For The Love Of Lego
Tags:Legos are to Simon like scrapbooking is to me. Life.
They are often his activity of choice. He checks out Lego.com for updates, watches Lego videos online, gets the free magazine in the mail, and always wants to visit the Lego aisle at Target.
He goes through phases of interest between the different themes but mainly it's been Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Lego City, and now, of course, it's all Harry Potter (that's big on his Christmas list).
When we moved a few months back, packing up the legos and deciding how to organize them took some time. I decided to buy a bunch more plastic drawers in two sizes. With the help of a couple neighbor girls we broke down most of the ships (previously sitting on a large metal shelf in his room) and separated each set into it's own drawer. It was quite an adventure.
After we broke down the sets to fit in the drawers there were still lots of pieces not belonging to any particular set so for those we separated the remaining parts by color.
For his new room in this house we set up two Ikea tables along one wall to create a desk area (these were previously under his loft bed in the other house). At some point he might do his homework here but for now that happens at the kitchen table and this set-up is really mainly for play.
On top of those desks are XL lego baseplates. I'm thinking I might adhere those to the table but for now he can move them around if he wants.
His bedroom has a pretty big closet that already contained built-in shelves. Amazingly those shelves seem like they were built just for those plastic storage containers.
Another thing you might see in the photo that we use are cookie sheets. Cookie sheets have been great for keeping all the pieces together if he wants to move from the dining room to his bedroom.
He's often got a little pile or two or three with drawers pulled out and people being prepared for battle.
Simon's very much a direction follower and doesn't have much interest in making up new ships or places. He follows the written instructions precisely and wants each item to be built just like he sees on the box and in the directions. It's so cool to watch him put one of these sets together.
We keep the instructions for each set in a couple large binders (each set of directions is inside a page protector). This set up has worked pretty good. He goes back to the notebooks when a set breaks apart or he wants to rebuild something. This is also a reason that separating the extra parts by color has worked so great for him - it's easy for him to identify what he needs in the book and then go to the matching color drawer.
Still on my list to do is print out small images of each set to adhere to the front of the drawers to help identify the contents.
I think he's pretty happy in his new room.
Lego, we love you. Thanks for being a part of our lives.
And Simon, I hope Santa brings you that Hogwarts Castle set. It looks so cool!
I asked Simon if he wanted me to capture him explaining what he was playing last night and he got excited. Here's Simon, in his own words:
Simon Edwards: Lego Harry Potter Quidditch Explanation from Ali Edwards on Vimeo.






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257 comments
don't you just love listening to your child go on and on about something they really love?? sweet videa and clever organizing solutions!
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We love Lego too at 5. I often look at Simon and Cole (Zielske) and think is this what my Noah will do then? I love the creativity and freedom it brings! I am very much like Simon and I have to build the sets just as they are supposed to be built. It takes restraint to let Noah decide how he would like to build them. I am astounded that he can follow a Lego manual and build something himself, and I am so proud. Love the video of Simon, he is adorable. Thanks for sharing. We can't wait for our Lego Advent calendar to make it's way to Australia. Thanks for the tip. I hope Simon gets the Hogwarts Castle too, that would be the best present ever! Thanks for sharing Ali it is so special to see.
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Ahhh yes, Legos. I know them well, as do my bare feet in the middle of the night. We have an almost identical Lego organizational system here at Casa del Peppermint, except we have the plastic "shoebox" bins stacked on shelves in the closet instead of drawers. Also? The idea of sorting Legos by color makes me start hyperventilating a little. We did the binder with the instructions in sleeves, too, but now we've run out of sleeves so we're utilizing the "giant pile in a drawer" method.
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I never regret buying legos. They are my son's favorite tody and I credit him with catching up with his fine motor skills and his incredible visual sense. Not many toys that can say that.
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Simon, you are a #1 Lego and #1 Harry Potter fan - I loved your video! When my son was about your age, he loved LEGOS very much too! We once had a Lego birthday party for him. For the cake, we iced it in quarters - bright red, yellow, blue and green. Then we made a small cake and cut in into clyinder shapes and put then on top to look like a Lego. For games, we played "guess how many Legos are in the jar" (the winner kept the jar of Legos) and we also timed teams of 2 kids to see what they could build in 5 minutes. Thanks for bringing back some of those fun memories for me with your video today!!!
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Oh my goodness, Ali---as if I wasn't already a HUGE fan, you have "gone and done it", as my grandmother used to say! I have a 9 year old with a serious Lego love---I could relate to EVERY word coming off the page in this post. We also have a move coming up sometime in 2011---hopefully sooner, than later---anyway, to see what you did with your Legos is SO helpful to me. I have searched the internet for helpful blog posts on this subject and nothing has worked for us---I think this just may work---SOOOO happy you shared this. What a great post about what your son loves---thanks for so openly sharing your life with us~
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Ali--THANK YOU so much for posting this. I actually asked about this not long ago on your twitter page and I am so happy to see how you've managed to organize all Simon's LEGOs. You have saved me so much time figuring out the best way to handle them.
Simon--I loved your video. My son Hunter wants some of the Harry Potter LEGO sets from Santa this year, too. I hope you both get everything you ask for!
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WOW, it seems that Lego-talk is a whole different language! I've never heard of Quidditch before. As a kid, my twin brother played with legos a lot, but I preferred a Barbie doll or an art kit. Precious video of Simon!
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Love what you did with the Legos and let me just say my 11 yo would become fast friends with Simon immediately. Simon is adorable!
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LOVED the video.......Simon is such a sweetheart. Reminds me of my grandson (who just turned 9). He absolutely LOVES Legos and cannot wait until LegoLand opens in FL. I never thought about the legos being to him like scrapbooking is to me.....He'll be a VERY happy boy this Christmas now!!
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I didn't know there was a free lego magazine so I ordered one for my girls who are starting to get into legos. Thanks Ali! Love the video Simon.:)
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Simon is very talented. Following the directions so precisely! Love Legos and so glad he enjoys them so much.
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Our house looks like this, too! Can you believe the ever increasing popularity of Legos? We organize our manuals like you do, but we sort our Legos by color into large clear lidded boxes from The Container Store. We have 2 boxes that are special: 1 for "smalls", the tiniest of parts; 1 for people/figures and all of their accesories.
One of the funnest things we ever did was purchase 10 pounds of random Legos from Ebay (they went immediately into the sink to e washed). Sorting them was a blast - and we got lots of vintage figures otherwise unavailable.
Your son is so handsome and I love his new desk!
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I just accidentally deleted my long comment.. argh.
Basically your son's room would be my son's heaven. I love your idea for storing the manuals and that closet is excellent. He's asking for more Legos for Christmas so we need to get cracking with a new system. You've just inspired me. Thanks!
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Love the video Ali! It's so cool to see Simon passionate about his Legos!
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My girls never got into legos, although one is into scrapping :-). Simon is a sweetheart and so into his explanation...love it! Hope my little guy (turning 2 next month) finds a passion like Simon did. Getting him curious about the duplo blocks right now...let's see where that leads!
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My son is 13 and still LOVES legos. It feeds his creativity and love of building things. Love the video of Simon!
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My boys love legos as well. They are in to Star Wars and lego city. I see that Simon has the fire station which is at the top of my 4 yr old's christmas list. Did you know ToyRUS has a coupon for this Fri and Sat to BUY ONE LEGO, GET ONE HALF OFF. Here is the link http://view.ed4.net/v/JXMZNR/7L9VZ/1633P0G/OURX50/MAILACTION=1&FORMAT=H?csm=169322058&csc=1233795&csa=169305696&csu=1234671
Unfortunately not valid on star wars or harry potter legos!
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Oh awesome - thanks for that...he has an interest in the other lego games too.
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Simon is so passionate. The video made my heart so happy. :) Thanks for sharing your storage system. I don't have kids, but I might some day and this will for sure come in handy!
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Thank you Simon for sharing with us your love of legos..... You are a special young man....
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