Ways To Make Potty Training Fun

How to Make Potty Training Fun

Take a special shopping trip to pick up some potty essentials. Choose a store where you can easily purchase a potty chair and Pull-Ups® training pants with your child. Let them have a sense of ownership over the process by allowing them to choose the product that have their favorite characters or designs on them. Be sure that you don’t pick up anything else on this trip – just make it about potty training so your child feels proud about the special step you’re taking together. Check out our Potty Training Shopping List for more ideas on essentials you can pick up together.
Plan a scavenger hunt. Once you’ve shopped for all the potty training essentials, get your child excited about using them in the Pull-Ups® Scavenger Hunt. This game lets your child find their training pants, potty chair, toilet paper and soap around the house. After your child has found everything, ask them to put all their potty training items together in a special place just for them.
Print or make a potty training sticker chart. There are lots of great sticker charts you can easily find and print online, but if your child is interested in arts and crafts, making their own sticker chart could be a great way to get them excited. Simply gather all the supplies you’ll need such as poster board, stickers, markers and pencils and get creative with your toddler. You can make the sticker chart grid beforehand so that all your child needs to do is decorate. Alternatively, you can glue a one-month wall calendar onto your poster board as a base for the chart. Letting your child personalize the chart could make all the difference.
Surprise your child with a potty training “cake” to celebrate the start of the journey. Using Pull-Ups® training pants and underwear with your child’s favorite characters and colors, build a cake that you can present to them in celebration of the start of potty training. You may have seen something similar done with diapers at a baby shower. Simply roll the training pants and underwear into tight rolls and bundle them vertically to create cake layers that you can stack on top of one another. Then, decorate it with ribbons or colorful magic markers that coordinate with your theme. Top the cake with a fun book that your child can read while on the potty.
Come up with a unique “going potty” song together. Does your child have a favorite song that you can repurpose with some potty training lyrics? Try making up a funny chorus that you and your child can sing when they are sitting on the potty or after they’ve successfully gone. Adding a melody will make potty training something fun to look forward to and will help them stay patient while sitting on the potty. If you have other family members around, encourage them to join in to help your toddler feel even more proud!
Make potty time story time. Pick out special books that are only for the potty. Silly books of kids’ poetry, brightly illustrated picture books with easy-to-follow stories, and books that have funny words and rhythms are all great fun to read together while your child is waiting on the potty. These bathroom-only books will give your child something to look forward to when they have to go. You could also try creating your own potty book! Developing a custom My Potty Book is a fun way to tell the story of your child’s potty training journey and make them feel like the star of the show. You don’t need to be a stellar writer or artist — and there’s a good chance you’ll have the supplies you need right at home. You can create the pictures yourself or ask your child to draw them.
Color together. Pull-Ups® boxes can be unfolded to reveal coloring mats with Disney characters that you and your child can color together. If you don’t have a box, you can download a printable coloring sheet with your child’s favorite character. It can be a fun way to spend time with your little one (doing something other than trying the potty for once!) and reward them for the progress they’re making.
Arrange a FaceTime call they’re sure to love! Help your child celebrate success with a phone call from your child’s favorite Disney character. They can talk to Mickey, Rapunzel, Lightning McQueen, Buzz Lightyear and more. It’s a great way to build excitement and celebrate their potty training success.
Make it a science experiment. Put a few drops of food coloring in the toilet water and have your child guess what color it will turn when they pee. Then, let them try a different color the next time. You can even try mixing colors together.
Create a potty training treasure chest. Many families keep special little toys, books or small stuffed animals in the bathroom to keep their child entertained as they’re learning to use the toilet. To keep them organized — and add a fun personal touch — create a potty training treasure chest for your girl or your boy. Start with an empty shoe box or a plastic container and have you or your child decorate it with stickers, adhesive shelf-paper or paint. Then fill it with potty time fun. You could also turn it into a rewards jar by taking a bunch of craft sticks and writing a special activity or reward on each one. Put them in a basket or cup and let your child pull out a stick for accomplishing an activity such as successfully going potty.

Setting off on the potty training journey is exciting for you and your child. Make sure they’re not feeling too much pressure and keep things fun and positive. Remember, this is an important milestone for your child, so approach it as a bonding moment — one that sets the tone for your parent/child partnership for years to come. Keep your own expectations in check and take any setbacks in stride.

Be sure to keep the fun going throughout the process too. Opportunities for goofy dance parties and little celebrations extend far beyond the initial potty training kick-off. With the average child taking eight months to potty train, there’s a good reason to keep the fun going day after day. And you’ll have some very cute stories to tell too!