Sloth Hand-Puppet Cloth Book

Sloth Hand-Puppet Cloth Book — the one that slows bedtime down

A cloth book with a sloth puppet built into the back of it. Your hand goes inside, the sloth comes to life, and the story happens between the two of you rather than on the page. Eight soft fabric pages, rhymes to read aloud, and an animal whose entire character is moving as slowly as possible.

That last part is why we would pick this one for the end of the day. A lion puppet winds a baby up, which is sometimes exactly what you want. A sloth cannot be hurried — and a toy that only works slowly is a useful thing to own at seven in the evening.

🦥 Slow is the whole idea

Everything about the performance is unhurried: the head lifts, the arms drift, the page turns when it turns. Babies settle to slow, repetitive movement and a low voice far better than to anything energetic, so this is the puppet that belongs in the bedtime routine rather than in the middle of the living-room floor.

📖 A first book that cannot be destroyed

Cloth pages, so nothing tears, nothing has a sharp corner, and nothing is spoiled when it goes in the mouth — which it will. Eight pages is about right for the attention span of someone under one: you reach the end before they lose interest, and then you start again, which is what they wanted anyway.

👼 It goes on the buggy

Roughly 18cm square and very light, with a loop that attaches to a pram, a buggy or a car seat. Useful on a long pram walk where the aim is a nap rather than excitement, and small enough that it lives in the changing bag instead of on a shelf.

🌍 And it funds conservation work

The Zoo Crew 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. The range is built around animals they work to protect. As reasoning for a first gift goes, that is a good deal better than another plastic rattle.

What we like about it

• A soft toy and a first book in one, usable from the day you come home
• The calmest of the four puppets — the one we would keep for bedtime
• The grown-up works the puppet, which answers the "what do I actually do with a newborn" problem
• Cloth throughout — nothing to tear, nothing with a corner
• Eight pages, which is the right length at this age
• Attaches to a buggy, pram or car seat
• Made with London Zoo; every purchase supports ZSL conservation work

Specification

• Suitable from: birth
• Format: soft cloth book with an integrated hand puppet
• Pages: 8 cloth pages
• Size: approx. 18cm x 18cm
• Attachment: loop for a buggy, pram or car seat
• Care: surface clean only — no washing instruction is printed on it, so we would not risk a machine or a soak
• Range: Zoo Crew by Make Believe Ideas, made with London Zoo, a ZSL conservation zoo

❓ Frequently asked questions

It cannot be washed — is that a problem on a newborn toy?
It is the thing worth knowing, so here it is first. There is no care label on it, so our advice is surface clean only: a damp cloth on the spot, dealt with straight away, then left to dry flat. A puppet book stands up to that better than a comforter does, because it is a thing you hold and perform with rather than something that lives in the cot being dribbled on all night. None of the Zoo Crew range can go in a machine — the plush animals are surface wash only too. If what you want is something to be properly chewed and properly cleaned, a silicone teether is the honest answer.

Can a newborn really use this?
They can be read to, which is the whole idea. For the first couple of months your baby is the audience: they watch the sloth move and listen to your voice. Around three to four months they start grabbing at the pages, and by six months they are turning them and chewing the corners. It is one of very few things on this site that is genuinely useful on day one and still in use at a year.

Is it a book or a toy?
Both, and that is not a dodge. The pages have rhymes and illustrations and work as a book; the puppet works as a soft toy without opening it at all. Parents who want one object doing two jobs — and one fewer thing in the changing bag — tend to be the ones who like these most.

Will it actually help at bedtime?
It helps with the winding down, not with the sleeping. A slow, quiet, repeatable thing you do in the same order every night is the part of a routine that works, and a sloth is well suited to being that thing. We are not going to claim a cloth book settles a baby who does not want to be settled.

Does it make a good gift?
One of the better new-baby ones, because it is something parents use rather than store. Soft enough to post, no batteries, not the fourteenth muslin, and the conservation link gives the giver something to say. For a bigger present, pair it with the matching Sloth Plush Toy — Sonny, same range, same animal, and the calm one there too.

🐾 The four puppet books

Same format, same size, four quite different performances:

• Sloth — this one. The slowest, and the one for the end of the day.
• Lion — the loud one. Roars, giggles, the biggest reaction of the four.
• Giraffe — the tallest, with the most movement in the neck.
• Pygmy Hippo — the one nobody else's baby has.

The rest of the range: eight Zoo Crew plush animals, four clip-on buggy toys with teething rings, and two board books — Never Touch the Zoo Crew and Don't Feed the Animals.

❤️ From our family to yours

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