Daniel Tiger’s Stop & Go Potty is the latest iOS app from PBS Kids aimed at the toddler crowd. The game aims to help both parents and kids with potty training.
We are big fans of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood in our house. It’s the direct successor to Mister Roger’s Neighborhood and is one of the few shows we let our two-year-old watch. It’s full of import lessons, and, more importantly, great songs that help reinforce those lessons with your kids. The “Stop & Go Potty” song and potty training episodes were integral in our potty training process, and this new app will help reinforce and help us finish the job.
The main landing page of the app makes it easy to navigate to all of the different parts of the app. Parents don’t have to worry about their little ones getting lost in the app and needing help navigating.
Tapping on Daniel will go into the blocks mini-game. Daniel and Katerina sit on the rug and play with Daniels’ blocks and dump truck. There are plenty of blocks to choose from and they can be stacked in many different ways. The dumb truck can be rolled back and forth and even dumps! When Daniel has to go potty, he will start to wiggle. This helps reinforce listening to our bodies and having to stop and go potty even if we’re in the middle of doing something fun.
The second game is a fun water contraption building set. The spigot can be moved around and different funnels, diverters, spinners, and buckets can be placed on the board to manage and control the flow of water. The idea here is to reinforce the idea of being in control of our bodies.
The third game is a stacking game that can be played with Baby Margaret. The game is pretty basic but the lesson here is about how some kids aren’t yet ready for potty training and still need diapers and that’s ok. When Margaret goes potty, she needs a diaper change.
Mommy tiger does the diaper changing, but your child gets to assist. For any family with a new baby or one on the way, this can be a nice way to introduce being a diaper changing assistant. There are multiple diapers to choose from as well as toys to pick from the help distract and cheer up Margaret so that mommy can change her diaper.
The last main feature of the app is the bathroom itself. Every step of the process is here and helps teach and reinforce all the steps–go potty, wipe, flush, soap up, and then wash and dry your hands.
The app also includes some great additional resources. There are four videos (that have closed captioning available) that are clips from the show that further help with teaching and reinforcing using the important lessons–listening to our bodies, stopping and going right away, and flushing, washing and being on your way.
The final resource is a handful of parental guides about potty training, realistic expectations, and accidents.They help teach parents about their role and what the most recent thoughts on potty training are without ever being condescending. All of the guides are also available in Spanish.
If you are thinking about starting potty training, are smack dab in the middle of it, or are just worried it in the future, Daniel Tiger’s Stop & Go Potty should be a stop on your potty training trolley ride.
Great app. The secret to fast and successful potty training is fun. We did our potty training with the Concisework potty training. All done in a week.
Potty training is some serious business. You read all the books, you learn all the methods, you talk to everyone about the best way to do it. Unfortunately, no matter how much you prepare, potty training can be a crapshoot (no pun intended) since most of the methods are outdates. If you want the newest methods and info on how to potty train, check this out – http://bit.ly/1TAazGa.