If you’re a parent of a certain age, odds are you grew up with Lego and spent plenty of time building sets, only to break them down later and come up with your own creations. Now that you’re older and you’ve got kids of your own, you might be looking at Lego again.
Maybe it’s because your kids can’t live without the newest Ninjago set, or they think Lego Friends are the coolest thing since loom bands. Or maybe you’d rather they spent more time actually creating something instead of sitting in front of a TV or tablet.
And if you’ve ever built a Lego project with your kids, you know three things.
- One, those plastic bricks don’t come cheap.
- Two, you know the utter joy of cursing over lost pieces (especially once your bare feet “found” them again in the middle of the night).
- Three, you know how much fun you’re going to have building and playing, as long as all the pieces are still there by the last step.
In other words, we think you’ll love BoxTop Builder.
We’d say that even if they weren’t a sponsor. BoxTop Builder is the brainchild of Michael Piccuirro, an AFOL, father of two, and tech director with a digital agency in New York. He was frustrated when he’d get to the end of a build with his kids and find out something was missing. He decided to find something to corral all the bits and pieces — instructions, minifigs, bricks and tiles — to keep things organized and complete the build.
Right away, he ran into problems. First, the chip and dip bowl he and his wife had gotten as a wedding gift wasn’t quite cutting it as a storage solution. Second, he wasn’t finding a good off-the-shelf replacement. What’s a resourceful and frustrated dad to do? Well, if you’ve got Mike’s background, you do it yourself.
The design is simple. A removable tray holds an entire bag of Lego, and has an area for minifigures and accessories. For the steps you’re currently working on, the top area is a work space with a sorting area. There’s a spot for the instruction manual, and the whole thing folds flat for easy storage.
It’s a simple concept. So simple, in fact, that we wondered why we didn’t think of it ourselves.
In order to raise the funds to bring this from 3-D printed prototype to production model, Mike launched the BoxTop Builder Kickstarter on September 27. Early backers will be able to take advantage of early bird pricing of just $25, and regardless of when you back the project, you’ll have fewer missing pieces underfoot.
Back BoxTop Builder here, and be sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter for updates.
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