SUPPORTING TOILET TRAINING SETBACKS

The Go Time app from Andrex was conceived as an ongoing product that could adapt to meet the different needs of caregivers and children on their toilet training journey.

During testing with parents, we heard over and over again that the transition from at-home potty training, into new environments, with their various different mechanisms (and noises!) could be unsettling for children, and was often a point of setback.

So after the impact of our first storybook: Go Time: At Home, which focussed on the toilet training basics, we wanted to create a new playbook to support caregivers in building their child’s confidence in preparation for new settings whilst out and about.

Our goal was to demystify the various functions and sounds in a simple, delightful way, and give the child the confidence to practise, and have fun in the process!

CO-DESIGNING WITH PARENT & CHILD

Regular focus groups and playtest sessions with our partners Fundamentally Children (and their fantastic on-site Baby Play Cafe!), are fundamental to our co-design approach. It allows PRELOADED and Andrex to strengthen the product, and build a content roadmap based on real pain points – not to mention keep audiences motivated as they progress.

GoTime: Out and About is a direct response to that co-design. Families expressed a need for continued support in transitioning from familiar environments to new ones, once the initial potty training was underway. Long car journeys, new friends’ houses, public places, and new nurseries/schools all represented times of anxiety around toileting and often resulted in setbacks.

These new environments represent important milestones in a child’s development, and toilet confidence and independence are key parts of that. We wanted to boost a child’s confidence so that the next time they entered a new environment, they could do so with curiosity, and perhaps even delight!

Parents also spoke to the need for Voice-Over to scaffold their child’s experience, and offer the flexibility for their child to play and learn independently.

INTRODUCING GOTIME: OUT AND ABOUT

GoTime: Out and About familiarises the child with new toilet environments and different types of toilet mechanics (flushes, taps and hand drying).

Following on from the success of GoTime: At Home we knew that the relationship and role play with Bunny was a powerful mechanism to motivate learning for the child.

Expanding Bunny’s world – nursery, the supermarket, and the playground – we ask the child to support and guide Bunny to go to the loo in three new locations. The child explores each environment by guiding Bunny’s paws, learning how to push buttons, pull levers, and even wave(!) sensors in highly replayable scenes they can jump between.

It’s through this reciprocal relationship, helping Bunny overcome their worries around new environments – that they learn and explore their own concerns too!

PLAYFUL INTERACTIONS MADE FOR EXPLORATION

The goal was to make each environment rich with delight and tactility, whilst recognising the varied, but often quick to develop, motor skills for 2-4 year olds.

Central to this was expanding our interaction principles to offer more control to the child in exploring each mechanic and the surrounding scene. Tap, Drag, Drag ‘n’ Drop, and ambient interactions give the child more freedom to explore, and allow for learning through play.

Steaming up the screen when the hot tap is running, popping bubbles from lots of soap, or ROARING along with loud hand dryers are all great (often silly!) ways to create a feeling of delight and familiarity through exploration.

Bunny is side by side with the child at each point, with playful animations, and facial expressions that give immediate feedback both in times of worry (calming Bunny down) and moments of celebration (Bunny High Five!).

A new Voice-Over feature supports the child’s ongoing independence, giving prompts to allow the child to play outside of parental support.

IMPACT SO FAR

The GoTime app has had over 11,000 downloads since its launch in 2023, with a 5* ratings on iOS.

The app is part of a broader educational platform from Andrex that helps families adopt healthier toileting habits and assists parents through the difficult stage of potty-training their kids.

PRELOADED built the GoTime app on a fully extensible framework, allowing the application to be updated with new languages, content modules, and future features.

GoTime is available to download now on iOS and Android devices. https://www.andrex.co.uk/gotime