Stuffed animal

Duck stuffed animals

Soft toys are not necessarily animal shaped.

A stuffed animal is a toy animal sewn from cloth, plush, or other textiles, and stuffed with straw, beans, plastic pellets, cotton, synthetic fibers, or other similar materials. Stuffed animals are also known as plush toys (U.S. English) from plush, the outer material used, and soft toys or cuddly toys (British English). They are made in many different forms, some resembling real animals, some in a caricature with emphasis on different features, some in the form of Legendary creatures or Cartoon characters.

Some stuffed animals are very old – home made cloth dolls stuffed with straw go back to at least the 1830s, perhaps much older. The most well known type of stuffed toy is likely the teddy bear. They are often used as comfort objects.

History

Stuffed animals in the past were used for random stuffing of the evacuated skins of hunted animals. The phrase is still sometimes used to refer to examples of taxidermy. However, with modern technology it is now possible to produce them with synthetic materials. For this reason, plush toy or plushie (U.S. English) or soft toy (British English) may be more appropriate names for modern synthetic stuffed animals.

The first commercial concern to create stuffed toys is apparently the Steiff company, founded in 1880 in Giengen an der Brenz, Germany.

Among the most popular types of classic stuffed animals are teddy bears and sock monkeys.

Today

Stuffed animals are bought for a variety of reasons. Some are bought for display in home or a work place. They can also be given as gifts, such as for graduation, Valentine's Day, birthdays, any kind of special day, or just as an expression of thought.

Current brands

Some popular commercial manufacturers include Ty, Disney, Steiff, Gund, Russ Berrie, Ganz, Build-A-Bear Workshop and Boyds.^{[original research?]}

See also

• Teddy bear, a common type of children's stuffed toy

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