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Hi All,
After becoming a parent, I’ve started to wonder what the best way to approach storing/displaying my Lego collection would be moving forward. I’ve currently moved everything to either a glass display case or shelves that are 5+ feet off of the ground. Naturally, I’ll only allow my children to play with Duplo until they are old enough.
However, I’ve wondered if anyone in the group has had an experience where their young child was incredibly interested in the sets on display but out of reach. How did you approach this? Thinking to my own childhood, my parents didn’t have anything quite as colorful or toy-like that was on unreachable shelves.
When my children are older and playing with the smaller Lego pieces on their own, how will I address that some buildings are just for display? I don’t want to come across like the villain from the second Lego Movie.
A few of you have already shared your thoughts on this matter when I spoke with you at the train show, but if anyone else has stories, anecdotes, advice, etc. from their own experience as a parent it would be greatly appreciated.
I made buildings that were meant for my kids to use when they were young. I would suggest putting really delicate sets away until the kids are older and always remember that your LEGO is replaceable, the kids aren’t. 🙂
the kids aren’t.
They aren’t?!?
They aren’t?!?
Actually they are, I lied. I just wanted him to think that so he didn’t worry about his LEGO so much. 😀
I don’t want to come across like the villain from the second Lego Movie.
Hi Adam! I had the same feeling when my son was born 5 years ago. I did put most of my sets in storage and slid into Duplo and Quatro for the first few years until I met someone at a convention whose 3 year old was already building sets. We stared working in the Juniors around 2 and now he builds sets with me. We display the things that he builds along with the things we build and he’s really good about it. Plus, it’s LEGO. If it breaks, it goes back together. 🙂
As a grandma I’m at the far end of this. When the kids were little we would build sets but then only leave them put together for a short period of time. Our tendency was to rip apart the build and throw all the pieces into the general collection. Most of the kids’ building day-to-day was free-form. We always kept the instructions though, and rebuilt the set design multiple times over the years.
After the kids grew up I went through a process of reorganizing all the pieces for each set along with the instructions, and now I have those stored in bags in the basement. I do feel a little like Will Ferrell in the LEGO movie because I’m not making those older sets available for play, unless we want to build a specific set, but then we put it all back in the bag. At their own house they have more of a free-for-all system of LEGO play, more similar to how it was when my kids were little here. Also, I received and built The Office set this Christmas, and that one is now kept “up high” so the 2-year old can’t take apart Michael Scott’s office again…
Personally I think the build-once/tear-down and play freely system has the most creative potential for kids. But here I am, reserving the older sets that it took some time and money to complete (getting replacement parts) and setting them aside for the most part. And for me The Office is completely different and I may never disassemble it – a first for me. Everyone finds their sweet spot.
When my kids were young and starting to get into Lego, the only “rule” I had was “Use anything you want parts-wise, but just don’t take apart anything I was actively working on.” They were able to play and build as much as they wanted while not disassembling MOCs I was working on for display. Truthfully, most of the sets back in the early 2000s were so bad (set-wise) that there was never any consideration about displaying a set. That is a bit more difficult now that Lego is churning out very high-quality sets.
I made buildings that were meant for my kids to use when they were young.
Greg, I love the yellow train station. It is reminiscent of Set 2150, just a lot larger.
so the 2-year old can’t take apart Michael Scott’s office again…
“again” LOL. 😀
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