Roadtrip Hacks – Lego Case…

While we are on the road year-round, for many families, it’s that time of year again…time to hit the road to visit family and take that yearly vacation/roadtrip or big family camping trip.  Whether you go by plane, train, or automobile, putting on the miles can be a trying time of listening to little voices ask, “are we there yet?” or whining, “I’m bored!” or the infamous, “(s)he’s touching me!”.    With over 60k miles under our belts in the last few years, we’ve come up with a few ideas that help to keep kids busy while strapped in their seats.    This is one of our kids’ favorites…  It’s a roadtrip hack – Lego Case for the car!!!

It was super easy to make – and right around $10 for 2 of them!

No special tools needed, just:
* a plastic pencil box ($.97 at Walmart – consider getting 2 as you will have enough of the other supplies to make a second)
*8-10″ of sticky velcro tape ($1.67 at Walmart for 18″, enough to do 2 cases)
*a flat Lego building plate in your choice of color (I found the large grey plate at Target for $14.99, and the smaller blue and green ones for $6.99 at ToysRUs (you can get the smaller plates at Amazon, price varies: LEGO Green Baseplate or LEGO Sand Colored Baseplate.
*heavy duty scissors (I used kitchen shears)

Set a corner of the Lego plate down in the lid of the open pencil box.  Using a writing instrument (or scoring with the scissors), mark the plate on the line, between pegs, where you will need to cut it to just fit down in the lid of the pencil box…
Do the same for the depth of the plate, then trim, between rows of pegs, with your shears…Using a smaller plate (as shown above), you will have enough plate to make 2 different inserts.
Once your plate has been cut down to fit, trim the velcro tape to fit on the backside of the Lego sheet…
Mirror the velcro, and install the other side of the velcro on the lid of the pencil box.  I ended up moving the velcro to get a better grip on the uneven lid…We used the softer, looped side of the velcro on the Lego plate, and the hook side on the pencil case.  That way, if the kids want to take the plate out of the case, and want to use it on other surfaces, it won’t scratch them.  I also chose to do it this way because I assume that the plastic pencil boxes will eventually get cracked in the van, and while I don’t mind replacing the $.97 boxes, I don’t want to repurchase, cut, and assemble the entire box again – the plates can be a pain to track down.  This way, should something happen to the original, I can reuse the same cut Lego plate in a new plastic box!

Fill the case full of Legos (this Lego set is the best deal if you want basic building blocks: LEGO Classic Medium Creative Brick Box 10696) and it’s ready to go..

When the kids open it in the car (or plane/train), the Lego plate sticks to the lid, which opens fully, and they can build on the lid plate while having the Legos contained in the body of the case, and since the two are connected, the kids only have one thing to hang onto…

It’s a huge hit over here!  We had purchased the Lego drawers that you can get at the stores, but they were too big and bulky for in our van.  This is much more user friendly!

The kids love this size – it’s a perfect fit on their laps, and the sides contain the Legos…So, there is our easy peasy Lego Car Case… let me know if you decide to make one (or two, or 6 like us 😉 ), and how your kidlets like them for those long roadtripping days!!!