Favourite Books for Potty Training

We started potty training earlier in the year and on the advice of Rosie's nursery I bought the Little Princess title by Tony Ross 'I Want My Potty'. It's now a firm favourite and a book that we like to read anyway. Partly because Rosie gets to shout 'I want my potty' very loudly! It's the story of the Little Princess having to learn to love her potty and learning how to use it. It has a very funny twist at the end and what I love most about it is it's not too didactic and is very forgiving towards mistakes (as is shown by the ending). Sometimes when you're so desperate for your child to do something you can lose sight of this!

The other book we got was 'Princess Polly's Potty' from Ladybird Books. The boy version 'Pirate Pete's Potty' was featured on Chris Evan's radio show after he found it helped his son. It's very thorough and guides the child (and parent) through what to expect and how to potty train. It also has a sound button with cheering noises which works well with the general reward approach that most parents use for potty training anyway.

There are lots of other potty based children's books out there but these were the ones which we found worked for us!

Orchard Toys - Shopping List, Old MacDonald's Farm and Incey Wincey Spider

A bit of an off-piste post but I consider the Orchard Toys games we have to be as good as many of the books we read! They offer consistent good quality and fun and are also very educational, what more could you want?

First up is Shopping List, according to their website it's their bestseller and it's easy to see why. It's packaged as suitable from three years although we got it last year for Rosie's second birthday and she found it enjoyable to play it as a one person game and fill all the trolleys herself rather than play it with other children. It's basically a matching game where you have to take a shopping list and trolley and then fill your trolley with the items you need from your list, it's good for extending a child's food vocabulary too.

Next we got Old MacDonald Lotto. It doesn't really feature Old MacDonald but has four different farmers with their various animals and tractors to collect. It's similar in concept to Shopping List but you can also make the animal noises! This is great with a child who can't quite get to saying the word yet but can make the animal noise to indicate what they mean. I would say it's a bit easier to play with a younger child making it definitely suitable from two years.

We have just bought Insey Winsey Spider which is aimed at three year olds to six year olds. It uses counting and shapes to help the spiders up the drainpipe and has added drama with a spinner which can wash them down again! We haven't played it that much yet but I can see already that it's going to be a game that we play over and over again.

So that's the games we currently have from Orchard Toys. I think we will be adding many more to our stock over the years! I have my eye on one of their new ones 'Where's my Cupcake?'!

The Yoga Ogre by Peter Bently and Simon Rickerty

The Yoga Ogre is a very funny and charming book about an ogre who has got too fat and wants to lose some weight. Unfortunately because of his size everything he tries ends in disaster. His basketball slam dunks end with the town church missing its steeple. Yoga is a no-no when he tries to do a headstand and bashes the ceiling in.

The town people end up telling him that on no account is he to play any sport because of the damage he is causing and so everything quietens down... until he take up jogging!

The text is rhyming and nice to read aloud and the illustrations are lovely with lots of detail. A laugh out loud book to share together!

Jobs people do by Jo Litchfield and Felicity Brooks

This book is a fairly hefty volume with six stories of different people and the jobs they do. At the moment we only ever read about Daisy the Doctor and Tessa the Teacher with an occasional dip into Vicky the Vet. Frank the Farmer, Sam the Chef and Fred the Firefighter are left out in the cold!

We have a few other books which focus on vocations and what people do for a living. Ladybird used to do a series called 'Little Workmates' which also focused on this subject although more from a younger point of view and with less detail.

All the stories look at the average day of the person and include a little bit of drama to spice up the action. In Daisy the Doctor she has to treat a young boy who has cut himself quite badly and needs a big bandage. This always seems to go down well with toddlers. Mainly because they can empathise with it I guess.

Tessa the Teacher is the one I hear Rosie re-enacting the most. She lines up her toys and takes the register and goes through their day. It's not that dissimilar to her nursery day so I guess she also likes it because it's a familiar routine.

Princess Poppy by Janey Louise Jones

Princess Poppy is not my favourite book series to read to Rosie but she loves it and so I think it would be unfair editing on my part not to mention them on this blog!

We have several of the Princess Poppy's 'The Birthday', 'Twinkletoes', 'The Fair Day Ball' and 'The Play'. There is also one called 'The Wedding' which we must get since Rosie loves weddings! Possibly something to do with having been a flower girl four times in her short life so far!

Princess Poppy is a bit of a spoilt brat to be honest! She's impatient for her birthday presents on her birthday and gets in a grump that no one is up and about before breakfast to make a big fuss of her. She has loads of treats at the fair and then wants a pretty dress that she has no money for and doesn't want to work for it. She wants to boss everyone about during 'The Play' and watch them work while she does nothing. She gets impatient when she Twinkletoes the pony isn't well enough to ride. And worst of all she gets to do everything she wants in the end! Not without learning a few life lessons but she is indulged and spoilt most of the way! I think this might be why Rosie loves the books!

So not my choice but if you have a little girl then she'll probably love them!

Mog The Forgetful Cat by Judith Kerr

Mog is a true classic children's picture book and instantly recognisable. We've been reading it non-stop recently and I can honestly say I don't really get tired of it. Rosie certainly doesn't!

The story follows Mog the cat who is a little silly and forgetful. She very often forgets that she has a cat flap and instead sits outside the kitchen window and meows to be let back in. This drives her owners a bit potty and they are constantly saying 'bother that cat'. One day she has a very bad day and ends up running outside to the garden after bedtime and getting locked out (although if she remembers she has a cat flap she would realise she isn't!). Then she notices a light moving inside the house and meows her biggest meow to be let back in. But it isn't a member of the family she's disturbed - it's a burglar! Mog ends up being the heroine of the hour and saves the day.

There are little touches which I really like throughout this book. The scene with the policeman, family and burglar at the end really makes me chuckle with the downcast burglar drinking a cup of tea alongside everyone.

It's one of our current favourites and I think it will probably stay that way! Pretty good for a book that was originally published in 1970!

The Worst Princess by Anna Kemp and Sara Ogilvie

The Worst Princess has become a firm favourite in our house in a very short space of time. Partly because it features a princess, a prince and a dragon. Good stock characters that tick all of Rosie's boxes! But also because it's funny, a good story and gorgeous artwork. It makes me wish I could draw half as well!

I love this book because it's about an anti-princess. She doesn't want to be pretty and sit around in dresses and wait for her prince to come back. She wants to be out having fun, preferably with her pal the dragon! With my darling daughter completely obsessed with the colour pink and wearing pretty dresses I'm glad there is a book to show her that being a bit of a tomboy can be a lot more fun. I'm sure she'll find that out for herself anyway but it's a refreshing read!

The rhyming text is great too, with lots of references to tea! It's really funny that the Princess is called Sue (it definitely helps the rhyme along!) and can't stand her prince who's rescued her - he is a rubbish prince, admittedly. There are quite a lot of picture books that turn the myth and legend of fairy tales around and I think this is one that really works!