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Best teddy bears and soft toys kids will love to cuddle
Cute and comforting, soft toys and teddy bears make the perfect companion for children of all ages. Here are the best teddy bears and plush toys you can buy today, as recommended by real parents.
By Lucy Cotterill | Last updated Mar 7, 2024
Whilst parents tend to fit strongly into the love them or loathe them camps, children just can’t get enough of teddies and plush soft toys. Thanks to their cuddly nature, super soft fabrics and adorable, friendly faces, the best teddy bears can also be a huge source of comfort for a child. Snuggling up in bed with the favourite teddy bear or best doll at story time helps kids get ready for a good night’s sleep, and they can also be a familiar and reassuring friend when your child is in unfamiliar surroundings.
Teddy bears make a lovely gift for babies, as well as being one of the best toys for 2-year-olds and 3-year-olds. Older kids love them too, especially collectibles like Beanie Boos and Squishmallows.
If you’re considering buying a soft toy or teddy bear for a child, you’ll want one that’s high quality, soft to the touch and can withstand some fairly forceful hugging. We've turned to the wisdom of the thousands of parents who post in the Mumsnet forums every day, searching fro authentic, tried-and-tested recommendations of toys their children love. Whether it’s a super soft teddy bear, a giant teddy bear or even a talking teddy bear, we’ve researched the best teddy bear and soft toys that your child can cherish forever.
Here are the best teddies and soft toys you can buy in 2024.
Traditional teddy design
Jellycat’s super soft fur
Excellent quality
Costly
Some children may prefer the Bashful Bunny Jellycat design
Price on writing: £32 | Age Suitability: From birth | Material: 100% polyester | Washable: Hand wash | Dimensions: Height 16cm, Length 8cm, Width 7cm
When parents ask in the Mumsnet forums for soft toy recommendations, there is one brand that gets mentioned time and time again - Jellycat. Thanks to their incredibly soft fabrics and high-quality designs that are suitable from birth, these cute and cuddly characters make the perfect soft toys to send to a child as a gift.
Whilst the Bashful Bunny is the most popular Jellycat toy, Bartholomew Bear has a more traditional teddy bear design with soft squishy limbs, friendly dark eyes and an adorable embroidered nose. Measuring 28cm tall, he’s also the ideal size for bedtime cuddles, with super soft tousled fur.
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Bargain price tag
Super cute smiley face
Super soft body
Fairly small in size - so easier to lose, but at that price, you can always justify buying a spare!
Price on writing: £1.50 | Age suitability: From birth | Material: 100% polyester | Washable: Machine wash at 40 degrees | Dimensions: Length 21cm
If you’re after a cute and friendly teddy for your child but don’t want to spend a fortune, they don’t get much more affordable than this budget friendly blue bear from IKEA.
Despite its low price tag, this CE marked teddy can quickly become a firm favourite thanks to his friendly expressive face, heart vest and gently weighted body. He’s the ideal carry along teddy for trips out in the pushchair, but be careful, due to his small size he’s a little more easy to lose than some.
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Interactive teddy with over 100 different sounds and reactions
Larger size is great for siblings to share
Night time mode can play sleep sounds
Heavy
Requires four C batteries (not included)
Costly
Price on writing: £100 | Age suitability: 4 years + | Materials: Plush (unspecified) | Washable: Surface clean only | Dimensions: 21.59 x 50.8 x 44.45 cm
This is no ordinary teddy bear. Cubby from FurReal is an interactive and expressive bear that responds to your child’s touch - moving his head, eyes, nose, mouth and arms and creating over 100 sound and motion responses during play.
Suitable for children aged four and over, he even comes with a cute 3 in 1 accessory which is a bottle, snack and comb in one, allowing your children to nurture and care for their new friend.
Thanks to Cubby’s nighttime mode, you don’t have to worry about him keeping your children aware at night. Quite the opposite in fact. Cubby can play soothing sounds and soft music to help your children become calm and relaxed before bed.
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Ultra soft and squishy
Collectable nature
Ideal for travel
Be warned - they won’t want to stop at one
Price on writing: From £9 | Age suitability: 3 years + | Materials: spandex filled with polyester fibre | Washable: Spot clean or machine wash on cool cycle | Dimensions: Choice of sizes including small, medium, large and extra large
With a somewhat iconic status, the super soft, squishy and huggable Squishmallows have grown hugely in popularity over recent years and with good reason - they’re so cute and soft to touch that even some Mumsnet users admit to having one or two themselves!
Available in a range of sizes from small to giant, Squishmallows come in a wide range of fun and friendly themes including animals, foods and licensed characters. They make a cosy and comfortable pillow for relaxing, reading or travel. A word of caution however, your child is likely to want to amass quite the Squishmallows collection and the larger size ones don’t come cheap.
Super soft
Gently weighted body
Smaller size perfect for babies
Although suitable from birth, this toy should not be left in the cot whilst your baby sleeps
Price on writing: £16 | Age suitability: From Birth | Material: 100% polyester fill | Washable: Hand wash | Dimensions: H14cm x W6cm x L7cm
One of the most popular soft toys for newborn, Jellycat’s Bashful Bunny comes highly recommended in both the Mumsnet forums and online retailer reviews thanks to his super soft fur, long floppy ears and a gently weighted body.
A great gift for babies, he ’s the ideal size for small hands to reach out and grab. He’s also built to last, easily coping with lots of cuddles as your child grows up. The only downside, his white fur can become grubby quite quickly with sticky toddler fingers. A quick hand wash however, and he will be good as new in no time.
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Realistic design
3 feet long giant soft toy
Difficult to store
More suitable for larger bedrooms or playrooms
Price on writing: £43 | Age suitability: 3 years+ | Materials: Polyester | Washable: Washable surface | Dimensions: 23.8 x 17 x 6.5 cm
If you’re looking for a teddy or soft toy that makes a real statement, these giant size Melissa and Doug toys certainly do just that. With realistic, lifelike designs of animals in the natural world, we love the attention to detail and authentic markings on this giant sea turtle.
These larger sized soft toys are great for hands on creative play, whilst also making the ideal companion for your child’s bedroom or playroom. A cute and cuddly friend for your child’s book corner, they can quickly become the perfect pillow for reading, chilling or listening to audio books before bed.
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Traditional teddy bear design
Excellent quality
Great option for a keepsake bear
Costly
Price on writing: £30 | Age suitability: 18 months+ | Materials: 100% polyester | Washable: 30° C Gentle Wash | Dimensions: 20 x 18 x 8cm
With over 120 years experience, Steiff certainly know how to make a high-quality teddy bear. Unlike the more rigid jointed Steiff bears that you may be familiar with however, the Soft Cuddly Friends range from the same brand offers excellent quality soft-bodied bears that are ideal for younger children.
A traditional teddy bear design, children will love Jimmy’s super soft tousled fur, friendly little smile and the Steiff button tag on his ear. At 30cm tall, he makes a great bedtime companion to help little ones snuggle up and drift away to the land of nod.
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Huge glittery eyes
Smaller size for portability
Each Beanie Boo character has their own birthday and fun facts
Some Beanie Boos are rarer than others, meaning it can be challenging to collect them all
Price on writing: From £6 | Age Suitability: 18 months plus | Materials: Polyester | Washable: Spot clean / handwash | Dimensions: 7.62 x 8.89 x 15.24 cm
With loads of different designs to collect, the adorable Ty Beanie Boos have become incredibly popular amongst tweens across the globe in recent years.
Not to be confused with Beanie Babies or Squish a Boos, Beanies Boos have a cute sitting stance with large glittery eyes and a cute smirk like smile. Each Beanie Boo has their own name and birthday, meaning you can even try and match your child’s birthday whilst gifting.
Super soft fur
Realistic and true to life design
Educational facts on tag
Costly for a smaller toy
There are over 120 to collect
Price on writing: £16 | Age suitability: From birth | Materials: Plush (unspecified) | Washable: Hand wash only | Dimensions: 8 x 6 x 17cm
If you’re looking for a more lifelike and realistic cuddly toy, these soft toys from Living Nature are a great place to start, with over 120 soft toy animals to collect and authentic designs from the natural world.
Thanks to the list of fun and educational animal facts on the tag, children can learn more about their new friend whilst snuggling up to his dense, dual tone plush fur.
What’s the best brand for teddy bears and soft toys?
The best brand for teddy bears and soft toys will very much depend on your budget and preferences, however, with a fairly unanimous verdict from Mumsnet users, Jellycat is a popular choice for a wide range of cute and cuddly soft toy designs including the Bashful Bunny range and our top teddy bear pick, Bartholomew Bear.
What’s the best way to wash a teddy bear?
Due to being a much-loved companion for your child, teddy bears can be prone to getting a little grubby. Whilst some teddies can be thrown into the washing machine on a cool wash, the safest way to wash your teddy is by hand, as this prevents them from becoming misshapen or damaged during cleaning.
We recommend you check the care instructions on each individual toy, as some products recommend spot cleaning only. It’s also important to consider any parts that may need removing before making contact with water.
What’s the best teddy bear to buy?
The best teddy bear to buy today is Jellycat’s Bartholemew Bear, thanks to his super soft fur, traditional teddy bear design and engaging friendly face. That said, we are confident that all of the teddy bears and soft toys on this list would go down well with little ones; each offering something unique and appealing for young children.
About the author
Lucy Cotterill is a mum of two and Content Writer at Mumsnet, specialising in baby/child and lifestyle product reviews and round-ups. Having written product reviews on her own blog Real Mum Reviews since 2012, Lucy loves to research and explore the pros and cons of baby products, scrutinising reviews and consumer feedback to help parents make confident purchases that benefit their families.
Originally from a HR background with a degree in Business Studies, Lucy developed a real passion for blogging and writing when her children were young, going on to write for several online publications including US parenting site Pregistry and the Evening Standard. When she’s not manically tapping the keys of her laptop, Lucy loves nothing more than to cosy up with her Kindle and enjoy the latest thriller, or compete in Nintendo Switch rallies with her daughters aged six and 10.
How we chose our recommendations
Recommendations from real Mumsnet users
There is a lot of debate within the Mumsnet forums about teddy bears - with some saying they love them, and others who have so many they’re struggling to know how to store them.
First, we sought out the trusted opinions of Mumsnet users, to get their feedback on their kids’ favourite teddy bears and soft toys - the companions their kids own and have cuddled to their heart’s content.
We also looked out for any negative reviews, where Mumsetters highlighted teddy bears and soft toys that they felt were poor quality or overpriced.
Authentic consumer reviews
Finally, to bring you our definitive list of the best teddies and soft toys, we thoroughly investigated genuine, in-depth customer reviews on retailer sites such as Amazon, John Lewis and The Entertainer to get broader consumer experiences regarding the products on our shortlist.
Why you should trust us
We work hard to provide honest and independent advice you can trust and we spend hours scouring the Mumsnet forums and online bestseller lists to find products that real parents rate.
Transparency is really important to us and that's why we're always upfront about where we find our recommendations. We write about products that we feel offer the best value to most parents – the ones that our users would recommend to their own friends and family.