Making a potty training basket is a simple step that will go along way towards helping your little one become independent and able to go on their own. If you’ve already started training, you likely already have many of these items in your own.
You’ll probably find it best to keep your potty training basket in the bathroom your child is doing most of their training in. It will contain common items that you’ll need, some that are necessary like wipes and clothes, and some that are fun like stickers and games for rewards.
Paper Towels
Accidents are inevitable during potty training and you’ll almost definitely find that toilet paper won’t always do the job. When you need something more substantial to clean up the aftermath, being able to reach for a handful of paper towels lets you clean up without having to sacrifice your bathroom towels. As an added bonus, you can get throw them out when you’re done – no washing required!
Spare Clothes
After potty training accidents, your little one will more than likely need a change of clothes (on their bottom half, at least!). Having a change of underwear in your potty training basket means you won’t have to suddenly find clean, dry offerings at a moment’s notice. In case their entire bottom half gets soiled, you’ll probably want a change of clothes in there as well.
Baby Wipes
Baby wipes are another great tool for cleaning your little one up after accidents and as they’ll most likely be very familiar with them from diaper changes, they’re unlikely to bat an eyelid at them. The flushable types are your best bet as you can dispose of them quickly and easily.
Pull Ups
These might seem like a strange addition to your potty training goodies seeing as your ultimate goal is for your child to be able to control their toilet related needs but they’re perfect for that stage in between diapers and “big girl” or “big boy” underwear.
In the early days at least, you’ll find that accidents will be more common than success. Young children can’t hold it in for more than a few hours and using “training” pull ups at night and during their naps means that you can stop worrying about accidents as they’ll take care of the aftermath.
You can then just focus on potty training while they’re awake. Some children find it comforting to know that they have some protection in case of accidents and it can stop them from happening at these times.
Cheerios
Making it to the potty in time is only half the battle where boys are concerned. Once they’ve graduated to being able to stand up to pee, the other half is about helping them with their aim, which is usually hit and miss! Strange as it may sound, dropping a handful of Cheerios into the bowl for your boy to target can be surprisingly motivating and fun for them.
Stickers
When your child has successfully used their potty, reward them with one of the cool stickers from the basket to let them know that they did a good job. Let your child stick them on a chart each time they receive one so that they can see their successes and feel proud of themselves.
Choose some fun options from their favorite cartoons that they will look forward to collecting and potty training will become something that they want to master.
Toys & Games
When you first start potty training, there are going to be more than a few times when your child will just sit on the potty without actually using it. Most kids have short attention spans and the lack of action can be boring and frustrating.
Having a selection of their favorite toys or activity books handy can counteract this and helps to make the act of sitting on the potty a lot more fun. Try filling your basket with selections from our articles on potty training books for boys or girls.
Toilet Training Seat
Making the move from the potty to the toilet can be daunting for children but a toilet training seat can take some of the fear away. It helps them to get used to the idea of sitting on the toilet, rather than an open potty so that the transition is less strange and scary.
If you need some more info on helping your little one, watch this video from mommy Carol who goes into much more detail about how she successfully trained her child (who very much did NOT want to cooperate at first).
BTW, if you found this article helpful I would love it if you could pin it — thanks for reading! 🙂
