For The Love Of Lego

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 thoughts

  1. Lisa Cole says…
    11/18/2010

    Thanks for explaining that to me Simon, it looked so complicated but you helped me understand that. And that snitch was interesting to hear about too :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  2. Nina says…
    11/18/2010

    Hiya, Ali! Oh my gosh, thanks so much for sharing. My 6-yr-old son will love seeing this when I show him this. =) Matt is in his Star Wards LEGO obssession mode. =)

    Reply 0 Replies
  3. Raylene says…
    11/18/2010

    I loved hearing about Simon and his Legos. Goodness! My kids are going on 32 and 30 and Lego played a HUGE part of their lives. That and Cabbage Patch kids! We didn't have much money in those days so on birthdays and Christmas they got a large set of Legos for DS and some Dolly stuff - mostly Fisher Price cooking sets, etc for DD. (I made all the clothes myself) Two areas of interest onlywhich they'd alternate about every 2 months. Amazing how kids choose their own interests.

    Reply 0 Replies
  4. karen says…
    11/18/2010

    incredibly handsome.

    Reply 0 Replies
  5. ale says…
    11/18/2010

    awww... my heart just melted.

    Reply 0 Replies
  6. peggy says…
    11/18/2010

    thank you for sharing your lego's with us simon. and thank you ali for sharing your life with me. you are such an inspiration on so many levels. you are a blessing.

    Reply 0 Replies
  7. Erin O. says…
    11/18/2010

    Yay for legos! I was a tomboy that couldn't get enough of those little blocks.

    Sidenote: did you paint his room that green? I really like it and would love to know the manufacturer/shade.

    Reply 1 Reply
    1. Ali says…
      11/19/2010

      We did paint it that color - it's a color from Miller Paint and I'm looking for the exact paint chip :).

  8. rhonda says…
    11/18/2010

    WOW Simon what a cool Lego collection you have and when I see Santa I will put in an extra special word to him about the Hogwarts Castle too!

    Reply 0 Replies
  9. holly* says…
    11/18/2010

    love the binder idea for the manuals! we just started down the big boy lego path and Simon has stellar storage!

    Reply 0 Replies
  10. Susi from Germany says…
    11/18/2010

    Thanks for the LEGO advice! I totally love the idea of the binder! So easy, and I never came up with that. COOOOL!

    Reply 0 Replies
  11. Sherrie says…
    11/18/2010

    My son, now 18, loved Legos and Harry Potter. He still has the Harry Potter village set up in his room. Must encourage you to go to Legoland while Simon is young - best place ever for kids! Everything is designed for average age 9 yr. old. I loved it and we still talk about it and want to go back again. And concerning adults and Lego hobbies, our local Fair had a Lego contest and an adult man won. His set was a soccer stadium filled with people - about 5 ft. x 4 ft. big. He said he has 2 rooms in his home filled with sets and pieces. Wow, it can be a life long hobby!

    Reply 0 Replies
  12. Stefanie says…
    11/18/2010

    Lego's brings such great memories of my family gatherings at my Mother's. It was inevitable that the box of legos would surface at some point and we would have 5 year old to 80 enjoying the adventure. Absolutely love your organizational system and I love that you are teaching Simon such a valued lesson of oraganization & respect for the things we cherish.
    On another note - may I ask what color you used on the walls in Simons room? It is a gorgeous color.

    Reply 0 Replies
  13. Sheri B says…
    11/18/2010

    Oh my gosh that is *adorable*! My seven year old son is also very into legos as well. Thanks for turning me on to the Lego advent set a while back too, we are getting that for him this year and know it will be such a treat for him! Loved seeing this little bit of your sons personality, he is too cute! :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  14. Corissa says…
    11/18/2010

    What fun. I remember when I was a kid, my brothers and I took over an entire pool table in our basement for our lego towns. Good memories.

    Regarding your comment about adhering the lego bases, two thoughts for you. First, I immediately thought about velcro. You could still move them, although it might be difficult to move a finished piece. Then I thought, what about using magnets? Put some magnetic strips down on the desk and then you have two different options for the bases. Either get some powerful magnets that can be put on top of the bases to hold it down even through the bases (these could be removed to move the bases around easily) or you can put magnetic strips on the bottom of the bases, too. Might be easier than pulling up velcro, but not as easy as the magnets on top of the bases. Good luck in any case! And I hope Santa brings Simon Harry Potter legos, too!

    Reply 0 Replies
  15. Jo Boland says…
    11/18/2010

    Oh Ali, I loved reading your post on Lego. Lego is a huge part of my boys life too (they're 5 and 7). It is out everyday. Infact I've just been photographing scenes for a pirate story made of Lego for my 7 year olds school home learning project. It truly is the best toy. My eldest son (and I) have made some amazing models for his school projects, like a model of a railway station that used to be in our village (you can see that on my blog). It's so interesting hearing how you store it, that's always been a problem that I often have to reassess as the collection grows and as kits get broken down. But like you I keep all the instructions in a binder so that they can easily find the one they want. I often tell them they need to take care of the lego so that their children will be able to play with it in the future, just like they play with my old lego at their grandparents!

    Reply 0 Replies
  16. carriep says…
    11/18/2010

    I also love Lego's, love the timelessness of them. My 21yr old sonis very much a lego guy, and builds some amazing things that can take months to put together. Love it. We never sorted them, but did and do have directions for the endless sets in binders. He loves it now that you can get individual pieces.
    It's so fun to see Simon's growth~

    Reply 0 Replies
  17. Laura says…
    11/18/2010

    Thanks for the GREAT idea. My boys have always loved Legos also. My one frustration is that they love getting the new sets a lot better than using their imagination to re-create. I wish I could go back and save all the old manuals and put them into a binder like you did. I am going to look into getting the storage bins and sorting by color (Like my scrapbooking supplies!!!) Right now we have a huge bin just overflowing with legos and we do need to do something.

    Reply 0 Replies
  18. Camilla Blue says…
    11/18/2010

    Thanks for the Lego organization tips. My five year old already has more than I feel is easily managed. We do the binder for the instruction books. He very much likes to make his own creations after putting a set together once. For my personality type it is very frustrating. I'm trying to find a solution that works for him and meets my need to not see chaos when I walk in his room.

    Reply 0 Replies
  19. abbie says…
    11/18/2010

    precious video!
    precious boy.

    We love legos as well. Lego play has been a major point of connection between my husband and my son. They love to build together.

    Love your idea of the 3 ring binder with all the directions. Our directions are scattered here and there--we need a system! :-)

    thanks, Ali.

    Reply 0 Replies
  20. kris anderson says…
    11/18/2010

    We love Legos at our house. My 2 boys share Simon's LOVE for Legos!! They are either playing with their Legos or researching/studying them on Lego.com. In addition to the regular free Lego magazine, my kids have been members of the Brickmaster Club for several years now and LOVE it! (A birthday gift from the grandparents.) You may want to check it out, if you have not already. While it does cost $40/yr, they get a mini set in the mail every 2 months with a special members-only magazine (and a couple other goodies like, Lego coupons, Legoland tickets, etc.) Please share what is hanging on the wall behind Simon's desk. Is that a Lego mini-figure poster? Looks like something my boys would really like! Thanks for sharing.

    Reply 1 Reply
    1. Ali says…
      11/19/2010

      It is a mini-figure poster. It was a special edition one they released for the 10th Anniversary Star Wars celebration (they are all Star Wars figures). Here's some more info on it (you might have to check out ebay for the actual poster): http://www.brothers-brick.com/2009/05/02/celebrate-10-years-of-lego-star-wars-with-a-free-limited-edition-poster-from-the-lego-shop-news/

  21. noell says…
    11/18/2010

    Absolutely amazing, Ali. I love seeing your setup. It looks awesome. Lego and every parenting magazine should be trying to get a hold of this article!

    My boys love(d) building lego sets, but not playing with them once they're built. For a long time I struggled trying to find the right containers and trying to keep the instructions with them (inevitably they tore or got lost).

    This solution would have been perfect, but I think we're just about through with the lego phase. Actually, it doesn't matter -- I have a little builder in my home, and he'll probably always have similar needs. I really love your idea. The functionality seems perfect and it looks amazing.

    I also posted an organization article today -- How to Be Organized When You Have 29 Unfinished Projects.

    http://www.paperclipping.com/2010/11/18/how-to-be-organized-when-you-have-28-unfinished-projects/

    And one last thing -- you do a great job with low-lighting photos of your indoors. It looks so warm and cozy and you're capturing just enough of the details. After seeing these photos, I realize I probably try too hard to get more light when it's darker in my home. I would love to know your settings and what the histogram tells you when you're shooting. You inspired me and I'm going to work on this.

    Reply 2 Replies
    1. Ali says…
      11/19/2010

      Thanks Noell - I think my camera was set to 1250 ISO and 2.8 (I'm using the 5D and the ISO can go super high which has been great for all the shooting I do indoors).

      Loved that organization article.

    2. noell says…
      11/21/2010

      Thanks, Ali. Izzy uses the 5D too -- such an amazing camera. I need to learn to use it so I can steal it from him, ;)

      When doing these evening shots do you try to try to force the dial-thingie into the center of the histogram (excuse my lack of technical lingo. Hopefully you can figure out what I mean!). Or do you allow for it to be underexposed?

  22. Jeni says…
    11/18/2010

    Hey Simon - Thanks for telling us about Quidditch. I love Harry Potter too!

    Reply 0 Replies
  23. Jenny says…
    11/18/2010

    My boys, for some reason, make the box thing once and then turn everything into a battle station or the "coolest" ship ever. I finally covered an old 3 ring photo album with lego paper and tabbed it for each boy so that when the "coolest" thing happens I can take a picture and add it to their section. WE even have a section when cousins come over. It will be fun to see how their (especially the almost 5 yr old) creations evolve over the years.

    Reply 0 Replies
  24. Marie says…
    11/18/2010

    Great eplanation Simon! What a cool lego quidditch set! Didn't know they had that one. Neat! My granddaughter loves lego. She also puts everything together according to the directions. Then likes to display the sets.

    Reply 0 Replies
  25. mrydee says…
    11/18/2010

    My boys, now 32 and 35, were great Lego fans. I can still remember the sound as they searched through bins looking for just the right piece. We sent the older two big boxes full of his Lego a few years ago when he lived on the same coast, but we do still have the younger’s. This Lego is always an attraction when we have children come to visit. My great nephew once told my sister that he wanted to come live with me, because of my Lego collection! In addition to the Lego we saved all the instructions, idea books, catalogs and even the flattened boxes. We stored the Lego in Rubbermaid bins, and our sorting system changed over time as we acquired more Lego. We sorted pieces more by type, than by set. It was the best toy, and a big advance over the Block City that I played with as a child in the late 1950s.

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