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.

Related Posts

Sign in or sign up to comment.

257 thoughts

  1. dawn says…
    11/18/2010

    This is so cool Ali, love how you help him with his passion. Giving him tables and organizers and a binder makes it so much easier to have fun with these. Great job Simon, loved the video and hearing his voice. That's a great closet for a lego boy. Good luck on your wish list Simon.

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

    My son has been Lego crazed since about 3 (he's 5 1/2 now). With him, it's all about his own creations. He could care less about building what the kit intended - or if the parts are all jumbled. When he picks something out - it's for the individual pieces ... not the ship itself.

    We "organize" his in large plastic drawers (like one of those rolling cabinets) - but I've been told 'by color' is the way to go (you know, by older, wiser Lego maniacs LOL!). I tried organizing by shape - he's still not ready for that.

    Loving the cookie sheet idea.

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

    oh my Lord, he is so stinkin' cute.

    LOVE it.

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

    Simon and my son are so similar with their love of Legos. Of course you have his collection sorted and stored well. My son's room is littered with Lego creations. The soldiers from the Star wars sets he calls Roger Rogers "because that's what they say".

    Reply 0 Replies
  5. Tweets that mention For The Love Of Lego | Ali Edwards -- Topsy.com says…
    11/18/2010

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by gluestickgirl and hchybinski, Josephina Mydreama. Josephina Mydreama said: For The Love Of Lego: Legos are to Simon like scrapbooking is to me. Life. They are often his… http://goo.gl/fb/ALIuZ [...]

    Reply 0 Replies
  6. Abby P. says…
    11/18/2010

    Legos are always on my gift-giving list for my two boys, 14 and 18 - yes, 18! He never gets tired of building new sets - he's also very big into taking apart and fixing things on his truck and motorcycle - maybe it all started with just a little Lego set!

    Reply 0 Replies
  7. Alexandra says…
    11/18/2010

    So many great things in the post - love all the lego links and tips. We also use cookie sheets and muffin tins for organizing projects on the go - think the muffin tin idea came from one of your older posts :) The binder with page protectors and manuals is so clever - I'll have to start one of those.
    And... the video of Simon is wonderful - he must have felt like a champ doing that - so cool - he's awesome!!

    Reply 0 Replies
  8. Leslie says…
    11/18/2010

    I love hearing about Simon and his Lego passion. We tried various systems of organizing, but ultimately ended up by color in bins like you are using. My kids mostly only liked to build the intended model the first time and then they created their own versions of it. They (15 and 11) packed away the most amazing Lego city last year. It was a very sad day for me. I think they were ready to have that era end. For years, they would spend hours on that city and had a whole family tree of characters that lived in the city. (I mean literally a family tree hung on a wall!) I did have, what I was proud of, a brilliant thought last year and asked them to build me a Christmas Village before the Legos retired. It was beautiful and is a wonderful keepsake for them as well.

    Reply 0 Replies
  9. Sally says…
    11/18/2010

    Oh Ali - did you have a little tear in your eye while you were filming this? Simon is just precious - his mother's son for sure w/ his tutorials!!! =) My almost-13 daughter was watching with me, and she said, "He really knows what he's talking about - that's Quidditch exactly!" My son was(is?) a huge Lego fan as well. He's 16, but still enjoys the Star Wars kits & the challenge of putting them together. {Yeah, don't tell him I just told you that...} =)

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

      I feel like I live with tears in my eyes (most often in a very good way) with Simon. There's just something about him...

  10. Katie @ cakes, tea and dreams says…
    11/18/2010

    Love. I'm so glad Simon has a great place to indulge his creativity - and those Harry Potter sets are super cool!

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

    Ali-
    I'm not sure if you or Simon would be interested, but I'm the head of a "LEGO" team at the school I teach at and this post made me think of it. They are world-wide, so if you research your area you might find a school,4-H club, etc. that participates. It's called First Lego League, and students build with Legos and then program a robot to complete a task. That's just a basic summary, but if you would like more info. check out their website at
    http://www.firstlegoleague.org/

    Thanks!
    Melia

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

      How cool Melia - I've not heard of that before.

    2. jamie slay says…
      11/23/2010

      Our First Lego League goes to competitions. If you are not interested in all of that, you could just purchase the robot kit. I recommend the educator's model. (I am not try to sell anything, but if he is this interested in legos, I bet he would LOVE seeing them move!)

  12. Karen/Chookooloonks says…
    11/18/2010

    Dear God, I love that kid. Seriously, Ali, if he ever goes missing, before you call the cops, check my house first.

    He is absolutely a joy.

    K.

    Reply 0 Replies
  13. Bridget says…
    11/18/2010

    Lego mania at our house too. My son, Ian (6 1/2) is totally into Lego. Mostly Star Wars but Harry Potter is starting to make his presence felt!

    Our BEST organizing tool is a Fishermans Tackle Box. Ian is more into the people than the buidlings. The tackle box keeps all the Clones, Jedi, driods and thier pieces/parts in one place. AND it's portable. I too am in favor of cookie sheets and document protector for keeping things organized. I may try the little plastic boxes like Simon has...but that $12 tackle box has been worth its weight in GOLD! (Props to DH who thought of it!)

    Love the video of simon. Great grasp on the ins and outs of Quidditch...cute!

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

    I'm a little jealous! I've always LOVED Legos but my boys coudln't care less! I bought them some so we could build cars and race them and they were interested for about a minute. Right now it's all about Toy Story around here! Perhaps, Toy Story Legos? Or maybe I should get them for me!

    That little guy is adorable, Ali! Not that you need anyone to tell you that. =)

    Reply 1 Reply
    1. Erin says…
      12/18/2010

      Have you seen that new Lego Creationary game? I'm getting it for my son for Christmas so the whole family can play. The reviews are all great. Maybe they will share your enthusiasm after playing the game with you.

  15. Lyn Meeker says…
    11/18/2010

    My son is 20 and still pulls out the legos when he comes home on break. I scrapbooked several pages BEFORE they had come out with actual LEGO sb paper. (I made hundreds of legos - rectangular bright colored pieces and drew circles and wrote tiny tiny LEGO in each and every one of them! - some of my favorite early pages!)...

    One thing you must look into .. is LEGOLAND ... we went three or four times when our son was young .. and it was amazing!

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

    I have a closet like that at home - but it belongs to my husband!!!! He's 27 and still in love with legos. We need to have a little boy someday so he has someone to play with :) I love the vidoe of Simon! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply 0 Replies
  17. {vicki} says…
    11/18/2010

    Great video Simon---Maybe you would do some more for us to enjoy!

    Reply 0 Replies
  18. Barb M. says…
    11/18/2010

    Thanks for the video! That brought back such great memories. My oldest (now 17) was HUGE into Legos and Harry Potter. The first book came out when he was in kindergarden and I read it to him. Then Legos jumped on the HP bandwagon a couple of years later and that was a marriage made in heaven for my then 2nd grader. I loved hearing him chatter on and on in his room about what Harry and Co were doing. Simon was so sweet and I loved his description of the match right down to the score and Ron Wood. Fabulous!

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

    ahhh..Legos. They are such a part of my son's growing up years. It took years before I quit finding them hidden in corners. Even now I will sometimes see a special Lego set and will get it for him. He smiles and puts it together and that makes me happy.

    Reply 0 Replies
  20. Katrina Henry says…
    11/18/2010

    So cool to get to hear Simon's voice, after so many years! Thanks for sharing! We use a lot of Dycem (google it to get an idea of what it looks like :) under toys on the tables at school to keep them from slipping (or you could use non-slip rug liners) - if you're looking for an alternative to adhering the lego bases to the table. Could do the trick! :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  21. Nell-Ann says…
    11/18/2010

    Love using large cookie sheets for playing with playdough .Makes clean up so easy :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  22. Lori says…
    11/18/2010

    Great post! I love to read your suggestions for storing Legos.. great ideas! Thank you for sharing the video of your Simon. I love how much he loves Harry Potter & Legos.... it's awesome!

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

    Thanks for sharing. My son recently got into lego too, and that is all he wants for Christmas. I've been using the clear plastic shoe boxes with lids to store his lego (I find it amazing how the boxes are so big, but when you pull out the pieces, they really don't take out much room. He likes to mix things up, so I haven't worried about sorting by colour or set, but I am looking for a good place to store the instruction books so that if he wants to go back to them to make the intial item he can. Thanks for the great idea.

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

    You are so organized!!!!! Love it!!!! The video is priceless :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  25. Mary Kay says…
    11/18/2010

    Oh, how I envy that system-- and a boy who would follow it. Mine has eight or ten bins of pieces, but can never be convinced to use them at a table-- they MUST be on the floor. And cleaning up each time he builds is a ridicule idea, as far as he's concerned! However, the amount of creativity and joy they bring him outweigh the mess.

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

      Mary Kay - Your son and mine a two peas in a pod. Organize by color? Organize by shape? Pick up the legos? Create some place other than right in the middle of where people are? Why would I want to do any of that? And don't move my lego stuff! I'm still playing with it! ("Still" being a measure of time with out end all at the descretion of the player). But I must say, he makes some fabulous creations and the stories that go with them are intriguing.

Sign in or sign up to comment.