Here's what happens in our house: we buy a Lego kit. My middle son (biggest Lego fan in the house) puts it together and puts it on his Lego shelf for a while. Eventually, it comes down and gets taken apart. All the pieces end up in a giant plastic bin that slides under his bed.
Next --- and this is his usual way of playing with Legos --- he'll root through the pieces and build something, which may be small (a plane, a tank, the Quickie Mart) or large (Dinoland, the rebel base, a town, etc.).
In our case, the key is to mix up all the pieces in the giant plastic bin. We often throw the directions away, too. If anyone wants to build whatever-it-is again, we can just get the directions online. So far, no one has ever wanted to rebuild anything.
ETA: my kids have been following this pattern since they were 5 or 6.
Last edited by Val; 12/01/15 02:23 PM. Reason: ETA...
