You do not need a screen to keep a toddler calm on the potty: simple hands-on play, chosen wisely, does the job better and builds habits that last.
The most practical answer is also the most reassuring one: swap the phone for a small, tactile toy or a short song ritual, and most toddlers will sit for long enough to succeed. Research consistently shows that open-ended, hands-on play holds a young child's attention at least as well as a screen, without the passive dependence that screens can quickly create. You do not need to engineer an elaborate distraction. A chunky puzzle placed on the floor beside the potty, a familiar nursery rhyme sung in a gentle voice, or a set of stacking cups carried in from the bedroom can be enough to shift the mood from resistance to calm cooperation, and to do it within a few days of consistent practice.
The second thing worth knowing immediately: there is no evidence that children learn toileting skills faster when given a screen, and some reason to think screens may slow the process down. A toddler watching a video is focused outward, away from her own body, which is precisely the opposite of what potty training requires. Body awareness, the ability to notice and act on a physical signal, is a skill built through movement, sensory play, and quiet attention. Give a child something to do with her hands, and her nervous system stays present. That presence is what potty training actually depends on.
What the research says about screens and toddler attention
Paediatrician Jenny Radesky and colleagues have noted that device use during caregiving routines can interrupt the serve-and-return interactions that build self-regulation in young children. Potty training is itself a self-regulation milestone: handing over a screen at that moment may undermine the very capacity the child is trying to develop.
When a toddler is handed a phone on the potty, two things happen at once. First, she learns that the potty is where screens appear, which means she may begin to demand one every time, or refuse to sit without one. Second, her attention moves away from her body at the exact moment it needs to move toward it. Potty training requires a child to notice internal signals, to sit with mild discomfort or uncertainty, and to wait. These are early executive function skills, and neuroscientist Adele Diamond's work on executive function development shows clearly that these capacities are strengthened by active, self-directed engagement, not by passive consumption. The screen habit, once established, tends to be sticky. The good news is that it usually takes only three to five days of consistent replacement activities to build a new, calmer routine.
Psychologist Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and her colleague Roberta Golinkoff have spent decades documenting how hands-on play promotes the kind of focused, self-directed attention that screens cannot replicate. When a child manipulates a puzzle piece, fits a shape, or threads a bead, she is practising exactly the sustained concentration that sitting on the potty also requires. The task is small, the feedback is immediate, and the satisfaction is hers. Lev Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development is useful here too: a toy that is just slightly challenging keeps a toddler engaged without frustrating her, which is precisely the quality you want in a potty-time activity. Choose something she can almost do independently, and she will keep working at it for the two to four minutes that most successful potty sits take.
A word on timing from developmental science
Jeffrey Trawick-Smith's research on play quality in early childhood consistently finds that open-ended, manipulative toys produce longer, more sustained play episodes in under-fives than electronic alternatives. For potty training, where you need a child to stay seated for a short but focused period, this is directly useful evidence.
Keep the kit small, curated, and dedicated: three to five items that live only in or near the bathroom, so they feel special. Wooden toys are well suited to this context because they wipe clean easily, they have no batteries to corrode in a damp room, and their weight and texture provide the sensory grounding that anxious or reluctant toddlers often need. Avoid anything with many small pieces that could be dropped into the toilet, and avoid anything so exciting that your child will want to carry it away before she has finished. The sweet spot is a toy that is engaging enough to hold attention for three minutes but calm enough not to tip into overstimulation.
Browse Jaques London's wooden toys collection, made for little hands and built to lastThe criteria for a good potty-training toy are straightforward: wipe-clean, small enough to store on a bathroom shelf or in a small basket, robust enough to survive daily handling, and engaging enough to work without a parent operating it. Wooden puzzles and stacking sets meet all four criteria comfortably. Travel-sized games designed for young children are also worth considering: their compact format was designed precisely for small spaces and short attention spans, which maps well onto the potty-training context.
Explore Jaques London's educational toys, designed to grow with children from their earliest yearsJaques London: toys with more than two centuries behind them
Established in 1795, Jaques of London is the world's oldest games company. The same principles that shaped its earliest wooden toys, quality materials, purposeful design, and the understanding that play is how children learn, are the principles that inform its range for young children today.
Start by introducing the replacement activity before you remove the screen, not at the same moment. Spend two or three days letting your child explore the new toy or song game at other times of day, so it already feels familiar and appealing. Then, on the first potty sit, bring the toy with you and leave the phone in another room without comment. If she protests, stay calm and warm, name the toy, and begin playing with it yourself. Most toddlers will follow a parent's attention within thirty seconds. The transition is rarely as dramatic as parents fear, particularly when the replacement activity has been chosen to match the child's current interests.
The most practical options are four-to-eight-piece knob puzzles (typically 20 to 25 centimetres square when complete), small stacking or nesting sets, peg boards with a compact frame, and travel-format games designed for under-fives. A shallow wicker basket or a small fabric bin placed beside the potty or on a low shelf can hold three to five items without cluttering the room. Rotating the contents every week or so keeps the selection feeling fresh, which matters more than having a large number of toys available at once.
Most paediatric guidance, including recommendations aligned with the American Academy of Pediatrics, suggests that potty sits should be short: typically two to five minutes per attempt. This is entirely manageable without a screen. A single nursery rhyme takes about ninety seconds. A simple puzzle, attempted and completed, takes two to three minutes. A brief storytelling exchange with a soft toy can stretch to four or five minutes without any sense of effort. The aim is not to fill time but to give the child's hands and imagination something to do so that her body can relax, and that happens very quickly with the right activity in place.
Yes, several. Simple matching games with large, wipe-clean cards work well for children from around twenty-four months. Travel-sized skittles, set up a small distance away and rolled to from a seated position, introduce an element of gentle anticipation that many toddlers find delightful. Traditional stacking and balancing games with large wooden pieces are compact, portable, and robust. The key for a two-year-old is to choose games with very few rules, immediate visual feedback, and pieces large enough to handle confidently. Jaques London's range of traditional and educational games includes options designed with exactly this age group in mind.
Britain's oldest toy maker. Every toy open-ended, wooden, and built for exactly the kind of play the research recommends.