Sometimes Montessori spaces can feel a bit intimidating. Sometimes it feels like we need to go out and buy or make complicated or specialized set ups in order to engage in certain work with our children. And, potty learning environments are no different. You can see some great examples of little bathrooms made completely accessible to toddlers. They include just about everything they could need for pottying all in one organized, tiny, beautiful space.
I can see the appeal! I would be nice to have everything just right there. To move seamlessly from standing diaper changes to pottying to independent toilet use. It is nice to have diapers and cleaning supplies all in one spot, and laundry! But, realistically, most homes just don't have the space for that. Ours doesn't. So we make do with a simple potty learning area, and provide access throughout our home to other things a potty learning child might need.
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Our potty learning area is on our main level, not in our bathroom. Our bathrooms are either up or down a set of stairs, which I've found too hard for a new learning to navigate with success when quickly getting to the potty. The area includes:
- Our small potty
- A basket with clean undies and diapers
- Floor protecting mat - we didn't use this with Gus or Nora and the floors took a little bit of a beating, this keeps the floor a bit less wet which will hopefully minimize further damage.
We teach Teddy to wash his hands at our DIY sink in our kitchen, a few steps away, This area also holds the cleaning supplies we use for cleaning up accidents.
The one thing I would love to add to his pottying area is a bucket for dirty laundry. Somehow our extra bucket got packed away in our shed for the winter and is buried under our summer lawn furniture. I haven't been to IKEA to pick up a new one so we are just walking dirty laundry to our kitchen bucket or upstairs hampers.
And, that's it! What's your potty learning set up include?
