We've Got Skills

Any of my regular readers know that my son is a fa.na.tic when it comes to K'Nex.  He is constantly making something new out of K'Nex.  For Christmas he received something like 40 lbs of K'Nex (he already had 15 lbs or so).  The thinking behind this was that he would have more pieces to make bigger things.

He's been able to do that, and so much more!  At one point we had the following things assembled and sitting in our sun-room (I have decided to let him have this area so that I can have my sanity in the rest of the house):  a 4ft tall functioning crane, a roller coaster, a robot, an AK-47 riffle, an oil tanker, a crank shaft, a model pick-up truck, an AK-47, and a Janeson's mechanism.  And he still had pieces left to make more things!  Can you say mission accomplished.  Now all he wants (and Jon too) is more roller coaster track so they can make something bigger.

The roller coaster

The AK-47 he made (robot behind him)

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I like to be organized.  I am the person who packs lunches for field trips the night before and who likes to have a spot for everything.  I am a list person.  And my list's often have sub-lists.  :-)  My kid's toys are no exception to my desire for organization.  So how do we deal with all the K'Nex?  We found storage containers at yard sales and have found the most logical way to sort the K'Nex based on the way my son builds. 

Sorted by size and or functionality.

When there are no creations completed, most of these drawers are full.

Considering my son is not as dedicated to organization as I am (he is a boy who is just shy of 8, so what can I expect really), we have a system worked out to help accomplish the sorting.  After he no longer wants to keep a creation together, he puts it into a rather tall wicker basket.  This includes small pieces that found their way on the floor as he was building.  After the basket gets full, or if he finds he's running low on certain size pieces, we then go through the basket together and put the pieces away.  Luckily my daughter thinks it's great fun to spend time with Mommy cleaning, so she gets in on the act too.

This cycle repeats itself about every week.  A couple days ago we took apart almost all of his recent creations and he made a tower that he had to assemble outside because it was too tall for our 10 foot ceiling.  I'm guessing we'll be sorting again in a few days.  All I know is that without this system, I'd go crazy!

This is so tall we have to worry about wind knocking it down.