Lego, Lego Everywhere

In thinking about the common bonds between the seven of us one of the things that always comes to the surface is Lego. 

The kids pretty much know that I am a pushover for both books and Lego. If they ask me to buy them a book it happens almost immediately. Depending on the Lego it might also happen immediately, especially if it has anything to do with Harry Potter. If you don't know they have a whole new series of Harry Potter sets now available (these are likely to be Christmas gifts around here). I might have ordered 20 of the small Harry Potter Mini Figure bags a couple weeks back just to see if we could get Mad-Eye Moody which was the one Simon was most after (yes, I get that this is ridiculous). We ended up getting all of them except Voldemort, Harry Potter in PJ's, and Newt Scamander. I might have just ordered those specific three from eBay. I also might have sat at the table with Simon and Audrey and fully experienced joy as we opened up those 20 bags to see what we got. 

I've shared stories about Lego in the past because they have been a pretty big part of Simon's story.. Here's a look at what Simon was up to with his Lego back in 2010 (a lot of the drawers you'll see in that post are now in Isaac's room).

As I was thinking about it today it dawned on me that if I went into each of the kids rooms right now Lego would be one of the main things I'd find. I decided to go around and take photos of what I found in each of their rooms. I also decided to take some shots of how we store Lego in each of their rooms and share a bit about that.

ANNA & AUDREY

The girls (who share a room) have really been into Lego recently and have been wanting to play with more traditional sets than the ones specifically marketed to girls. They have been going into Simon's giant tub of less loved Lego and finding all kinds of treasures which are now on their floor. 

I love seeing what they create and how they play together. I just bought this People Pack set for Anna last week and she was so excited because it came with a bunch of mini-figures. I don't remember seeing these "People Packs" before but I love that they include a whole bunch of different people. 

In the girls room we use something similar to these under the bed plastic tubs to hold Lego (and dress up clothes and other random stuff). They really don't seem to care at all about having it organized and I think they actually like the process of "digging" through the bins (by color, shape, mini-figure, etc) so at least this way they have somewhere to go when I get the point where I can't stand them all on the floor any longer. 

SIMON

As many of you guys might know, Simon LOVES Lego. Specifically he loves Star Wars and Harry Potter Lego. 

He's also a fan of some specialty sets like when they released Ghostbusters (that big red building is the Ghostbusters Firehouse). These kinds of sets are definitely expensive but for a kid like Simon who really does interact with them regularly they are worth every penny. 

I'm fairly sure this will be a lifelong love and I'm totally down with that. As you can see, in his room they are literally everywhere. 

Over the years we've stored extra sets and pieces in a variety of different ways. When we did our upstairs remodel his closet shrunk and the storage he was using in there went away (now it's just for clothes and two big tubs that you'll see below). During that process he decided to put a lot of his Lego into two big tubs (those are from Costco). He kept some specific sets out and kept most of the mini figures (aka "lego guys") but other than that a lot of his sets over the years went into those two giant tubs. These days those tubs are open to any of the kids who want to come in his room and dig through them to add to whatever they are playing with in their own rooms. 

Years ago I shared an image of using one of these vintage type trays to hold mini-figures (you can find these on eBay). We pulled this one out recently and hung it up for him to add some of his favorite guys. 

These are the giant tubs filled with mixed up past sets that live in his closet under his clothes.  

Across the room are his shelves (from Ikea). Lots of Lego here, including some in plastic drawers and lidded tubs that fit within the shelves. Those tubs are the ones that have pieces separated by color or style (heads, hair, weapons, capes, and then a few that are just separated by color). 

Simon is one of those kids that doesn't generally rebuild a set. That said he did recently download some instructions to try to rebuild an older set. Generally he builds a set once and if he loves it it stays together until he's ready to break it apart. The other kids are more into building from scratch from the tubs. 

ISAAC

Issac actually had a whole bunch of his sets out on our dining room table and just cleaned those today before heading over to his Mom's. He did leave this little collection out, telling me that he was in progress with a "scene" with these guys. 

Isaac's level of Lego love is similar to Simon's. In his room (which is downstairs in our house) he is using a bunch of the drawers that Simon used to have in his closet (these are similar). He's also got that bakers rack that I used to have in my office tucked into his room. He uses that for in-progress projects. Amazon has a smaller version of a commercial baker's rack here - I bought this one from a local restaurant supply store. 

I'm not sure if he's got any specific organization going on with these drawers or if they are just serving as home for all the pieces. 

ELLIOTT

Elliott, who is 11 and going into 7th grade, is the one who said recently that he thinks he is growing out of Lego (and didn't take me up on a recent offer to pick up a set when we were at Target). He has the least amount in his room but I still find him interested in them from time to time. 

He's got a small shelf next to his bed in his room that holds a couple tubs and a drawer of some of his favorites. 

OTHER PLACES

I also happen to know that there are also a couple of these drawers filled with Lego.

So, yeah: Lego, lego everywhere. Always and forever.