Gift Guide: Sifting, Sorting, and Storing ALL the Toys #pley #spon - Musings from Me on Kids, Preteens, and Teens: Seizing Family Time

Disclosure: I was compensated to write this post. The views expressed in this post are my own. Affiliate links are included in this post.

This winter has been a doozy. Snow, snow, and more snow. I’ve lost track of the number of days the kids have missed school due to snow. In a typical Maryland winter, 2-3 snow days off school is the norm. This winter we are up to 8 maybe 9 snow days. I’ve lost track as there have been so many!

Six of those snow days were consecutive. We were literally snowed in under a deluge of about 2.5 feet of snow! During those first couple of snow days, the kids played in the snow, shoveled the snow, and generally frolicked about the house and yard. By snow day #3 the bloom was off the rose. Everyone was sick of snow…sick of being snowed in…sick of watching the road for any sign of a snow plow. Being cooped up for 5 days with no way to leave our home was wearing on everyone’s nerves. My oldest retreated to her room for a “respite” from the mayhem of the home. My middle was happily engrossed in Netflix. My youngest didn’t want to go outside anymore. What to do…what to do?

My son started putting together Lego sets that he hadn’t played with in a few years. I joined in and assembled a plane, a cottage with the help of my teen, an Avengers set, and a pair of Indiana Jones airplanes. My son hit a road block with the Lego Police Station…he was missing numerous gray, white, and blue pieces. He couldn’t finish the set without these pieces. I had the same issue with a trio of Star Wars ships. I couldn’t finish any of them as I was missing key pieces. I needed that weird shaped gray Lego piece with the hook on the end, but where was it? What to do. What to do.

I knew that we had most of the pieces for the Lego Police Station and the trio of Star Wars ships, but where were the pieces? I had a hunch that many of the pieces had been used to put together other Lego sets. The solution was to start a Sifting, Sorting, and Storing Organization Mission. Our mission became…if my son chose to accept it and he did…to SIFT all the Lego pieces…SORT all the Lego pieces by color…and STORE all the Lego pieces in bins. Our mission became “Build ALL the Lego sets with the correct pieces.”

Sounds like a dauntless and fruitless task, right? But if you know me, you know that I am a match for ANY organization task. I love organizing my home. My son was very anxious to complete his Lego Police Station, so he quickly came on board. Over those snow days, our Sifting, Sorting, and Storing Organization Mission took shape.

First, I found 8 clear plastic bins.
Second, we disassembled all the Lego kits.
Third, we sifted all the Lego pieces.
Fourth, we sorted all the Lego pieces by color in to clear plastic bins.
Fifth, we re-assembled all the Lego kits with the correct pieces.
Finally, we stored all the remaining Lego pieces in to the clear plastic tubs.

Over those snows days, Lego building became our obsession. We sifted Lego. We sorted by color. We stored Lego in bins to use later. By the end of the snow days, he and I had assembled 15 Lego kits. His Lego kits are on display on our fireplace mantle!

Key Benefits of Pley

Have you heard of Pley? Pley offers access to a large selection of educative toys, including 400+ LEGO sets and popular robotics toys. More toys are launched every month.
Pley is always on the hunt for the best toys, so the assortment reflects the latest and greatest toys.
All these toys come at a low price point vs. buying toys. Average Pley members save about $800/year.
Joining Pley is really convenient and helps reduce clutter: Pley packages get delivered to your door and when the kids are done playing, you return them to Pley for a new toy. No more toys sitting unused on shelves!
The savings in plastic alone from reduced purchases amounts to at least 240 lbs fewer C02 emissions per year per Pley member. And while the Pley business model relies heavily on shipping, we usually take advantage of trucks already on the road. If anything, our shipments are smaller than the typical Amazon package for the same LEGO set (Pley re-package them in smaller bags). Also, Pley helps reduce CO2 emissions from cars going to malls/stores to buy toys.
Besides having access to a variety of toys through Pley, kids learn the concepts of sharing and reducing waste for the environment.
Pley makes a fantastic gift! Shoppers can either gift unlimited subscriptions or gift cards!
Choose from two options: the Explorer for $9.99/month or 1 toy/per month OR the Adventurer for $19.99/month for UNLIMITED TOYS!