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The IKEA Effect in Children: Why Kids Love What They Build
The IKEA effect in children shows up by age 5, needs a finished project and ties what kids make to who they are. What the research says and how to use it.
Your child will keep a wobbly clay bowl they made over a perfect one from a store, and research says that isn’t sentimentality. It’s the IKEA effect in children, and in adults too: people value things they built themselves more than identical things built by someone else. In adults, the effect was demonstrated with flat-pack boxes, origami and Lego. In children, a 2018 study in Cognition found it emerges around age 5, at the same time children are forming a sense of who they are. Two details from the research matter most for parents. First, the effect disappears if the project isn’t finished. Second, in young kids it doesn’t seem to depend on how hard they worked, which suggests the pride comes from authorship, not sweat. Those two facts tell you how to design projects at home, and why a finished, imperfect thing your child made does more for them than a polished thing an adult or an AI made for them. Here’s the research, and a set of experiments your kid can run on the family.
Key Takeaways
- In four studies, adults valued their own amateur IKEA boxes, origami and Lego builds about as highly as experts’ creations, and expected others to agree (Norton, Mochon and Ariely).
- The effect “dissipated” when people built and then destroyed their creations, or failed to finish them. Completion is required.
- In children, the IKEA effect emerges at about age 5, alongside milestones in self-concept, and in 5-to-6-year-olds it wasn’t moderated by how much effort they put in (Marsh, Kanngiesser and Hood, 2018).
- Ownership alone couldn’t explain why children valued their creations more; the authors propose a link between “our creations and our self-concept.”
- Design projects that are short enough to finish, clearly authored by the child, and displayed somewhere visible.
What the IKEA Effect Is
The IKEA effect is the tendency to value something more because you made it yourself. The name comes from a 2011 paper in the Journal of Consumer Psychology by Michael Norton, Daniel Mochon and Dan Ariely. In four studies, people assembled IKEA storage boxes, folded origami and built Lego sets, then said how much they’d pay for what they made.
Participants “saw their amateurish creations as similar in value to experts’ creations, and expected others to share their opinions.” Their lopsided origami frogs were, in their eyes, worth nearly as much as a skilled folder’s. And they assumed other people would see it that way too, which they didn’t.
The second finding is the one that matters most for kids. “Labor leads to love only when labor results in successful completion of tasks; when participants built and then destroyed their creations, or failed to complete them, the IKEA effect dissipated.” The effect also showed up in people who said they had no interest in do-it-yourself projects, not just in hobbyists.
How the IKEA Effect in Children Develops
Adults aren’t the whole story. Lauren Marsh, Patricia Kanngiesser and Bruce Hood asked when the bias begins and why, in a 2018 series of studies published in Cognition.
It appears around age 5. Their first study showed “an emerging bias at age 5, corresponding with key developmental milestones in self-concept formation.” Younger children didn’t reliably value their own creations more.
Effort didn’t drive it. In 5-to-6-year-olds, “the IKEA effect is not moderated by the amount of effort invested in the task.” Kids who worked harder didn’t value their creations more than kids who worked less.
Ownership wasn’t enough. Feelings of ownership alone “cannot explain why children value their creations more.” Simply being told something is yours isn’t the same as having made it.
The authors’ interpretation: “Perhaps the IKEA effect reflects a link between our creations and our self-concept.” In plain terms, from about 5, what a child makes becomes a small piece of who they think they are. That’s why the bowl matters.
A related study helps explain the ownership side. In 2010, Kanngiesser and colleagues found that when people molded someone else’s clay into something new, preschoolers were more likely than adults to say the new object now belonged to the person who did the creative work. Children have a strong rule: you made it, so it’s yours.
What Kills the Effect, and What Keeps It
| Condition | What happened to valuation | Source | What it means at home |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built it and finished it | Valued close to expert work | Norton et al. | Size projects so they can be finished |
| Built it, then took it apart | Effect dissipated | Norton et al. | Don’t dismantle a project the day it’s done |
| Started but didn’t finish | Effect dissipated | Norton et al. | Unfinished kits don’t build pride |
| Child aged 5–6 worked hard vs. less hard | No difference in valuation | Marsh et al. | Authorship matters more than suffering |
| Told it’s theirs, but didn’t make it | Ownership alone didn’t explain the bias | Marsh et al. | Gifts don’t substitute for making |
| Someone else (or an AI) did the making | Not directly tested | Inference | Likely weaker; keep the generative step with the child |
The last row is marked as an inference on purpose. No study we know of has tested the IKEA effect with AI-made products for children. But every condition that weakened the effect in the research (not finishing, not authoring) is what happens when a tool does the making. We explore that broader question in AI made it vs. I made it.
Why This Matters Beyond a Clay Bowl
The IKEA effect connects to one of the best-established ideas in educational psychology. In a review in the Review of Educational Research, Ellen Usher and Frank Pajares concluded that “mastery experience is typically the most influential source of self-efficacy,” the belief that you can succeed at a task. A finished project the child made is a mastery experience. It’s evidence, to the child, that they can make things.
There’s also a memory angle. Things people generate themselves are remembered better than things they only read, the generation effect. A child who built a circuit remembers how it works better than one who watched a video of someone else building it.
One honest limit. The IKEA effect is also a bias. Adults in Norton’s studies overvalued their own work and wrongly expected others to share their view. Kids will too. That’s fine for a fridge drawing. It’s worth gently addressing when a teen can’t hear feedback on a project they love.
How to Teach Your Kid About the IKEA Effect
Ages 5–8: The keep-or-trade test
Make two identical simple things, such as paper airplanes or decorated cookies: your child makes one, you make the other as close to the same as you can. Later, ask your child which one they’d keep if they could only have one, and which one they’d trade for a sticker. Most kids pick their own, even when yours flies better. Then ask why. You’re showing them that making something changes how it feels.
Ages 9–12: Run Norton’s experiment on the family
Have your child fold a simple origami frog or build a small Lego model from instructions. Then ask each family member to “bid” on it with tokens or points, and ask your child to bid too. Compare. Usually the maker bids highest. Then try the second condition: have someone build one and stop halfway, and ask them to bid on the unfinished one. Talk about why finishing changed the number.
Ages 13+: Design a small study
Challenge your teen to design a fair test of the IKEA effect with friends: two groups, the same simple build, one group finishes and one doesn’t, everyone rates value. They’ll need to think about bias, sample size and fair questions, which is real research design. Afterward, discuss where the effect could mislead them: overrating their own code, essay or band demo, and how to get honest outside feedback.
The question to ask: “Why might you think your own drawing is worth more than an identical one someone else made, and when could that be a problem?”
Designing Projects Around the IKEA Effect at Home
Make finishing possible
The research is blunt: unfinished work doesn’t build the effect. For younger kids, choose projects that can be completed in one sitting. For older kids, break big projects into finished stages so each session ends with something that works.
Keep the generative step with the child
Help with the hard physical parts if needed, like cutting, drilling or a tricky step in the instructions. But let the child make the decisions: the colors, the design, the order. Marsh’s finding suggests authorship, not effort, is what counts for young kids.
Display it
A finished project on a shelf is a daily reminder to the child that they made something. Rotating displays keep it fresh without filling the house.
Don’t fix it for them
Adults are tempted to “just straighten that part.” If the child didn’t make the correction, it chips away at “I made it.” Offer the tool and the suggestion; let them decide.
What not to do
Don’t dismantle or throw away a project the day after it’s finished, at least not without the child’s agreement. In Norton’s studies, building and then destroying the creation erased the effect. And don’t buy a fully assembled version of something your child was halfway through building to “save time.”
For more on why hands-on making matters for learning, see our overview of the maker movement and STEM research.
What to Watch For Over the Next 3 Months
- Week 4: Has your child finished at least one small project they authored? Is it somewhere they can see it?
- Month 2 red flags: A pile of half-finished kits, a child who says “it’s not good enough” and abandons projects, or a habit of adults finishing things for them.
- Month 3 self-check: Ask your child to show you the thing they’re proudest of making this term and explain how they did it. If the answer comes quickly and in detail, the effect is working for them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the IKEA effect in children?
It’s the tendency for kids to value things they made themselves more than identical things made by someone else. A 2018 study in Cognition found it emerges around age 5, at the same time children develop their self-concept, and that in 5-to-6-year-olds it didn’t depend on how much effort they put in.
Does my child need to finish a project for it to matter?
According to the research, yes. In Norton, Mochon and Ariely’s studies, the IKEA effect disappeared when people failed to complete their creations or destroyed them after building. Projects sized so children can finish them are more likely to produce the pride and attachment.
Does the IKEA effect apply to things kids make with AI?
It hasn’t been tested directly. But the research shows the effect depends on completing work you authored yourself, and that ownership alone doesn’t explain it. When an AI does the generating, the child has authored less, so the effect is likely weaker. Keep the creative decisions with the child.
Is the IKEA effect a bad thing?
It’s mostly helpful for kids, because pride in their own work supports motivation and the belief that they can make things. It’s also a bias: people overvalue their own creations and expect others to agree. For teens, it’s worth discussing how to get honest feedback on work they love.
What kinds of projects work best?
Projects your child can finish, where they make the key decisions, and that produce something they can see or use: a model, a drawing, a simple circuit, a recipe. Help with the tricky physical steps if needed, but keep the authorship theirs.
About the author
Ricky Flores is the founder of HiWave Makers and an electrical engineer with 15+ years of experience building consumer technology at Apple, Samsung, and Texas Instruments. He writes about how kids learn to build, think, and create in a tech-saturated world. Read more at hiwavemakers.com.
Sources
- Norton, M. I., Mochon, D., & Ariely, D. (2012). “The IKEA effect: When labor leads to love.” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 22(3), 453–460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2011.08.002
- Marsh, L. E., Kanngiesser, P., & Hood, B. (2018). “When and how does labour lead to love? The ontogeny and mechanisms of the IKEA effect.” Cognition, 170, 245–253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2017.10.012
- Kanngiesser, P., Gjersoe, N., & Hood, B. M. (2010). “The effect of creative labor on property-ownership transfer by preschool children and adults.” Psychological Science, 21(9), 1236–1241. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797610380701
- Usher, E. L., & Pajares, F. (2008). “Sources of Self-Efficacy in School: Critical Review of the Literature and Future Directions.” Review of Educational Research. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654308321456
- Slamecka, N. J., & Graf, P. (1978). “The generation effect: Delineation of a phenomenon.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 4(6). https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.4.6.592
- Pekrun, R., Lichtenfeld, S., Marsh, H. W., Murayama, K., & Goetz, T. (2017). “Achievement Emotions and Academic Performance: Longitudinal Models of Reciprocal Effects.” Child Development. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12704
