Storing Built Legos

We also have a set number of shelves. Once a month we go through and clean/organize the Legos and if there isn't room on the shelf then he has to prioritize what to keep and what to let go. It is important for kids to learn limits on how much is reasonable to keep.

One thing that you might want to do is take a picture of each of these creations, print out a color photo and start a book of his accomplishments. I think a front view and a top view would be good. Maybe then he would agree to keep only his most ultimate pieces of work and you could display them on a shelf. Also, at some point, he is probably going to run out of legos for new creations so let him choose what he wants to recycle for the next creation.
Good luck!

So does this mean you keep having to expand his Lego collection since he doesn't dismantle them? That gets expensive after a while. What about suggesting keeping the creations for like a week or month, then take a picture for an album, then dismantling?

My son doesn't cry or anything, but he also likes to keep his creations. WE have a shelf for these, if it doesn't fit there, he has to figure out which one will get moved to the bin of blocks. This keeps them from taking over the room and helps recirculate the legos for new creations.

IKEA has cheap shelves ($10 or so each) that you can mount to the wall. You could stagger them above his bed and that way they only intrude on his space, he can keep them close and rotate his favorites to the lower shelves. I looked at prices on Craigslist for display cases similar to a store or a china cabinet but even 2nd hand was too expensive and most too ugly. We bought the toy storage units from IKEA which allow for different combinations of plastic tubs to slide in and out for lego storage. printed off the word red with 36" font and stuck each color label on teh outside. If you buy the storage units with 3 staggered heights you can store finished lego on top of the storage units as well. Keeps the lego all together and tidy. The shelves match the storage units too.
Otherwise a book case with adjustable shelves. Our neighbours kids have the black plastic 4 level storage units you often see in a garage.Not very stable though.

My son loved his Legos too!
He kept his most special creations on his dresser, and/or on the bookshelf in his room. Everything else got dismantled and returned to the bin for re-creation into new treasures.
I think it's fine and good to supply your son with many, many Legos, if you have the space and money. Just remember to teach him limits and boundaries too. He needs to understand there can only be so much and he has X number of space and pieces to work with.
I'm sure you don't want to create a future hoarder!

J.:

Welcome to mamapedia!!

We bought wall shelves and put them on shelves....eventually he'll out grow them and you won't have expended a lot of money on a curio or something expensive....the LEGOs are expensive enough!!!

it gets them up off the floor. He can display them...and not worry about them getting destroyed!

Good luck!

Yes we do keep buyin him legos, lol. Its a ll he wants so u see my dilemma.i like both of you ideas. They were very helpful. We bought our home last july so adding the lil shelves would be totally doable. We used to hang the star wars ones but they were too young at the time and they were destroyed, but i think theyre old enough to have that done again too. Thanx guys! :-)

Look on pintrest and search for Lego

some sort of shelving is the answer. as far as how much. give him a certain amount of space and once it is used up he can dismantle something or stop building. explain that the cool thing about legos is that they arent forever. you can take them a part and build new things.

http://www.iammommahearmeroar.net/2013/01/the-big-boy-pla...

We bought the Ikea shelves that are cubbie holes 4 across by 2 . You can stand it up 4 high or lay it down 4 across . They are about $ 60-70 and come in black , light natural or white . They are called Expedite I think .We love them ! My son has two of them in his room and we have one for an entertainment center in the play room . The other thing I just did was took a big ziplock bag and put a lego that was still put together gently in the bag with the directions. i figured if he has a friend over they can take one apart and put it back together I did it with some of the ones that make 3 different things.Hope this helps!

The kids take digital pictures of their creations, they sit on the shelf a brief time before they are pulled apart and turned into something new.
I keep all the instructions in a 3 ring binder, slipped into page protectors so when they want to rebuild the item that the set came designed as they can. Or they make their own creations.
They just got great chest of drawers made by Lego that stores their Lego pieces and has a couple plates to leave things set up on if they want to keep them built.
Growing up, all of my Legos were put in a large Tupperware tub that I dumped out on the floor when I wanted to build something. I had a big piece of some thin wood, like paneling or something I think, that I would dump them on and could build them so they stood up since we had carpet. I kept all my instructions in a big manila envelope at first and then later put them all in a binder with pages protectors. My kids still play with all my old Legos when they go to my parents house :)
Sticking to nothing but the pre-designed build is always so borning IMO LOL