Zoo Crew

Eight animals, four formats, and a zoo behind all of it

The Zoo Crew was made by Make Believe Ideas in partnership with London Zoo — a ZSL conservation zoo. Eight animals run right through the range: an elephant, a lion, a giraffe, a sloth, a penguin chick, a bush baby, a pygmy hippo and a red panda. Some of them are the usual suspects. A pygmy hippo and a bush baby are decidedly not, which is rather the point of a range built with a conservation charity rather than a licensing office.

Make Believe Ideas state that every purchase supports ZSL's vital conservation work here in the UK and around the world. The large plush are filled with 100% recycled stuffing rather than virgin polyester, and every item in the range is suitable from birth.

🧸 The four formats, and who each one is for

  • Large plush toys — the cuddle-up-to ones. A proper soft toy for the cot corner, the pram and the car seat, and the format most likely to become the one they can't sleep without.
  • Clip & Go — smaller, with a clip for the pram or car seat and a textured teething ring built in. The one to choose for a newborn who can't yet hold a full-size toy, and the one that doesn't get dropped in a puddle.
  • Hand-puppet cloth books — the animal goes on your hand and the pages tell the story. For the stage where your baby is more interested in your face than in a book.
  • Touch-and-feel board books — bumpy silicone animals to stroke on every page, which is where the whole range started.

🦛 Which animal?

They're the same size and the same price, so it comes down to shape and to what your little one points at. The elephant's ears and the penguin chick's round body are the easiest for a very young baby to hold. The giraffe's neck is the best handle once everything starts getting carried everywhere. The lion has the most texture, the sloth is the calmest, the red panda has the tail worth stroking, and the bush baby and pygmy hippo are the two nobody else's toddler will have.

Each product page says what the animal is good for, how to clean it, and one fact about the real thing worth saving for later. Free UK delivery on orders over £25.