Designing Life: DIY Potty Training Chart

Today, I decided to face up to the fact that my three year old son, who is mostly potty trained, really needed some more encouragement to make it all the way. Some days my son will stop what he is doing to run to the bathroom to take care of business (especially if it’s number twos), when he has to just pee . . . he doesn’t always stop playing. He waits until the last possible second and often that is one second too long!

The End of Wet Pants

My idea was to make a DIY Potty Chart to help my son recognize the goal and work towards it. I pulled out my supplies (as seen in the picture below) and I got to work.

DIY Potty Chart Instructions

1. I personalized the top of the chart with his name and called it a Pee Pee Potty Chart. You may need a Pee and Poo Potty Chart, but I wanted this to fit my little guy’s issue.

2. Then I wrote down the days of the week, who knows, maybe he’ll learn those while we are at it! On the end I made a star to symbolize his reward upon success.

3. I made blank boxes where I planned to either stick a sticker or pin a pin. This was a work in progress. (I also cut the chart at this point to make it rectangular and fit to the drawing size.)

4. I grabbed my train edge puncher to get my son to really like the chart. He loves trains! So I punched the bottom with the train punch. If I were to make it again, I would punch every side.

5. I cut out squares that would fit into the blank boxes on the chart. The last one was smaller so I could just write in the rewards that would encourage him.

Need an edge punch? This one is adorable.

6. I wrote encouraging words on each square for each day. On the backs, I wrote numbers so he could match the number on the square with the number on the boxes (that I then wrote numbers in).

7. I wrote three rewards in the smaller rectangles. I picked things that we do not do as often that I know he loves to do . . . or eat!

I decided that I will either put a magnetic surface behind the chart and attach magnets to each of the encouraging boxes or perhaps attach the square and rectangle boxes to clothespins to clip onto the chart.

Potty Chart Rules: For my son, he gets to attach the days square to the chart when he makes it through the whole day with no accidents. At the end of the week, if he has the appropriate amount of success squares, then he gets his reward. You may want to start with success three days a week to spur on your child rather than hoping for the whole week. Add on a day whenever you think your child is ready.

Since I recognize that many mothers are so busy with work and all the other things that life throws at us, I decided to make a printable version of the Potty Chart for anyone who wants to simply order the chart, print, and go with it. Below is the picture of the printable chart with printable pieces and the link to my Etsy page.