Lucky Lion Play Guide

Meet Lucky Lion, our beautifully designed first busy book for babies and toddlers. Thoughtfully created for little hands and growing minds, each page invites your child into a world of sensory discovery, early learning, and meaningful connection.

From tummy time and self-exploration to fine motor practice, pretend play, songs, and storytelling, Lucky Lion is filled with simple but powerful ways to play, bond, and learn together.

Front Cover: Peekaboo Lion + Sensory Mane

Say hello to Lucky Lion. The front cover features an adorable peekaboo lion with a wonderfully tactile sensory mane for little hands to explore.

Play ideas

Gently lift and explore the lion during peekaboo play. Run little fingers over the lion’s mane and talk about how it feels. Is it soft? Tickly? Fuzzy?

Extend the play

Use this page to introduce simple animal language and expressions. You can talk about lions, the sounds they make, and where they live. Play peekaboo games with your child and say things like, “Where is Lucky Lion?” and “There he is!”

This page is also lovely for sensory exploration and helping babies become familiar with different textures.

Inside Cover: Baby-Safe Mirror

The inside cover includes a mirror that is perfect for self-exploration and tummy time.

Play ideas

Encourage your child to look at their reflection and talk about what they see. Point to their eyes, nose, mouth, and hair. Smile, wave, and make silly faces together.

Extend the play

Use the mirror during tummy time to keep babies engaged and curious. You can also use it to practice facial expressions like happy, sad, surprised, and sleepy.

As your child grows, this page can also support early body awareness and vocabulary building.

Page 1: Hippo Brushing Teeth

This adorable page helps children explore tooth-brushing routines through hands-on play and conversation.

Play ideas

Practice brushing Hippo’s teeth while talking through the steps involved in brushing our own teeth. You can act out the whole routine together:
pick up the toothbrush, add toothpaste, brush the top teeth, brush the bottom teeth, spit, rinse, and smile.

Make up little conversations between your child and Hippo:
“Hippo, did you brush for long enough?”
“What foods help keep your teeth strong?”
“Should we brush after eating sweet treats?”

Extend the play

Talk about foods that are good for teeth, like cheese, yoghurt, crunchy vegetables, and water. Then compare them to foods we should only have sometimes.

You can also use this page to discuss daily routines such as brushing in the morning and before bed, visiting the dentist, and why keeping our teeth clean is important.

This page is perfect for building routine familiarity in a playful, low-pressure way.

Page 2: Lift-the-Flaps Animals

Lift the flaps to discover animals hiding underneath.

Play ideas

Name each animal together and talk about the sounds they make. You can ask questions like:
“What animal is hiding here?”
“What sound does it make?”
“What does it like to eat?”

Extend the play

Use this page to build vocabulary by discussing where animals live, what colours they are, how they move, and what other foods they might enjoy.

You can sort animals into categories too, such as farm animals, wild animals, or pets. For older toddlers, try asking simple questions like:
“Which one is big?”
“Which one is fluffy?”
“Which one says moo?”

This page is wonderful for surprise, memory, language development, and early animal knowledge.

Page 3: Threading Caterpillar and Apple

This interactive page encourages fine motor development through threading play.

Play ideas

Thread the hungry caterpillar through the holes and talk about where it is going. Is it crawling slowly? Is it hungry? Is it trying to reach the big delicious apple?

Use lots of imaginative language:
“Oh no, Caterpillar is so hungry.”
“I can smell that juicy apple.”
“Nibble, nibble, crunch!”

Extend the play

Make caterpillar sounds, invent a little story, or talk about what the caterpillar might be thinking and feeling.

This page is also a great opportunity to practice hand-eye coordination, patience, and bilateral coordination as children guide the caterpillar through each hole.

You can also talk about colours, counting the holes, or even introduce simple concepts like before, after, through, and around.

Page 4: School Page with Zip and Buckle

This page is packed with practical life learning and fine motor fun.

Play ideas

Practice doing up and undoing the zip and buckle, while chatting about getting ready for school.

Talk about what we might pack in a school bag:
lunch box, drink bottle, hat, jumper, books, or a special comfort item.

Extend the play

Use this page to roleplay school routines and create little conversations:
“Are you ready for school?”
“What should we pack today?”
“Who will we see at school?”
“What do we do when we arrive?”

This is also a lovely page for talking about feelings around school, separation, independence, and new experiences.

Children love acting out real-life routines, and this page helps make those moments feel familiar and exciting.

Page 5: Shape and Colour Matching

This page introduces early learning concepts through shape and colour play.

Play ideas

Match the shapes and talk about their colours together. Name each shape and describe what makes it special.

You can ask:
“How many sides does this shape have?”
“How many corners can you count?”
“Which shape is round?”
“Which shape has straight edges?”

Extend the play

Use this page to compare shapes and talk about similarities and differences. For example:
“A circle has no corners.”
“A triangle has three sides.”
“A square has four equal sides.”

You can also sort by colour, count the shapes, or look for the same shapes in your home environment.

This page is ideal for developing visual discrimination, early maths language, and problem-solving skills.

Page 6: Five Little Ducks Finger Puppets

A much-loved interactive page for singing, counting, storytelling, and imaginative play.

Play ideas

Use the duck finger puppets to sing Five Little Ducks together. Count forwards to five and backwards from five as each duck disappears.

This page is perfect for making the song come alive through movement and action.

Extend the play

Encourage your child to use the finger puppets for storytelling and open-ended play. They might create their own duck adventures, make the ducks talk to one another, or pretend they are swimming, splashing, or going home to mummy duck.

Finger puppets are also wonderful for developing fine motor skills, hand strength, coordination, and confidence in imaginative play.

You can also use this page to introduce early concepts like more, less, first, last, and all gone.

Back Cover: Sensory Calming Page

The back cover features a comforting sensory texture designed to soothe and calm little ones.

Play ideas

Encourage your child to gently rub, pat, or explore the texture with their hands. This can be especially comforting during quiet time, wind-down time, or while out and about.

Extend the play

Use this page as a calm corner tool during transitions, travel, waiting times, or emotional moments.

You can pair it with soothing language like:
“Let’s take a big breath.”
“Can you feel how soft this is?”
“Let’s have a quiet moment together.”

This page is a beautiful reminder that play can be both stimulating and calming.

Why families love Lucky Lion

Lucky Lion is more than a busy book. It is a gentle, sensory-rich introduction to play, learning, and connection.

Across its pages, children can explore:

• sensory development
• fine motor skills
• early language
• imaginative play
• counting and matching
• self-awareness
• practical life routines
• calming sensory input

Whether you are using it during tummy time, on the go, during quiet play at home, or as part of your daily routines, Lucky Lion creates so many beautiful opportunities for connection and learning.

A little tip

Follow your child’s lead. Some days they may want to sing, some days they may want to explore textures, and some days they may want to repeat the same page again and again. That repetition is where so much learning happens.

Lucky Lion was designed to grow with your child and make everyday moments feel playful, meaningful, and special.