Ikea unveils its latest toy creatures based on kids drawings

Back for its fifth year, Ikea’s Sagoskatt range of soft toys is designed to bring the freedom and joy of young children’s imaginations to the masses. Kids can submit their drawings and if they’re one of six lucky winners (of a whopping 87,000 submissions) Ikea makes those exact drawings come to life in three dimensional, squishy form.

While there are a number of smaller companies and independent makers who have been delivering this service for years, Ikea has brought it to the masses to great success and charitable endeavour too. 100% of the purchase price goes to Ikea’s Let’s Play for Change campaign supporting children’s charities worldwide.

The class of 2019 includes: Gurki the cucumber superhero by Kilian, aged nine from Germany, who says of his creation: “I love to eat cucumbers and hope that by playing with Gurki, other children will love to eat cucumbers too.” Little Monster by nine-year-old Thomas from Greece says he made his smiley creature “to give children hugs so that they are not afraid of monsters or the dark anymore”.

The cast also stars Rainbow Kid, by five-year-old Darren Wing Hei from Hong Kong, who donned his rainbow in socks to keep him feeling cold in the sky; Rully the bookish red robot by 11-year-old Riana from Cyprus, who purposely used neutral colours “so that both boys and girls can play with it”; Rainbow Giraffe, who according to its creator, six-year-old Claudia from Canary Islands, likes healthy food and is “a bit mischievous and very loving”; and finally, Jesse the balloon-loving party mouse by seven-year-old Noor from Jordan.

The 2019 range is in stores now and online from 1 November, priced at £5 for a full-sized toy or £1.25 for a miniature version.