Both of my boys are HUGE Lego fanatics so our Lego organization has had to evolve over the past couple of years in order to accommodate our ever growing collection. We don’t have a playroom around here but both of the kids bedrooms are really large so we have had lots of room to expand. One of my tasks for the August Houshold Organization Diet was to organize all of the kids toys {with a large emphasis on the Lego!} We did some initial revamping, made a few tweaks here and there, and finally have a good system in place for us! Whether you have a small space or a large playroom, hopefully some of our ideas will work for you too!
In our house, the boys’ rooms are kind of interchangeable as far as toys go. We just kind of store things where they make the most sense and the boys are always in and out of each other’s rooms. I really don’t think they even know which toys belong to who. Since Matthew is more of the collector and Connor is more of the builder, we ended up having more of the built sets in Matthew’s room and most of the “active building” area in Connor’s room. Let’s start with Matthew’s room first…
So the first thing that we needed were shelves to hold all of the completed sets. The boys play with these sets all the time, so they needed to be down low at a level that they could easily reach them. This shelving unit from Ikea was really inexpensive and can easily be expanded as the collection grows. I also like that the shelves can be set close together as many of the models are not very tall and only need a very short shelf. 
The bins on the floor hold other toy collections at the moment but could hold more Lego as the kids outgrow the younger toys. You can purchase sliders for the bins so that they function more as drawers, but I like that they can be moved around the room for play rather than actually being attached to the shelving unit. I spray painted some wooden tiles with chalk paint for labels and attached them to the bins with some twine
On one end of the shelving unit is our mini-figure storage area. I showed you our mini-figure display cases a while ago and they have been working out great. The boys can easily take all of the figs on and off and we have had no casualties to date! 🙂
{You can find the Mini-Figure Storage tutorial HERE}
Additional mini-figures {and all of their other parts and itty bitty accessories!} are stored in a tool box below the display cases. 
The kids can sort out the different parts and love coming up with their own “custom” creations. They also often tote this case back and forth between their rooms depending on where they are playing {which also makes for quick clean ups!}
The last thing in Matthew’s room are all of the Lego manuals. They are all stored in two portable file folders on either side of the toy bins. Matthew loves to record himself doing “Lego reviews” so he is using these all the time for his videos. I’ll have to show you one someday – they are pretty funny!
{you can find more info on our manual storage HERE}
Connor’s room holds most of the extra building Lego and the kids’ custom creations that they build. A couple of years ago, I converted their old train table into more of a Lego play table and storage area. 
Their projects are limited to the space on the top of the table and the boys are pretty good about deciding what they want to leave standing and what they are ready to take apart again. One of the pull out drawers holds broken sets that they want to repair and the other drawer holds four baskets of loose Lego pieces. We did start off with trying to keep these baskets organized but it really was a lost cause. Again, the baskets are all really portable and can easily be carried around to where they want to play. When they are done, they are packed away and out of sight!
The rest of the Lego is sorted into colors in this little storage unit that I got at Home Sense {with a drawer on the bottom for even more minifigures!}
We also use this RotaVision organizer to hold all of the tiny little Lego bits. They are not 100% sorted but they are definitely easier to find in the little cups than they are in the big bins.
And lastly, each of the boys has a crate to hold all of their Lego related books and carry cases.
With Christmas just around the corner, now is the perfect time to start sorting out your kids’ Lego and get things organized for the new ones that will be coming! Before you jump in and get organizing though, take a few minutes to figure out what you are looking for and what storage needs your have. If you are short on space, stack shelves more vertically and just rotate out the toys on the top shelves that your children can’t reach. Under the bed storage is another great option!
Here are a few tips to keep in mind…
- Decide how you are going to sort your Lego. Do you want to sort by size, color, or sets? Maybe you just want a large bin that you can dump it all into. Your needs will change depending on the size of your Lego collection, how old your kids are, and how your kids like to build so take all of this into consideration.
- Allow room for growth. When the boys first started to play with Lego, I had no idea how big our collection would get. Pretty much every Christmas or birthday present as well as their allowance money over the past few years has been spent on Lego sets. If you know that there will be more coming, make sure you make some room for expansion so you don’t have to start over again!
- Have a “dump zone”. Although most of our Lego is sorted, there are definitely times that we don’t have time to completely sort everything out or the kids are just too lazy. There is a drawer in the Lego tower for spare mini-figures {and all of their little parts!} as well as drawers underneath the Lego table that are more or less our dumping zones. The kids will sort through this periodically when they are looking for something specific or when I say that their “dumping zone” is getting too full!
- Make things portable. Kids love moving around with their toys and don’t like being confined to one spot. Storage units that are on wheels or have drawers that can easily be pulled out make it easier for your kids to take their Lego to different areas to play and make it much easier for clean up. If your kids are like mine and like to take their Lego with them on outings, have a small, portable container that they can pack some of their favorite Lego into. Bead containers, tool boxes, lunch boxes, or cases like these Lay N Go pouches all work well.
- Get your kids involved. Since they will be the ones playing with it {and hopefully cleaning it up too!}, let your kids help decide what would work for them. I really find that they are more likely to keep things tidy if they think they have come up with the plan themselves. You’d be amazed at what ideas they actually come up with! 😉
Now get creating!!! If you have any other tips, let me know – I would love to hear them!
Thank you! My 5 year old is just getting going on Legos, but I think you may be describing our future. I appreciate the ideas on organization before we get in any deeper.
Just you wait!! It is amazing how fast it grows!! 🙂
All I can say is WOW! What a system you have. Definitely pinning:)
This is amazing…now I am almost convinced to let Legos invade our house!!
Such good ideas! There is nothing more painful than to step on a loose lego or barbie shoe! haha! Saw your link at Tatertots&jello’s linky party… Wanted to drop by and invite you to a linky party that I and twelve other bloggers are hosting. We’d love for you to link up this post and any other you’d like. Hope you can stop by! http://stringtownhome.net/?p=754
I love these ideas! We have a Lego obsession in our home, and it’s growing by the day, it seems! Thanks so much for sharing! Dee 🙂
Thanks Dee! It is amazing how quickly the Lego turns into an obsession! 😉
I’m super excited to do this for my little guy he has been obsessed for about 6 months now and he is only 4 years old! The Lego collection is ever growing with a grandma that always gives into the temptation of a new Lego set ! Always so messy in our home can not wait to organize!
So smart to start the organizing when they are first getting into it. Lego just seems to multiply – it’s so much easier to organize as you go! 🙂
What is the name of the shelving unit you bought at Ikea. I think that one works perfect. Thanks for all the wonderful ideas. Just what I needed to see.
I believe that it was the Algot. Everything is sold separately (brackets, shelves, bins, etc.) so you have to collect everything in their warehouse section which was a bit of a pain. I ended up going back a few times to exchange parts as I bought the wrong thing. It does work perfectly for Lego though. 🙂
What depth shelves did you go with 15 or 22?
They’re 15. 🙂
Great ideas here.My almost 6 yr old is Lego obsessed&I need to come up w/some new ideas for storage.Right now we have a couple of the Lego storage towers w/the project cases u slide in&out,but they quickly become jumbled.I esp like the idea of repurposing the train table.We have almost the same one as u.Im also going to attempt your tutorial for the minifigs.Im constantly searching for the specific “guys” he wants.Thanks!
I love these ideas. I wish I had the space. I am definitely going to do some of the ideas like displaying the characters, finding something to separate by body parts, and definitely the manuals and color code the parts. Our problem area is going to be finding somewhere for the finished products. Thanks for the suggestions though. Great ideas.
Yes, those finished Lego sculptures add up fast! Maybe you could go up and do a floor to ceiling shelving?
My son has a pantry unit to store his finished lego in.
MY husband added more shelves to it.
Smart idea!
I love this post, wish I would have seen this about 4 years ago! My son is almost 11, and I just don’t know what to do with all the Legos, some have become discontinued so clearly we will keep those, but any suggestions for the rest? Do I keep them all? Just his favorites? Where should I store them? Right now they are in the garage, I have tried to keep all the boxes, so it’s piles and piles of boxes. Any suggestions would be great! Thanks 🙂
Well, I definitely wouldn’t keep them all. Since you have the boxes {and I am assuming the pieces!}, they should sell quite well on eBay or possible even Craigslist. Personally I would just keep a few favorites and sell the rest if he is no longer using them. If he does want to keep them, does he need to keep the boxes? That would definitely cut down on a lot of space and you could just store the pieces in large zip-loc style bags. My oldest is now 11 too and {sadly} just starting to come out of the Lego phase. Hopefully my youngest will enjoy them for at least a few more years! 😉
That’s funny, I use the exact same Star Wars lunch box to hold all my Lego Star Wars build instruction books. 🙂
Great minds… 😉
would you share where you purchased the sheleves? I didn’t see it on ikea
They are from Ikea but I can’t seem to find them online either. They come as separate shelves, brackets, bins, etc, and then you just have to design what you want. They were just in the warehouse section in our local store – I’m pretty sure they are still in stock.
Wow, there are a lot of neat ideas here. Unfortunately, all together, from IKEA to display cases to RotaVison to file cases to toolboxes to Lay-and-Go, it looks like at least $1,000 worth of organizing paraphernalia to buy . . . way beyond the budget of this family of six! But we might be able to swing one or two of those items, and every little bit helps, so thanks for the ideas.
Yes, it would definitely cost a ton of money if you bought them all! The idea is to just pick and choose what works best for you and your budget and hopefully your organization system can just grow slowly as the LEGO collection grows. You can also look for similar storage units at second hand stores or DIY some storage systems to cut down on costs. 🙂
bilive you.
my son LOVES it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
Love the multi colored blue rug. Where is it from? Thanks!
The rug is from Target. 🙂
Love the organization! Where did you find your clear bins that were under the shelves? Thanks
They’re from Ikea. They’re actually white metal mesh bins. 🙂