Potty training tracking chart: the free printable sheet
A tracking chart is a sheet you fill in for two days to record when your child drinks and when they need a wee or a poo. After those two days you can see the pattern: how long it takes your child to need the loo after drinking. The sheet is below, free to print, with the same columns as the charts in the Potty Training Box.
Why you watch first and reward second
Most parents start with rewarding. That is understandable, and it is one step too early. You can only reward a child for telling you they need to go once you know yourself when they need to go — otherwise you are sitting them on the potty at set times and hoping. With one child that happens to work; with another it does not for months.
This method turns it round: your child tells you, you write it down. The tracking chart is the tool for that. You are not imposing anything, you are learning to read what is already happening.
How to fill it in
- Print the sheet below. One sheet per day, for two days.
- Write down the time of every drink. Try to let your child empty the cup in one go. Then you know exactly how much went in, and how long it takes afterwards before they need to go — that link is what you are looking for.
- Did your child sit on the potty or the toilet? Write down the time and put a mark under wee or poo, in the green column if it worked and in the red one if it was an accident.
- Nothing happened? That is information too. Put a mark under nothing.
- Use the notes column for what you saw just before it came: going quiet, wriggling, hiding away, grabbing at their pants.
Fill it in at the time, not from memory in the evening. You are looking for quarter-hours, not halves of the day.
The tracking chart to print
The sheet is below. Use your browser’s print function (Ctrl+P or Cmd+P); only the chart goes on the paper, not the text around it.
Day ____ · Date ____ / ____
Your child tells you, you write it down. Not the other way round.
| Time of drink | Time on the loo | Nothing | Wee managed / accident | Poo managed / accident | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
pottytrainingbox.co.uk · free to print for your own use
What you see after two days
Put the two sheets side by side and count back from every successful wee. In most toddlers there is a fairly fixed gap between drinking and needing to go, and that gap differs from child to child. Once you know it, you know when it is worth asking and when you can leave your child alone.
Look at the notes column as well. The signal you wrote down — going quiet for a moment, jiggling their legs, crawling behind the sofa — is usually the same signal your child will soon learn to name themselves. Recognising it is the heart of getting dry.
And then: rewarding in the right order
Once you know when your child needs to go, you can start rewarding. This is where it usually goes wrong on one point: people take a single chart with a fixed number of squares and keep using it.
That is why the Potty Training Box holds four sizes of sticker chart: 3, 5, 7 and 9 squares, used in that order. With three squares your child reaches the first present quickly and sees that it works. After that the reward becomes gradually rarer, so that managing it matters more than getting something — and you can stop at the end without a fight.
It is also why there is no free printable version of the reward charts: one chart with a fixed number of squares freezes the reward exactly where it ought to be tapering off. Your child gets used to a present every third time and the build-up stalls. The tracking chart works on its own; a reward chart does not.
Want to see how that build-up works? Read on about why a reward chart works.
Tracking chart, reward chart, sticker chart: which one do you need?
Three different sheets get called a potty training chart, and they do different jobs. Using the wrong one is why a chart sometimes stops working after a week.
| Chart | What it is for | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Tracking chart | You record what happens: when your child drank, when they went, whether it was a success or an accident | The first two days, before you change anything. It shows you your own child’s timing |
| Reward chart | Your child earns a sticker for a success, and a small reward when the row is full | From day three, once successes start coming |
| Sticker chart | The same thing under a different name; what matters is how many squares it has | Start at three squares, then five, seven and nine |
Watch first, reward second. A reward chart on day one rewards luck, because neither of you knows yet when your child actually needs to go. Two days of recording turns “she never tells me” into a pattern, and the reward then lands on something your child did on purpose.
Why the number of squares matters more than the stickers
Most charts sold in shops have one fixed grid, often ten or twenty squares. That is a long way to the first reward for a three-year-old, and once the novelty goes, so does the chart.
The cards in the Potty Training Box run in four sizes, used in this order: three squares, then five, then seven, then nine. The first reward arrives almost immediately, which is when your child needs the encouragement most, and then it gets steadily rarer as going to the toilet becomes ordinary. That fade is the mechanism. A chart that rewards at the same rate on day six as on day one is asking you to keep paying for a habit that should be carrying itself by then.
If you are building your own: keep the first card short, praise immediately and specifically (“you told me, and we made it”), and give the reward straight away rather than at bedtime. A small reward now beats a big one later, at this age by a wide margin.
What to use as a reward
Small, immediate, and not food if you can avoid it. A sticker on the card and something tiny when it is full: a bath crayon, a balloon, choosing the story, ten minutes in the garden. Parents who start with sweets usually end up negotiating over sweets, which is a separate problem to solve later.
Praise counts as a reward, and it is the one that carries on working once the cards are finished. Name what your child did rather than saying “good girl”: “you felt it coming and you told me” is information, and information is what they can repeat.
Frequently asked questions
Is a reward chart the same as a potty training chart?
Not quite. A tracking chart records what happens, so you can see your own child’s timing; a reward chart marks successes with stickers. Use the tracking chart for the first two days and the reward chart from day three.
How many squares should a reward chart have?
Start with three, so the first reward comes quickly, and move up to five, seven and nine as the habit settles. One long chart usually stalls halfway.
How long should I keep the chart going?
Two days is enough to see the pattern. Longer does no harm but rarely adds anything: after two days you know how long the gap is between drinking and needing to go.
Should I sit my child on the potty at set times?
No. That is exactly what this chart is meant to prevent. You use it to learn when your child needs to go, not to impose a timetable on them. The aim is for your child to tell you.
My child wees on the toilet but only poos in their pants. Will I see that here?
Yes, and it is one of the most useful things the chart shows. Poo often lags weeks behind wee. The poo column tells you whether there is a fixed time of day, which helps you wait calmly instead of pushing.
Can I use the chart without the Potty Training Box?
Yes. It is deliberately usable on its own: all you need is a printer and two days. What you do with that knowledge afterwards is what the box is about.
From what age does this make sense?
As soon as your child stays dry for a few hours and notices that they need to go. For most children that is somewhere between two and three, but the signals tell you more than the age does. If you suspect something medical is going on, for instance pain or holding on to stools for a long time, speak to your health visitor or GP.