IKEA SANDLÖPARE: A Playful Children’s Collection Inspired by the Savannah

IKEA launches the SANDLÖPARE collection, a playful children’s collection that draws inspiration from the adventurous African savannah.

Developed in collaboration with the Swedish nature conservation center Nordens Ark, the collection encourages families to discover more about endangered animals and understand the importance of their protection through play and storytelling.

Findings from the IKEA Play Report 2024 reveal that only 51 percent of children are satisfied with the time they have for play, while 54 percent of parents wish for more opportunities to play with their children.

With 29 products, the SANDLÖPARE range is designed to spark exploration, imagination, and role-play in everyday life. Stools transform into zebras, rugs take the shape of snakes, and entire children’s rooms become camps on the savannah.

Through expertise provided by Nordens Ark, the collection also highlights lesser-known and endangered species. Over the coming years, IKEA will continue to support Nordens Ark in raising awareness about these animals, while Nordens Ark contributes knowledge to the development of future products aimed at inspiring children’s curiosity about nature, wildlife, and the planet’s ecosystems.

Meet the cool animals from the savannah in the form of cuddly toys and in the detailed illustrations by Anna Lagerström.

Here, stools become zebras, the bathrobe transforms your child into a cheetah, and the rugs are snakes.

Now you can afford to safely explore the savannah and learn about the animals that live here without disturbing their fragile habitat.

“I wanted children to discover the animals gradually. Some of them are hiding, and others are halfway out of frame.

To me, that made sense. Wild animals are really good at hiding. If you want to play with them, first you have to find them,” says designer Anna Lagerström

Organize the children’s room with storage fitting for the savannah. A stack of SANDLÖPARE storage trunks can hide everything from toys to dress-up clothes as well as invaluable keepsakes.

When the hiding and scouting are over and it’s time for the animals to rest, the SANDLÖPARE quilted mat offers the perfect place to relax.

Avoid hard and cold floors by rolling out a soft accessory that matches the savannah. And easily store it away using the attached straps.

For the SANDLÖPARE activity book, IKEA’s illustrator and product developers created illustrations and symbols to teach your children about the animals of the savannah without using a single word. The result is 25 pages of creative challenges for curious minds.

Coloring can reduce stress and anxiety by activating both the logical and the creative side of the brain. Coloring inside the lines requires logic, while choosing colors is a creative task.

After a day full of activities and to-dos, the SANDLÖPARE coloring roll might serve as active meditation for the whole family.

“I wanted the collection to be able to grow with the children. With the different patterns on the bed linen, you can easily switch from playful to tone-in-tone,” says illustrator Anna Lagerström

With the SANDLÖPARE decoration stickers, you can quickly transform any home into an animal kingdom. Add heads to bedposts and tails to baskets.

“I want children to become curious about the endangered animals of the savannah. With the textiles and soft toys, they get to meet and play with the animals and in the activity book, they can learn more about them,” says illustrator Anna Lagerström

While other animals fight for food on the ground, the giraffes’ long necks allow them to graze uninterruptedly among the leaves. They also show affection by pressing their necks against each other.

Female cheetahs live alone with their cubs while male cheetahs form small groups. Unlike other big cats, cheetahs hunt during the day. To avoid losing track of their mother while hunting, the cubs follow her long tail in the grass.

Chimpanzees easily swing from branch to branch. With opposable thumbs as well as toes, it’s almost as if they have four hands.

With touch-and-close fastening on both hangs and feet, the SANDLÖPARE soft toy chimpanzee can easily join the family adventure, whether it’s hanging around a neck, on a bag, or from the ceiling.

Meerkats never seem to be still and are always on the lookout for danger. The dark patches around their eyes act as natural sunglasses, and if a predator approaches, they sound an alarm to warn the rest of their clan to hide in burrows underneath.

Just like real meerkats, the SANDLOPÄRE soft toy stands up by resting on its tail, and the position of its paws makes it perfect for hanging on shelves or ledges.

To zebras, black and white stripes on a beige background are considered camouflage. Their main predator, the lion, is colorblind, making the color less important than the pattern, which blends well into the savannah grass.

And when the zebras stand together in a herd, it’s difficult for the lions to single one of them out to attack. With the soft padding in recycled polyester, the SANDLÖPARE zebra-patterned stool covers are a great complement to the FLISAT and MAMMUT stools.

To strengthen efforts in raising awareness of endangered species, IKEA is also launching a donation campaign in more markets. Each participating country will support a local organization dedicated to preserving and protecting the natural environment and wildlife.

The SANDLÖPARE collection will be launched in October 2025 in IKEA stores and on the website.