Clip & Go Lion

Clip and Go Lion — the smallest and lightest 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 18 x 12cm this is the lightest of the four Clip and Go animals, which is the reason to choose it. A light toy on a buggy bar barely swings, does not drag the bar down and travels in a coat pocket on the school run.

🦁 The mane does the sensory work

A fluffy mane against a smooth, velvety face gives two quite different textures right next to each other, and that contrast is what a hand explores first. Babies learn an enormous amount from edges — where one surface stops and another starts — so a toy with a clear texture line in the middle of it is better value than a uniformly soft one.

🦷 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. Lions 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 lightest of the four — barely swings, and fits in a coat pocket
• Fluffy mane against a smooth face: two textures in one small toy
• 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. 18cm x 12cm
• Attachment: clip for a buggy, pram, car seat or changing bag
• Features: soft plush with a fluffy mane, 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 being carried everywhere. 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 18cm big enough to be a proper cuddly toy?
It is a travel toy, not a cuddly one, and we would rather say so. Being small is the feature here: it hangs without swinging into a baby's face and it goes in a pocket. If you want something to actually cuddle, the full-size Lion Plush Toy is the same animal at proper cuddle size, with a much bigger mane.

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?
The safe choice of the four, because a lion needs no explaining and this is the one that posts most cheaply. It is also the present a second-time parent recognises straight away — nobody buys their first clip-on toy for themselves.

🔍 Which Clip and Go?

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

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

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.

Our guides to when soft toys and comforters are safe to introduce and travelling with a baby go into more detail.

❤️ 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.