Put it on your hand and Alice comes to life.

Puppets do something no other toy manages. Children will talk to a puppet, confide in it and answer its questions when they will not do the same for an adult asking directly. It is why nurseries and speech therapists keep a box of them, and why they are worth having at home.

Alice the fox as a doctor is a genuinely useful puppet to own before a check-up or a vaccination, because children will let a puppet explain what is about to happen.

There is no script and nothing to set up. Tell a story, sing a rhyme, play peekaboo, have a conversation on the way to bed. It is roomy enough for an adult hand and light enough for a two-year-old to work themselves, at which point it stops being your toy and starts being theirs.

Entirely soft fabric with embroidered features. Machine washable at 30 degrees on a gentle cycle. Lilliputiens is a Belgian brand, founded in 1995 and designed by a team largely made up of parents working alongside early-childhood specialists. Tested to EN71 and ASTM standards and screened for AZO dyes, cadmium and phthalates.

A CHARACTER YOU CAN OPERATE - Slip it on and Alice moves, talks, hides and listens. Children will say things to a puppet they will not say to an adult, which is why nurseries and speech therapists use them.

STORYTELLING WITHOUT A SCRIPT - Tell a story, sing a nursery rhyme, play peekaboo, have a conversation. A puppet gives you something to do together with no preparation at all.

Alice the fox as a doctor is a genuinely useful puppet to own before a check-up or a vaccination, because children will let a puppet explain what is about to happen.

SIZED FOR AN ADULT OR A CHILD - Roomy enough for a parent's hand and light enough for a two-year-old to work themselves, which is when it becomes their toy rather than yours.

SOFT AND WASHABLE - Entirely fabric with embroidered features and no hard parts. Machine washable at 30 degrees on a gentle cycle. Tested to EN71 and ASTM standards and screened for AZO dyes, cadmium and phthalates.

2 years and above

100% polyester fabric with embroidered features

ALICE DOCTOR HANDPUPPET