-do-you-store-your-kids-legos/688516/13 "2014-05-15T17:40:51Z")
Large flattish bins under his bed. Also several of those clear-ish plastic boxes with dividers where he puts the little pieces. He doesn’t really organize them within the boxes. Instruction books go in one of those bookshelf magazine holders, though I don’t think he ever looks at them again. He also has a white plastic tray like a cafeteria tray that he works on. He can put aside something he hasn’t finished yet with the pieces that he’s planning on using, and it also makes it easy to keep track of all the bits when he’s assembling a set for the first time. I highly recommend setting your Lego-loving kid up with a tray of his/her own. It certainly makes things easy when I have one of those “Auuuugh! Get your Legos out of the living room NOW” moments." > [@Mangetout](#): > > And it’s Lego. No S. In American colloquial English, “Legos” is also acceptable. Deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![SarahRodriguez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@SarahRodriguez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SarahRodriguez)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-how-do-you-store-your-kids-legos/688516/14 "2014-05-15T17:43:19Z")
I’m not a parent. My husband and I sometimes play with legos for fun. We keep them in a dresser drawer, unsorted. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-how-do-you-store-your-kids-legos/688516/15 "2014-05-15T18:40:06Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > That’s a UK vs US difference. Actually, I think it’s pretty much a US vs _the rest of the world_ difference. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-how-do-you-store-your-kids-legos/688516/16 "2014-05-15T18:41:16Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > In American colloquial English, “Legos” is also acceptable. Deal with it. I don’t live in America, this is the IMHO forum. I expressed my opinon. Deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-how-do-you-store-your-kids-legos/688516/17 "2014-05-15T19:47:19Z")
It’s a US vs the company that makes Lego difference. (Sorry, LEGO.) [LEGO | Brickipedia | Fandom](http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/LEGO) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-how-do-you-store-your-kids-legos/688516/18 "2014-05-15T19:48:30Z")
Actually, I think it’s whatever the company wants to call their product, and they’re pretty insistent it’s just Lego (sorry, LEGO). Anyway: All the kids’ Lego (and some of mine) is unsorted, in several of those fabric boxes that unzip into playmats (made by or for Lego, AFAIK) - there’s a City one, a Star Wars one and a Castle one. And then the rest of my own stuff (Millennium Falcon, X-Wing) is never packed away. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-how-do-you-store-your-kids-legos/688516/19 "2014-05-15T19:52:51Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Once everything starting being sold as “sets” with lots of weird shapes that aren’t very interchangeable… Hijack that I hate this, by the way. I looked at some Lego sets at Target, and it seems like they’re all just big pieces that snap together, and indeed aren’t very interchangeable. What’s the point? Lego spaceships used to be built with little 1xsomething bricks to make ‘curves’. Now they’re just pre-molded rocket-looking pieces. It’s like the difference between the spacecraft in the original Star Wars and Ep. I-III. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-how-do-you-store-your-kids-legos/688516/20 "2014-05-15T19:56:39Z")
One big tub. My husband seems to think it’s necessary to keep the instruction booklets, despite the fact that not one kit in our house ever has been built more than once. But…whatever. So I have a bunch of the booklets floating around the house, but the pieces themselves go in one bin. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-how-do-you-store-your-kids-legos/688516.md?page=2)