Tiny Friends - Tim the Tiger

Tiny Friends Tim the Tiger — the character the rest of the range is built around

A small soft tiger with a bell inside, 11cm tall, with a loop on the back leg. From birth, UKCA and CE marked.

Little Big Friends make four of these — a tiger, a lion, a giraffe and an elephant — and the packaging says outright that they are meant to be collected. They are largely the same toy in four animals. Tim's distinction is not the toy, it is the range: he is the one Little Big Friends built the jungle collection around, so he is the character you can keep going with.

🐯 The one with the most to match

Gina, Jackson and Vincent each come as a Tiny Friend and a musical animal. Tim comes as a Tiny Friend, a musical tiger, a comforter, a squeaker rattle, and he is the animal inside the jungle gift box. If you are the sort of household that ends up with a theme — and plenty are, usually without deciding to — starting on Tim gives you somewhere to go.

It also makes him the sensible first buy if you are testing the range before committing to one of the bigger pieces.

🔔 A bell rather than a shaker

There is a bell built in, not a rattle full of beads, so the sound is a soft chime rather than a dry clatter. For a newborn that is the right way round: sudden noise startles, and a quiet sound they can cause themselves is far more interesting than one that makes them jump.

🪝 The loop on the back leg

There is a fabric loop on one back leg. Little Big Friends don't say what it is for, so we won't invent a purpose — but it takes a clip or a ribbon, and we would use it on a play gym, a pram bar or a car seat handle. That turns a small toy that gets dropped into one that stays where you put it, which is most of the problem with anything this size.

🏠 Also sold as something to look at

The packaging describes these as a toy and a decorative item, which is unusual and, we think, honest. They are small, neat and in muted colours, so they hang off a pram or sit on a shelf without looking like clutter.

What we like about it

• The character with the most of the range behind him, so there is somewhere to go next
• A built-in bell, so a soft chime rather than a startling rattle
• A loop on the back leg, for a play gym, pram bar or car seat handle
• Smooth wipe-clean fabric throughout, so the easiest sort to keep tidy
• 11cm, so it goes in a coat pocket
• Suitable from birth, UKCA and CE marked

Specification

• Suitable from: birth
• Size: 11cm
• Sound: built-in bell
• Attachment: fabric loop on the back leg
• Materials: soft wipe-clean fabric
• Safety: UKCA and CE
• Care: wipe clean only

❓ Frequently asked questions

It's quite small for the money — what am I actually getting?
A fair challenge, and worth answering before you order rather than after. At 11cm this is a rattle, not a cuddly toy: something to grip, chime and hang on a pram, sized for a newborn's hand rather than a toddler's arms. If you want something to actually cuddle, the Tim the Tiger Comforter is flat and huggable, and the musical Tim is 17cm with a music box in him. Buy a Tiny Friend for the first few months and for the pram, not as the main present.

Can it be washed?
Wipe clean only — a damp cloth on the spot, dealt with promptly. That is the whole Little Big Friends range, not just this one, and on a from-birth toy that will be mouthed it is worth knowing. Keep it as a pram and play-gym toy rather than the thing that lives in the cot, and it stays presentable. Tim is smooth fabric all over, so he wipes more cleanly than the furry lion does.

What's the difference between the four?
The animal, the height, and one real thing: Jackson the lion has a furry mane, where Tim, Gina and Vincent are smooth wipe-clean fabric. Tim and Jackson are 11cm, Gina is 14cm and Vincent is 10cm. Otherwise it is the same bell, the same loop and the same construction, which is why the box says they are good to collect.

From birth — what does a newborn do with it?
Listen, mostly. You shake it gently and they turn towards the sound, which is one of the first deliberate things they do. Grabbing arrives around three to four months. After that it goes in the mouth, like everything else.

Does it make a good gift?
A good small one, and the right one to give if you suspect the family will end up with more of this range. It posts cheaply and suits a card. For a present on its own, the Jungle Baby Gift Box is the boxed version of the same idea.

🔍 The four Tiny Friends

Same bell, same loop. Choose on shape, or collect them, which is what the box suggests:

• Tim the Tiger — this one, 11cm. The character with the most of the range behind him.
• Gina the Giraffe — 14cm, the tallest. The long neck makes her the easiest of the four to grip.
• Jackson the Lion — 11cm, and the only furry one. Two textures instead of one.
• Vincent the Elephant — 10cm, the smallest. The one that disappears into a changing bag.

🐒 The rest of the Jungle range

Tim has more of it to himself than the other three:

• Tim the Tiger Comforter — flat, with ribbons and a teething ring, from birth
• Tim the Tiger Squeaker Rattle — the cheapest way into the range
• Tim the Musical Tiger — 17cm, and the only one of the four music boxes that doesn't play a lullaby
• Jungle Activity Spiral — wraps round a pram bar with a mirror and a teether
• Wooden Activity Arch and the Reversible Playmat — the floor-play pair, and the arch is where the loop earns its keep
• Jungle Baby Gift Box — Tim's comforter, his rattle and the soft book, ready wrapped

The whole lot sits together in our Little Big Friends Jungle Collection.

Our guides to the Little Big Friends jungle collection and the best toys for babies under 6 months go into more detail.

❤️ From our family to yours

Carefully chosen products for babies, toddlers and parents. Browse more baby rattles and our toys suitable from birth — free UK delivery on orders over £25.