Stuffed toy

A cuddly toy, stuffed animal or soft toy is a children's toy made of plush or other soft material in animal or modified fantasy form. The most popular form of a cuddly toy is the teddy bear.

A cuddly toy is often given to a child in infancy or toddlerhood and then "accompanies" it throughout childhood. For this reason, children often have an intimate bond with their cuddly toy, even when it is already damaged and worn out. Although the cuddly toy is in itself a non-living object, in the child's imaginative world it is seen as a living being that is entrusted to the child on the one hand and that serves as the child's protector or playmate on the other.

Cuddly toys can be a source of comfort, aids to falling asleep, friends, companions, collectors' items and much more. In the rescue service, cuddly animals are increasingly used with young patients to distract them from pain and the unfamiliar situation. The psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott described the function of the cuddly toy with the concept of the transitional object, with the help of which the child catches the exit from the symbiotic mother-child relationship of infancy.

Adults, too, can cultivate or build up intimate bonds with inanimate objects, including stuffed animals, and give them names and functions. For many, the cuddly toy is an emotionalized bridge to their real or idealized childhood, to home, to a beautiful place, a talisman or a lucky charm.

A depiction of the child-cuddly animal relationship from the child's point of view can be found, for example, in the comic strips about Calvin and Hobbes.

·         Different cuddly toys

See also

• Teddy Bear
• Doll
• Felix the rabbit (picture book series about the adventures of the little stuffed rabbit Felix, who sends his owner letters from his travels)