A potty training tip: Build on the excitement of the holidays and introduce (or reinforce!) the fun that can be had with potty training.
That’s right… potty training can in fact be fun!
Are you looking for some gift ideas for the toddler in your life? Be sure to check out all of our potty training book reviews and our awesome collection of Potty Time products.
New! The Potty Time Full Collection now includes a potty training guide for parents and teachers!
The Potty Book for Girls
The Potty Book for Boys
By Alyssa Satin Capucilli
Like all the other “for boys” and “for girls” books reviewed thus far, this is the same book, just switching out the gender. Told in ongoing rhyme, it tells the story of a child who loves to play and is ready to try a newly gifted potty.
Parents will get a chuckle out of the opening pages, which shows a very squirmy toddler getting a diaper change, and young children will identify with the main character who isn’t quite sure it’s time to give up that trusty diaper. After trying, and a few accidents, there is success and lots of happy pride. In the closing pages, the young reader is invited along to try too – a nice way to put ideas into action in this little book.
To read our other book reviews, go HERE
From time to time a blogger will take a look at the Potty Time program and write up a review. We love that Potty Time is spreading and recently saw some great independent insight into what we offer.
Amber over at JadeLouise Designs had this to say:
Potty Time is a fantastic combination of sign language, songs, verbal, 
auditory, and visual stimulus to help a little toddler learn about how amazing their body is. In Potty Time you learn new sign language signs. Each sign is showcased with Rachel (the creator and instructor of the videos) showing the new sign and saying the name of the sign. Also showcased is the actual word written out, plus a photo to show what the word means. It’s a very well rounded instruction to ensure any learning style will be well received.
Thanks, Amber! We’re so glad you liked Potty Time! To read lots more about Amber’s take on our programming, and see what else she’s up to, please visit her blog at JadeLouise Designs!
This book is listed for ages 24 – 36 months on the cover and contains simple illustrated representation of the loveable Sesame Street characters. What I particularly appreciate about this book is that each character is at a different stage of development, one who goes all the time, one who has the occasional accident, and one who is just not interested at all yet. This may be very reassuring to children and parents alike!
The text invites children in by asking occasional questions and explains what each character is doing and why.
One page even mentions how a character calls her time in the bathroom “potty time”, which is a rather convenient link to the Potty Time program too!
To read our other book reviews, click HERE
Too Big for Diapers (a Sesame Street Babies publication)
In five quick page turns, this book follows Baby Ernie (shown as a stuffed doll) through the potty training process. It has very simple words describing what he is doing on each page, stressing the “stop and go!” concept in a similar way to Potty Time.
The photos of the dolls and props are large and bold, likely very engaging, especially to children who are training a little bit on the younger side, or who absolutely love Sesame Street.
A really nice companion to this book might be our Baby Hopkins plush who can be snuggled with as the story is read, and used to act out what Baby Ernie is doing in the book.
To read our other book reviews, click HERE!
We are reviewing some potty training books! Our entire collection of reviews will be housed HERE.
You Can Go to the Potty
By William Sears, M.D., Martha Sears, R.N., and Christie Watts Kelly
This book is from the Sears pediatrician team, particular favorites of those who like the attachment parenting method. It’s also one of the books I (Colleen) used with my own son! It actually starts out with tips for parents, and explains some of the choices in the book, as well as giving a few tips if you are experiencing any difficulty during the potty training process.
The story starts out talking about the baby days. In line with the attachment parenting approach, the illustrations show both nursing and co-sleeping, which some families will greatly appreciate and others may not as much. It then transitions into what big kids can do, and talks about where pee and poo-poo might go, first in a diaper and now into the toilet.
This book takes a specific approach to the timing of potty training, telling children they will switch to underwear when they can keep their diapers dry. Some families will do well with this timing, whereas others may find a different approach is going to work better for their child.
The book moves on to the process of potty training, including a supportive take on accidents and of course lots of great celebrating. A particularly nice aspect of this book is the little insets on some pages called “Answers for the Very Curious”. These boxes contain questions children might ask about going potty and simple answers that they can understand – very helpful!
As this is geared towards little ones but is very factual, it would make a nice companion to a more playful approach, such as our book “Hopkins Uses the Potty”
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