Organizing multiple kits?

[speak_geek]

I tried a fishing box last year, but it seemed to be too much wasted space, and even partially built robots didn't fit in for storage during the week.

So I switched to a different solution and tried it out last winter when I taught a beginning robot class to 3rd and 4th graders. I had one kit for every two students, five kits total. I went to Michael's, our local craft store and got a large bead box (specifically the large "Keeper(TM) Box, by Lap Desk Inc. ~$2 on sale). It has 20 compartments and rounded bottoms (very important for extracting small parts).

Then I went to Target and got a Sterilite container (~$3 on sale). (11.5" x 18" x 7"). The Keeper fits inside the Sterilite.

I sorted all the small parts into the Keeper. You have to be creative since there aren't enough compartents to keep them separate, so I joined parts based on similarity (connectors, gears, 1x2s etc). If a part didn't fit in the Keeper, then I put it in the bottom of the Sterilite. (Large parts: The beams, except for the smallest, wheels, the electrical components, etc)

Finally, I set the Keeper on top of the parts in the Sterilite and put the lid on. The Sterilites stack nicely, so it made for easy transport.

Once we got going, I found that the robots would fit in the Sterilite if the Keeper was left out. So I got some dual-lock tape and attached the Keeper to the top of the Sterilite lid. This still allowed for stackability and gave additional space as needed.

I numbered the Keeper, the Sterilite and the lid, and assigned a kit to the pairs of students, so there was no confusion as to who's was what and what went where. I also did not allow part trading across kits, except with my approval.