Having a ball

It all started one evening in September 1970 when the neon sign on the IKEA store in Stockholm, Sweden, caught fire. The whole store was badly damaged, and plans were made for an ambitious re-build. This would include a 100 square metre children’s play area.

IKEA had long offered its customers child-friendly spaces where they could leave their children. Ingvar Kamprad naturally saw it as a win-win. Parents could shop in peace, while the children weren’t bored and begging to go home. By the mid-1960s, the play areas were advertised in the IKEA catalogue under the name “child parking”.

But the new play area would be revolutionary, and in line with Sweden’s idea of always putting children first in everyday life.

Charlotte Rude and Hjördis Olsson-Une were the youngest IKEA designers at the time. They had started in 1968, one year after graduating from art school in Stockholm. They were already known for their unusual solutions and imaginative ideas for children’s products, and knew how to fill 100 square metres with fun and games.

“We built a model first and then started building,” remembers Charlotte, 83. “The furnishings were built with particleboard, which was sturdy and cheap. We made lots of foam toys, like the large, rounded pillows covered in laminated fabric, with ropes on each end. Kids could throw them around without hurting anybody.”

Throwing a curve ball

Fun toys aside, the biggest star of the play area was the ball pit. The idea came when Charlotte and Hjördis were opening boxes containing a new type of protective packing material. It consisted of small plastic balls, and reminded Charlotte of the then wildly popular bean bags that kids would sit and lie down in.

They imagined how one could jump and swim around in a sea of balls if it was deep and wide enough. However, these balls were too small. Children might put them in their mouths and choke. At the time, plastic was growing fast as a material, and the young designers soon found lighter and bigger multicoloured balls to use.

A huge wooden box – deep enough to jump into – was built with particleboard and filled with thousands of balls. When the play area opened in 1971, the ball pit became a huge hit. Kids loved it, and families were soon rushing to IKEA to let their children try out the new invention. Later in the 1970s, ball pits of all sorts started popping up in everything from amusement parks to fast-food restaurants, but the ball pit in the Stockholm IKEA store in 1971 was likely the first one in the world.

Playful SMÅLAND

In the mid-1990s, IKEA designers Anna Efverlund and Mikael Warnhammar were tasked with developing the IKEA play area concept. They came up with what would eventually become known as “SMÅLAND” – a nod to Ingvar Kamprad’s roots in Småland, Sweden. Also, “små” in Swedish means small/little.

The concept was shaped alongside child development experts who were also involved in creating Children’s IKEA. The final result was modelled after the Swedish countryside, activities surrounded by pine and birch trees, lingonberry bushes and a small red cottage. A true wonderland for children.

Since the early days, more rules and regulations have been added to keep children safe. For example, in some markets there is a height requirement for Småland – children must be between 95 and 135 cm tall, and also be able to use the toilet independently. Parents receive a pager and ticket when they register, so they can be reached and later pick up their child safely.

After three decades of fun and games, SMÅLAND was given a makeover. While still under development, a test version of the new SMÅLAND opened in a US store in the autumn of 2024. While keeping the forest theme of the birthplace of Ingvar Kamprad and IKEA, the new design seeks to engage children even more in play activities.

However, the first version of the new play area lacked an important ingredient – the popular ball pit invented by Charlotte and Hjördis in 1970. “We really hope to implement a ball pit soon,” said Radek Pazour, who has been part of the IKEA development team for the new SMÅLAND. “It’s one of the most iconic features of the IKEA play area through the ages.”