Tea pets are fun objects used to enhance the experience of tea brewing. The most common tea pets are made of materials such as zisha, resin or ceramic.
Some tea pets are for decoration only. For example the resin figures (fat Buddhas, lions etc) are made to look cute and will increase in shine with time after being 'nourished' by being poured by tea/hot water repeatedly. Others are interactive to play certain 'tricks', such as using the internal cavity to store water when cooling and then squirting it out when next put in contact with hot water.