In the last six years, I've learned there are Lego lovers and Lego despisers. My son is a Lego lover. I, too, am a Lego lover, but I'm also a despiser.
I love that Legos support and fuel D's imagination and creativity. They challenge his three dimensional skills and promote problem-solving. Selfishly, I love that Legos occupy him for long periods of time. When he emerges from his Lego stupor, he proudly presents his masterpieces and explains how and why he designed each piece. It's these moments when I feel like I'm the biggest Lego lover and proponent on Earth.
My admiration for the tiny interlocking bricks quickly turns to scorn when they are piercing my barefeet during the midnight covers check, or when I inadvertently suck them up in the vacuum cleaner. Perhaps, the most irritating moments are digging through the trash can to find the ONE freakin' piece of the 1000 piece set that didn't make it's way out of the bag.
In order to maintian sanity and safety while living with Legos, we have some strategies and orginization ideas that you might find useful in your house.
1. Sort, sort, sort! It's an odious task, I know, but sorting pieces by type into smaller bins helps keep pieces off the floor [and from under your feet!] and more accessible to your child. You might need to re-sort every few months, but it should never be as time consuming as the first sort.
2. Food trays! Food trays are the secret weapon to keeping the Lego kits organized while in progress and allows you to store them out of the way during other playtime activities. The melamine tray in the slideshow is from Target. We have five and it seems to be a good quantity, even for the bigger sets.
3. Take pictures! If your child is like D, every creation is precious and must remain intact. Forever! We taught him to use the camera on our iPhone, and now he's happy to have a photo collection of his work as opposed to shelving every creation.
4. Don't forget to dust! It's amazing how quickly and how much dust Lego models collect. This tool is by far the best at removing dust while keeping pieces intact. It's pricey, but works well on fragile and glass objects.
Hope this helps!
F&N