Way
back during April vacation, my sons and I took on an enormous task. It was a
task that required ingenuity, patience, and stamina. We organized the
Legos. Toys come and go, but the obsession with Legos never dies. Over the
years, I had tried a number of bins, boxes, and shelves but nothing seemed to
work for long. Legos would be scattered all over the place. The kids wouldn’t want
to clean up because they hated the idea of disrupting a battle or scene they
were creating. I needed to get the boys input (and labor). The ideal system
would be one that I would help them devise, but they would maintain.
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| Image obtained from Ikea's website. |
So
I compared various storage systems at my local Ikea*. I decided to
use their Antonius system and add a Vika tabletop to it. I struck gold when I
went shopping for my pieces. I found the Antonius frames in the clearance
section for two dollars apiece. Normally they go for about ten dollars. It
addition to being reasonably priced, the Antonius frames have leveling
screws. Our play area is a little pitched, so anything with
wheels will roll off a table. Being able to level the play area was a bonus.
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| Less fun than playing, more fun than homework. |
The boys organized
the Legos themselves. They chose to organize by color, rather
than type (such as Star Wars or Lego
City) since they usually build a set once
and then turn it into something else later. They also
created separate spaces for specialty pieces like Lego Ninjago, Hero
Factory/Bionicle, and mini figures. There is even a place to store the directions!
The
Antonius system allows you to use plastic drawers in two sizes as well as wire
baskets. I used mostly the six-inch tall drawers ($8.00 each) because they were
shallow enough for the kids to find individual pieces and large enough to store
creations they had built. If you’ve spent all morning building the coolest
space station in the world, you don’t want to take it apart to put it away. For
smaller items, we used wire baskets ($2.50) with divided inserts ($3.00).
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| Projects like this make me feel like MacGyver. |
The
Vika able top ($26.00) is predrilled with holes to attach legs. I was able to
fit screw eyes into the holes and attach the table top to the frames with zip
ties. The tabletop is just the right height for both boys to play
while standing. Because this is a “dedicated” Lego play space, they can leave
their projects set up when they’re called away for dinner, homework or any
other boring thing a mother can think of.
Our Lego Command Center has been in use for over a
month. Because the boys did much of the work themselves, they've done an excellent job maintaining it. As for me, I’m just thrilled
to cut down on the number of times I’ve stepped on Legos while barefoot.
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| This baby can hold approximately 84 gallons of Legos! |
In
accordance with FTC regulation, I am required to disclose that I work for Ikea.
However, I am posting this as a private person and was in no way compensated
for writing this post.
