We are big fans of IKEA. What is not to love. Stylish home furnishings at affordable prices. My kids love IKEA too. It is like one big playground for them when we visit. Throw in a meal of meatballs in the restaurant and it is almost a family day out.
One section of IKEA we have frequented on a regular basis is the children’s section. IKEA wasn’t open when I was originally setting up my nursery for my first baby’s arrival but I have, since then, bought plenty of stuff for the kids. Our most recent trip was last Saturday.
8 of my favourites are:
Trofast
The ultimate toy storage is the Trofast system. With its simple frames and colourful boxes it is hard to beat. Our recent trip saw us buy our 8th Trofast unit! We have them in white, wood and our latest one is the newer black-brown. We have wall units and floor units. The thoughts of the state of my house without them sends a shiver down my spine.
Smaska tablewear
Our choice of tablewear is the Smaska range. We have the plates and the bowels. The plates just seem to be the perfect child sized portion. We recently even brought our three plates to Tenerife on holidays but of course we forgot to bring them home. Dinner hasn’t been the same since so we picked up another pack on Saturday. At €4.50 for a pack of three we didn’t lose too much sleep over the original loss. Normal dinner time service shall resume in the Learner Mama house.
The other items from the Smaska range that we have are the plastic cutlery, although my lot refer to them as ‘baby spoons’ now, and the training cups. Okay, so none of my kids are training anymore but these little cups were a fantastic way to move them from a bottle of milk going to bed to just a cup. They all still take one up to bed at night with milk or water in case they are thirsty during the night, even my 7-year-old.
We must have bought about ten of these cups at this stage but again we have left them in various places on our travels. So we splashed out €3.50 for another pack of two on our latest visit. We are back up to six of them – enough to have one set of three in the dishwasher and another set of three up beside the kids’ beds.
Kalas glasses
Once your baby gets beyond the bottle and sippy cup stage it is probably not the best idea to graduate straight to glasses just yet. The perfect solution is the Kalas glasses. At €1.35 for a pack of six they are essential in any family cupboard. We have both the old design and the new ones. There are also plates, bowls and cutlery but with our Smaska plates we only invested in the bowels and cutlery (we are still on the old style bowels and cutlery).
Kladd Prickar bibs
I enjoy painting with my kids but it can get messy. If you have seen my tips for painting with toddlers you will have seen my toddler modelling one of these bibs. They are great. Easy to put on, covers a large portion of your child and can be thrown into the washing machine to be cleaned up. A must for dinner time or craft time.
Lillabo play mat
A great addition to any child’s bedroom or playroom is this classic road design play mat. Rather then just being a boring old rug, kids can play with cars and trucks around the roads. At only €10 it’s a good value for money too. Our one currently sits in my older two’s shared bedroom.
Pyssla beads
Any regular reader of Learner Mama will know how much we love to do a bit of beading. While many of our beads are from the original brand Hama, we do have a tub of these IKEA versions which, at €6 for the tub, are great value for money and do the job just as well.
Mala drawing paper
We always have a roll of this drawing paper around. It is great to roll out on the table and let my three draw all on one piece of paper. Recently also we have used it for doing body outline artwork (more coming on that on the blog soon!). The paper seems to last a while (it is 30m) and is €3.50 for the full roll which doesn’t break the bank and provides hours of fun. There is a paper holder and easel available too. I don’t have either and to be honest don’t really feel the need.
When I was potty training my first child I spent a small fortune on an all singing and dancing potty. Literally, it used to sing a tune each time she peed in it. Roll on child two and a simple Thomas the Tank engine potty did the job and by my third potty training we had wised up and picked up a potty in IKEA and it has been the business. Easy to clean, perfect size to fit in beside the normal toilet in our downstairs toilet and at €2.50 was a bargain. My little lady is trained about 10 months now but still digs out the green IKEA potty a lot of the time.
All images: ikea.com/ie
This is not a sponsored post. I was not paid to write this. Just sharing my thoughts and experiences of some of IKEA’s family products.