Clip & Go Elephant

Clip and Go Elephant — the biggest of the buggy toys

Every soft toy you take out of the house gets thrown on the floor of a bus. This one clips on. The attachment fastens to a buggy bar, a car seat handle or the strap of a changing bag, and once it is on your baby can let go as often as they like — which they will, roughly every forty seconds — without anybody having to stop and pick it up.

At 20 x 16cm this is the chunkiest of the four Clip and Go animals, and the closest of them to being a proper cuddly toy as well as a travel one. If you want a single soft toy that works on the pram and still gets a hug at home, this is the one of the four we would point you at.

🐘 Built to be held with both hands

The body is wide and soft rather than long and thin, which suits the way a baby of five or six months actually grabs things — two hands, into the middle, straight towards the mouth. The trunk and the ears give three separate things to take hold of, and the ears are the thinnest part, which is usually the first bit to go in.

🦷 There is a teething ring built in

A textured ring sits on the toy, so there is something firm and chewable in reach without a second item to carry or lose. It earns its place around four to six months, when gums start to hurt in places you cannot reach from the driving seat. The ring is also the part you can clean properly, which matters — more on that below.

♻️ Recycled filling, and it pays for conservation

The stuffing is recycled material rather than virgin polyester. The range is made by Make Believe Ideas with London Zoo, a ZSL conservation zoo, and ZSL state that every purchase supports their conservation work in the UK and around the world. Elephants are on the at-risk list, which is why the range exists at all.

What we like about it

• It clips on, so it cannot be dropped, thrown or left behind in a car park
• The biggest of the four — the closest to a cuddly toy as well as a pram toy
• A trunk and two ears, so there are three separate things to grab
• A textured teething ring built in — one object instead of two
• Suitable from birth, so it goes on the pram from the first week
• Filled with recycled material
• Made with London Zoo; every purchase supports ZSL conservation work

Specification

• Suitable from: birth
• Size: approx. 20cm x 16cm
• Attachment: clip for a buggy, pram, car seat or changing bag
• Features: soft plush, textured teething ring
• Filling: recycled material
• Care: surface wash only
• Range: Zoo Crew by Make Believe Ideas, made with London Zoo, a ZSL conservation zoo

❓ Frequently asked questions

It has a teething ring but it is surface wash only — how does that work?
Fair question, and the honest answer is that the two parts get treated differently. The ring is the bit that goes in the mouth, and it wipes clean properly with a damp cloth. The plush body is surface wash only, so you spot clean it and let it dry — no machine, no soaking. In practice a clipped-on toy stays a lot cleaner than a comforter does, because it lives on the buggy rather than in the cot. If you want something you can sterilise, buy a silicone teether as well and keep this one for the pram.

Will the clip actually hold?
It is a plastic clip of the usual kind — fine on a buggy bar, a car seat handle or a bag strap, and it will take a baby pulling on it. It is not a carabiner and we would not hang it off a moving pushchair axle. Clip it where you can see it and it will do its job for as long as you need a pram toy, which is about the first eighteen months.

Is it big enough to swing into the baby's face?
It can, which is the trade-off for being the biggest of the four. Clip it to the side of the bar rather than the middle and it is fine. If you want the version that stays out of the way, the Clip and Go Lion is the smallest and lightest and barely moves at all.

From birth? What does a newborn do with it?
Watch it, mostly. For the first couple of months it is a thing that hangs where they can see it and moves when the pram moves — which is plenty. Grabbing arrives around three to four months, chewing the ring around four to six, and by a year they are taking it off the clip and carrying it about.

Does it make a good gift?
A good one, and the elephant is the safest animal in the range for a gift you are unsure about — nobody has ever objected to an elephant. If you want to spend a little more, the full-size Elephant Plush Toy is the same animal at cuddle size, so you can do one for the pram and one for the cot.

🔍 Which Clip and Go?

Four animals, and they are not interchangeable — the shape changes what a small hand can do with it:

• Elephant — this one, 20 x 16cm. The biggest and chunkiest, with the most to hold on to.
• Giraffe — 21 x 7cm. The tallest and the slimmest, so the neck is a natural handle and it dangles best.
• Red Panda — 19 x 12cm. The long tail makes it the easiest to grip, and the animal nobody else has.
• Lion — 18 x 12cm. The smallest and lightest, with a mane for texture.

If your baby needs more to do on the pram than one toy can offer, the Jungle Activity Spiral wraps right round the bar with a mirror and a teether on it. And the rest of this range sits in our Zoo Crew collection — eight full-size plush animals, four hand-puppet cloth books and two board books.

❤️ From our family to yours

Carefully chosen products for babies, toddlers and parents. Browse more cuddly toys and the rest of the Make Believe Ideas range — free UK delivery on orders over £25.