Children designed IKEA’s cute new soft toys – and they help kids in need

Posted in Gifts.

Posted on November 12, 2018April 4, 2019 by Pip Lincolne

IKEA’s annual soft toy drawing competition has just wound up for its amazing fifth year with winners from a bunch of countries across the globe – and actual toys made to match their cute designs.

Gift one, donate one

There’s a lot more to this brilliant initiative than adorable soft toys (as brilliant as they are!) The FULL purchase price of these toys goes straight to charities that benefit children as part of IKEA’s Let’s Play for Change Campaign.

In Australia, this means Save the Children Australia and UNICEF Australia will be getting some extra funds in their coffers thanks to toy-loving families (and IKEA!)

Not only that. IKEA is also popping a collection box at every store. The idea is that caring customers can purchase and then donate any IKEA soft toy or book, with these gifts being passed on to Camp Quality, Special Olympics, Red Cross and Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

IKEA tells us that last year upwards of 5000 toys were donated to children in need across the country. Good job everyone!

Monsters and hedgehogs and seals, oh my!

Now let’s get back to those kid-designed toys …

The SAGOSKATT range was designed by FIVE children who hail from South Korea, China, Sweden, Poland and Iceland. But a LOT more than five children entered the competition and showed off their brilliant creative chops. Judging the winners was very, very hard.

“The response was quite staggering with over 87,000 pieces of art being submitted,” a spokesperson from IKEA told us. “Eventually, our jury settled on five winners whose creations included a pink unicorn living in the clouds, a rainbow coloured shark travelling the seas, a mischievous blue monster called Monster, A hedgehog, dinosaur and monster hybrid with a passion for tropical fruit and a dotted seal who loves to play with his best friends … fish!”

Pricing starts at $1.99 and goes up to $5.99.

Check out the winners below – and whizz down to IKEA to get some for your favourite toy-loving friends and family.