Kids love LEGO, but it’s easy for those little bricks to get everywhere. Avoid stepping on a LEGO and organize your kids’ stash with this simple LEGO storage system. Download the printable labels and start sorting!
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We have a lot of LEGO bricks in my house. That’s probably an understatement.
We have a silly amount of LEGO pieces and they are usually on the floor. Or they were until I came up with a great LEGO storage idea
Now all of the LEGO pieces have a home and when someone is looking for a specific one, it is pretty easy to find. The best part of this whole LEGO storage solution is that it cost less than $30.
The second best part is that we now have a designated “LEGO play area.”
LEGO storage supplies
We started out using several giant plastic storage containers that held something like 30 gallons. It was full and if someone wanted a specific piece, they had to dump out the whole thing.
Scary, right?
Here’s what you need to avoid this kind of chaos:
- 2 plastic rolling carts, 3 drawers each
- 8 clear plastic shoe boxes
- printable LEGO labels (download below)
Someone gave us these two rolling carts, but I’ve seen them for around $10 each at certain times of the year. Most stores have storage sales in January, so shop around.
I purchased the shoeboxes for $1 each at Dollar Tree. I’ve seen similar containers at Target and Walmart for about the same price.
Organizing LEGO pieces
This part can take a long time if you have as many LEGO pieces as we do. We dumped them all onto the living room floor and sorted them into the containers over about two days on a long weekend.
Divide them into categories that make sense to you, and more importantly, your kids. If nobody knows which container a piece goes in, they will just get mixed back up.
First, I sorted the regular, plain bricks by color: red, yellow, blue, earth bricks (greens and browns), pastel bricks, gray, black, and white. Next, I divided the odd-shaped pieces into the following categories:
- Flat pieces
- Buildings
- Vehicles
- People/animals
- Tiny pieces
I left one drawer unlabeled for now. It is for weird pieces that don’t really have a good category. I may label it with something later, though.
Now our LEGO pieces are organized. We will see how long this lasts, right?
It took some furniture rearranging, but I finally created a designated corner for LEGO play. Our house is pretty small, but this only takes up about a 3’x5′ corner of the living room. I love knowing that I won’t step on a LEGO piece somewhere else (maybe).
Oh, and in case you want a closer look at our LEGO display shelf, my husband made this.
LEGO storage labels
I made these printable LEGO storage labels using the same border that I used for my LEGO birthday party printable coloring page. Each one measures four inches wide and two inches tall.
I printed them on card stock, cut each one out, and taped them to the front of each container using clear packing tape. Of course, you could also print them on peel-and-stick labels.
If you would like to use my printable LEGO storage labels, you can download them below.
The download includes:
- 1 page of basic bricks by color
- 1 page of odd pieces by category
- 1 page of blank labels
Get the printable
Print on 8.5×11-inch paper. All printables are for personal use only.
What’s next? Try these other fun and creative ideas on One Mama’s Daily Drama:
Great idea for the rolling carts! Ours are stored in the clear bins without lids and in Ziplock bags (extra pieces from sets) but we do need a new system. I like your idea but am not sure I’d have the patience to sort by color. I have thought about sorting by “type” though…like 2 brick, 4 brick, etc. since my Lego builder son is usually looking for a very specific Lego in the chaos.
It took us a long time to sort them the first time. It helps that I’m pretty OCD. However you sort them, if they are in smaller containers, that it makes it easier to find a specific piece. I don’t mind my son dumping out a whole box when it is one of the shoe box sized ones.
My 7 year old receives multiple sets of Lego’s for each Birthday and Christmas and they are starting to really add up. He doesn’t seem ready to let me sort them though. I don’t want to do it until he is ready to keep them that way. I too am a bit OCD when it comes to organizing things and I know how annoyed I will be if they get all mixed up again the first time he plays with them! I like the idea of the rolling organizers. Before long I may need something that big.
Yeah, we have the Orient Expedition sets from about 10 years ago and I’m kind of kicking myself for letting them get mixed in. What about those scrapbooking storage carts they sell at Michael’s? The have shallower drawers because they’re meant to hold paper and small things, but I think each cart has like ten drawers.
I love the Lego display tree!
Thanks! My husband made it with scrap wood. I’d seen a few on Pinterest that were over $100! I showed him and said, “Can you make this cheaper??”
Hi I really like your labels!! I am a teacher and I could use a page of blank labels for a class i am teaching using legos. Any chance you could post one for me? My class starts this Friday….eeek! I would love to label the kids’s projects with their names on your labels…shameless begging to begin now…Oh please, oh, please 🙂
Absolutely! I have everything saved, so it should take about 2 minutes to put together. I’ll post it here and email it to you. 🙂
Pinning for future reference! Thank you for sharing…this is fantastic!
Glad you like it! It has really helped us keep the LEGO stuff organized and NOT stepped on!