You guys know that I love me some Swedish home design goods! I popped down to Ikea last month for some new bedding, yay! And even though I didn't need anything from the kids section, I still had to take a poke through, they have just released a while new range of open ended toys and these are some of my favourite oldies but goodies!
Play food - Every kids should have some kind of play food and kitchen set up, it is great for language development and can be used in so many ways. We actually had a combination of plastic, wooden (with velcro so you could cut it) and fabric/felt food. Ebi-kun got hours of fun out of it.
I really wish they had this tea set available when Ebi-kun was little, it is perfectly sized for little hands, ceramic - so kids learn to take care of it properly and can be used for real, not just as a play set.
Balance beam, this is like an extension of walking on the line, if you have the space, it would be great to have indoors, especially when you have kids bouncing off the walls because they need to get their wriggles out.
Cooking set, I don't think you can actually cook with these but they make a great addition to the play kitchen.
Hooks! They have loads of great hooks which can be set up at child height so the kids can hang things up by themselves and also a lot of the kids furniture is actually made with the kids in mind, making it easy for them to open/reach. Plus a lot of it is made with a fun design!
We have several steps in out home, what I like about this one is that it has handles, making it easier for the child to move it around. You should have a step at the sink so your child can wash their hands and then anywhere else where they might not be tall enough to reach yet. We have one in the closet for the game boards, they are on a higher shelf and one that lives downstairs and gets used when Ebi-kun is working in the kitchen.
A thin shelf! These are brilliant, especially if you are lacking in space. Ebi-kuns bed had a small gap between the bed and the wall so we used these to make shelves, I have moms in My Organized Chaos who have used them for reading nooks. A handful of books can be places forward facing, easy for the child to see and take down and return. We also use them for pictures, it means it's much easier to rotate artwork.
Handy when you are potty training and the actually toilet seat is too big for your little ones little bum.
These shelves work well for Montessori work. The square shelving unit that is very popular at Ikea is difficult to work with because the space is too small to fit shelves on, this on the other hand is much better size wise.
I know not everyone is an Ikea fan but I do like that they design with the kids in mind and their prices are reasonable, there aren't many other companies you can say that about.
Are you an Ikea fan? What is your favourite child orientated piece of equipment/furniture?
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The storage combo shelving is something that I find very useful for my sister’s kids. Her kids’ bedroom could use such shelving to at least clear the clutter of toys. Some mobile storage units could be useful, too, for her to organize the kids’ toys.
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