Lion Puppet Soft Book

Lion Puppet Soft Book — a cloth book your hand goes inside

A soft 17 x 15cm cloth book with a lion's head at one end that your hand slides into, turning the book into a puppet. Crinkly pages, varied textures, bright artwork, and a Velcro strap to fasten it to a pram. Suitable from birth.

🦁 The puppet is for you, which is the clever bit

A baby under six months cannot work a book. They can, however, watch a face — and a lion that moves, talks and comes closer because an adult is operating it is far more interesting than a page being turned. The puppet is the mechanism by which a grown-up gets a very young baby interested in a book at all.

Later it flips round: the toddler puts their own hand in, the lion starts having opinions, and you have accidentally bought a storytelling prop.

🔊 About the sounds

Worth being clear, because the packaging can read the other way: the book does not make animal noises. There is no speaker and no battery. What it has is crinkly pages and artwork of animals mid-roar, mid-hiss and so on — the noises are yours to make, which is rather the point of a puppet. The only sound it makes on its own is the crinkle.

🚗 The Velcro strap earns its place

It wraps round a pram bar, a buggy frame or a car seat handle. Anyone who has fished a book out of a footwell at traffic lights understands why, and it means the book is available to a baby who cannot yet reach for it deliberately.

What we like about it

• A book and a hand puppet in one, so it works before a baby can turn a page
• Crinkly pages — the sound a baby finds first
• Varied textures to explore alongside the pictures
• Velcro strap for a pram, buggy or car seat
• Soft and light at 17 x 15cm, so there is nothing to drop on a face at close range
• No batteries and no electronics of any kind
• Suitable from birth, and more fun at two than at two months

Specification

• Suitable from: birth
• Size: 17 x 15cm
• Format: soft cloth book with an integral hand puppet
• Features: crinkly pages, varied textures, bright artwork, Velcro strap for a pram or buggy
• Range: Sensory Snuggables by Make Believe Ideas
• Safety: UKCA and CE marked
• Care: surface wash only

❓ Frequently asked questions

Does it make animal sounds?
No. No speaker, no batteries — the animals are illustrated making their noises and you supply them. The only sound the book makes is the crinkle in the pages.

Is it really suitable from birth?
Yes, but as a thing you perform with rather than something they use. A newborn watches the puppet and listens; from around six months they grab and crinkle; from eighteen months or so they put their own hand in.

How do I clean it?
Surface wash only — a damp cloth and left to dry. The crinkle insert rules out a machine.

Will it fit our pram?
It fastens with Velcro rather than a clip, so it wraps around a bar, a rail or a handle. Anything it can go round, it will hold on to.

Is it a good gift?
A good one for a parent rather than only for the baby, oddly — it gives you something to do with a very small person at the stage when there is not much you can do. It also travels flat, so it posts easily.

📚 More cloth books and puppets

• Giraffe, lion, sloth and pygmy hippo hand-puppet cloth books from the Zoo Crew range — the same idea with different animals.
• Sensory fox and sensory bunny with cloth book — a large plush with a detachable book strapped to its side, and a rattle inside.

Browse more baby books and the rest of the Make Believe Ideas range.

Safety information

Adult supervision recommended. Inspect the seams, the pages and the Velcro strap regularly and stop using the book if anything is coming loose. Keep it out of the cot, and unstrap it from the pram before your little one sleeps.

Our guides to sensory cloth books for babies and the best toys for babies under 6 months go into more detail.

❤️ From our family to yours

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