As a fan of IKEA, I was excited to have the opportunity to try some products from them. One product I received was from their Stuffed Toy collection. It was a barn and animals for the barn. The product came completely folded up and flat and the instructions were illustrated clearly enough to be able to put it together. That just involved some folding and Velcroing.
Once it was up, the barn was really cute. You can keep it closed with the animals inside and it looks like the outside of a barn.
But then you open it up and unfold it and you have the inside of the barn, the yard outside the barn and a pond. It came with a ladder for the barn, 6 sides of a fence, a stone wall, a horse, a cow, a cat and some straw.
All the pieces were soft and stuffed.
It seems well put together and of good quality. I received the product one evening and set it up for my kids, Mitchell 4 and Camryn 21 months, to play with the next day when they woke up.
Mitchell said, “That’s something different.” They both enjoyed playing with the toy that day. When we were done playing, everything went inside, it folded up into the barn, had a carry handle, and could be stored until the next time we played with it.
I got a little worried when no one chose that as a toy to play with for a while. Then one evening it was just Camryn and I. We cleaned up the toys on the floor so we could dance, but Camryn went and picked up the barn, brought it over and tried to open it. I realized my super hero and car loving son’s toys were usually spread across the living room floor and Camryn didn’t really have a chance to get it out. Since that evening, both kids have gotten the farm out and had fun playing and pretending.
Also, for every Soft Toy purchased through December 2010, $1.31 to UNICEF and Save the Children to help educate the world’s most disadvantaged children. It looks like there are a variety of soft toys to choose from and the ones I have truly are soft.
Another IKEA product I had the chance to try out was the SUNNAN Work Lamp.
It is a modern looking, colorful, I received an orange and a yellow one, desk lamp with a solar panel. After you put the panel outside in the sunlight for 9 hours or 12 hours on a partly cloudy day, it runs on the solar battery. No plugs, no batteries to replace.
The first lamp I received from IKEA did not work. I put it outside on two different days for the full 9 hours in the sunlight, but the lamp did not turn on. I received a second lamp and looking at the solar panel, which didn’t seem like it was put together quite right, I figured this one was not going to work either. I tried it in the sun and I was right.
When I took a closer look at the panel, I decided to take it apart and when I reassembled it the correct way, put it outside again, and tried it one more time, it worked like a charm.
The light was bright and worked well for small projects or reading a book. I left it on for 45 minutes straight then turned it one periodically over the next several days and it still was shining bright. The directions state that it will shine for 3-4 hours. The lamp has a larger base with a flexible arm so you can put the light wherever you need it. It was nice to not have to worry about a plug.
I even thought about using it in the car as a reading light when we’re traveling in the dark, which has been happening a lot and will be happening even more with the holidays coming up. I never did try that.
One thing that I wonder about with this solar powered lamp is finding a place and enough sunlight to charge the lamp when we’re in the middle of winter in Cleveland with snow on the ground. I guess we’ll see how that goes.
The information that came with the SUNNAN work lamp said that for every lamp sold in IKEA stores worldwide, one would be donated to children in refugee camps and villages in remote areas where there is no electricity. The program is part of IKEA Social Initiative. Sounds like a good program.
Thank you to IKEA for providing the products for review. No compensation was received. The opinions are my own and that of my family.
I love the orange color of the lamp. That just happens to be the “pop” color in my son’s black and white room. How cool is this lamp? I likey. Thanks for the review!
I think that lamp might make a great addition to my son’s room. He loves to read. He never turns the tv on…just reads in his room. I like that he could aim it exactly where he needs it.
I have to admit I’ve never been in an Ikea. The closes one to me is about 2 hours away. I love the idea of the solar lamp. My hubby and I are slowly replacing things in the house to make our house more green, energy efficient, and well cheaper lol. The stuffed animals set is very cute!
I bought the SUNNAN lamp two days ago. After 2 days in the sun is does not work. Not even a faint glow of light. Do you have any hints on assembling it the right way? Maybe I just got a dud.
Thanks!!
I have purchased four of these and none of them work. The solar sell/battery packs have been placed outside every day for over one week and they still don’t work. The solar cells and wiring seems okay since the lights will come on if I shine a bright light on the solar cell. I think that the batteries must be self discharging faster than they are being trickle charged. Since I don’t want to debug this any further, I will be returning them. They obviously have a quality problem.