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.
As a life-long Lego fan, I've loved the glimpses you've shown of Simon with his sets. I work on mine the same way he does, but am not nearly as well organized.
Thanks for sharing the video. He's a neat kid. :)
p.s. Fun little video he might like, of a Star Wars AT-AT being assembled: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9LDsQ0blrk&feature=related
Oh he will love that - thank you Anne.
Sign in or sign up to comment.
He is so awesome! Love seeing how you organize all the sets/ little pieces. What a great set up he has- I totally want to come over and play legos :)
Sign in or sign up to comment.
What a great video! Love it.
Sign in or sign up to comment.
Ali, have you guys taken him to Legoland here in Southern California? If you haven't, you soooo need to, it is fantastic!!! He could spend days there!
Sign in or sign up to comment.
Way to go Simon! You did a great job explaining your Legos. I had never heard about that set. I really like your table and the plastic boxes you keep them in. I just know that Santa is going to want to bring you some more since you are so good at building the sets. Have a good time.
Sign in or sign up to comment.
My son is also on the autism spectrum and loved Legos for many years. Once he got to high school he seemed to outgrow them. I am a little sad when I think about it because they brought so much joy and creativity for so many years. But like my other children he is growing and maturing. There are so many new and wonderful things to move onto and that is how it should be.
I love how you organize things for Simom. I will definitely keep these in mind.
Also, if you can ever get to Legoland in Oceanside, California you definitely need to take the fam. Simon would be in heaven!!! Everything is made of legos and so many fun things to do. It is perfect for kids that are your children's age. Winter time is the best time to go as it is less crowded, the lines are short and the weather is perfect. Legoland has a very open, relaxed feel compared to Disneyland. We have spent many happy days there and my son absolutely LOVED it! We never had a meldown for any reason.
Sign in or sign up to comment.
I have a stck of the instruction manuals in my sons closet. I love the idea of the binder. He'd be able to find things without my help. Great idea!
Sign in or sign up to comment.
So great thank you. My son is only 4 and just starting to get into lego's. we also have a 18 month old and another on the way so we have been going over idea's for storage (keeping them away from the little ones). I love your binder idea. My son also like's them built the same way they show on in the pictures.
Sign in or sign up to comment.
Thank you so much for this post! You gave me a lot of ideas. Love the idea of keeping the instructions in a binder - right now we just have a big stack. I love the lego system you have in place for Simon - what a lucky boy.
Sign in or sign up to comment.
Thank you for sharing Simon with us Ali. So many many people love him, including me.
Thank you Maureen - that meant a lot to me.
Sign in or sign up to comment.
Thank you for sharing Simon’s voice with us. I have loved watching him in photos and catching glimpses of his writing here and there, but I don’t think I’ve seen him “live” in his element, playing and talking about the things he loves. Crazy about the paint color. Would you mind sharing details? And what is the shadow box thing we see behind his desk?
There is one enlarged photo in a black frame and the other framed print is a Star Wars Mini 10th Anniversary poster.
Sign in or sign up to comment.
oh my goodness Simon you did a great job explainning the quidditch game..thank you..my son is 26 and he loved his legos..they helped his concentration and creativity..I have a large storage container under the guest room bed..all children coming over know it is there and drag it out to play, laugh and creat..sometimes they ask me to join in...xxxxxxxx
Sign in or sign up to comment.
Love this! Even my daughter at two knows what legos are. She has the super big pink ones. I love to watch my husband and her sit and build things.
Thanks for a little look into your life!
Sign in or sign up to comment.
Hey Ali my son is 5 and loves Legos. It started when my sister got him a lego set for his birthday this year. He saw the Star Wars sets in the ToysRUs ad and wants it so bad(so does my husband). My MIL saved my husbands old Legos and passed them on to my son. He was so excited. She rently mailed him some of the small sets and it is so neat watching him follow the directions. Love the cookie sheet idea.
Sign in or sign up to comment.
Hi ALi,
thank you for the lovely post! It's allways interesting to ead about your life - and it teaches me much :)
I tried to watch the video - but it was written
"The creator of this video has not given you permission to embed it on this domain.
This is a Vimeo Plus feature."
I suppose I can't watch it without Vimeo account, right?
Hi Katya - you need to either watch it here on my blog or here on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/16952645 (do those options not work for you?).
It doesn't work on Google Reader. The post has to be opened in the blog or vimeo to see it (like you said).
Ali, Jeni, thank you for your comments, but it still doesn't work :( I click on the link from Ali's comments, it gets me to the page http://vimeo.com/16952645 and I can't turn on the video player there cause it says 'The creator of this video has not given you permission to embed it on this domain.' May be the problem is that I'm from Russia?
Sign in or sign up to comment.
Our daughter, who is now 18, loved Legos as much as Simon (she was never into dolls or girly things). Lego's were nearly always on every Christmas and birthday list. She's working now and just got her first paycheck. When we were walking through Walmart, she ran into the Lego's aisle to see what was new. Even though her's are now packed away, she still loves them and I'm sure once she has a place of her own and settles down, those Lego's will be used. My brother, who is 43 still has all his classic Lego's. Thanks for sharing this.
Sign in or sign up to comment.
Please tell me you cleaned up a bit before the photos! My son is 11 and LOVES his Legos. However, even with a big work table and many clear boxes of pieces, organized by color, he still prefers the floor! I love how you used his closet. Watch out, before you know it, you will be installing wall shelves for his growing collection!
He was getting ready for bed so we had picked things up - for the most part though, he's a pretty tidy kid.
Sign in or sign up to comment.
My favorite part was "That's him" with the big point to the guy. Too cute! :)
Sign in or sign up to comment.
What a great idea to keep the instructions in a binder. Ours are just in a drawer. My son usually takes the ships apart and makes new ones on his own, and never needs the directions again. The organizational lover in me wants to organize them anyway.
Sign in or sign up to comment.
He simply could not be more darling if he tried! What a sweetheart and my goodness he clearly loves Harry. It amazes me how kids can acquire so much knowledge and retain it (just goes to show what happens when we tap into their passions!). Also, Lego Duplo's are wonderful for those with younger children who want to play Legos with older sibs. The parts are age appropriate and they design really cool sets such as Toy Story. Please tell Mr. Simon that I thank him for the Lego tutorial! Big hugs.
Sign in or sign up to comment.
what a great way to keep the directions.... I never thought of that.... Thaks Ali. i too have a legomaniac and wants Santa to bring him threee different sets (all Star Wars of course). i am running out of room in his bedroom, this storage suggestion might help.
Sign in or sign up to comment.
oh. precious. priceless. how i wish my boys would enjoy legos...but alas, they have only ever had a passing interest. it makes my husband sad - he adored legos;
Sign in or sign up to comment.
Looks like you need to plan a family vaca to MN to visit Legoland at the Mall of America! Can you even imagine?!
Sign in or sign up to comment.
Thanks, Simon, for the Harry Potter Lego video! I learned a lot!!!
Ali, he's awesome!
Sign in or sign up to comment.
Oh what fun! Love hearing about his passion!
Sign in or sign up to comment.