8 Best Step Stools for Potty Training, Tested and Ranked

Five and a half inches doesn’t sound like much next to the OXO’s seven, and for a small 2-year-old it’s the difference between a step and a climb. The Dreambaby sits low, and its front edge is contoured so it nests against the toilet base instead of leaving a gap your child has to bridge while holding on with one hand. That’s why this is our pick for the parent of an early trainer rather than the taller all-rounder.

Grip is handled with 117 rubber dots across the step surface and a non-slip base underneath, and the platform is 14.3 inches wide — broader than most here, which matters when a toddler plants both feet and turns to sit. At 0.38 kg a child can drag it from the toilet to the sink without asking, and the smooth plastic wipes clean with a warm washcloth.

The catch is headroom, literally. Once your child is three and tall for it, the low step stops putting them at the right height for the seat and you’re shopping again. That’s not a fault so much as a stage: this stool serves the first year of training beautifully, and after that the height you want is the OXO’s. If you’re starting with a 4-year-old, go straight to the taller picks.

Half baths are where step stools go to die: there’s no floor to leave one out on. The Skip Hop Double Up gets around that by being two stools that nest — a 6-inch small step inside an 8.5-inch large one — so the whole thing stores as a single stack and opens into a two-step climb when you need the height. It’s the pick for a bathroom with no spare floor.

Used together, the large stool interlocks on top of the small one and gives a combined boost that gets a taller preschooler to the sink; used apart, you have a toilet stool and a kitchen helper. The standing platforms are wide, both halves have non-slip bases and treads, and the 250-pound rating means an adult can perch on the big one while a child washes hands.

The catch with anything that nests is that the halves stay locked only while they sit still. Carry the stack by the top step and the two pieces part; let a toddler drag it across the tile and you’ll find them in different rooms. In a bathroom where the stool stays put, that never comes up, and the nesting is pure gain.

The second bathroom is the one that gets forgotten. You buy a stool, it lives in the bathroom your child uses most, and every trip to the other end of the house involves carrying it. The COOSEYA pack solves that for about what a single premium stool costs: two identical two-step stools, 9.25 inches at the top step with a lower step to climb.

The details are better than the price suggests. The treads carry letters and numbers, which gives a reluctant toddler something to talk about while they climb, the edges are rounded, and the sides have handles small hands can grip. The polypropylene wipes down, and both stools snap together in a few minutes without tools.

It’s a pair or nothing, which is either the whole point or a wasted second stool depending on your house. The other catch is capacity: at 50 kg this is a kids-only stool, so no adult perching on it to reach a high shelf. For a two-story house, or a bathroom plus a kitchen, we think the pair is the better buy than one fancier stool you’ll carry up the stairs every night.

This one isn’t shaped for a bathroom and it isn’t sold for toddlers. It’s a general-purpose folding stool, 9 inches tall, and nine inches happens to be exactly the height a toilet step wants to be — which is the only reason a 300-pound-rated utility stool earns a place in a potty-training guide.

What it does that the dedicated kids’ stools can’t is disappear. Lift the handle and it folds flat in one motion, slim enough to slide between the vanity and the wall or tuck behind a door. The stepping surface is gripped rather than smooth, the plastic body weighs 2.4 pounds, and an older toddler can open it and set it down without help.

The one thing to manage is the floor. Like most folding stools, it wants a flat, dry surface under all four feet, and a bath mat or a wet patch undoes the grip that makes it feel solid. Put it on bare tile and it’s steady; leave it half on a mat and it rocks.

Most step stools end up in a guest bathroom that has to look presentable when company arrives, and a bright plastic one doesn’t. The Growing Up Green stool is bamboo, 14 inches wide and 7 inches tall, with a smooth natural finish and a shape that reads as a small footstool rather than a piece of kid gear.

Functionally it does what the plastic stools do with less fuss. Seven inches gets a 2- to 4-year-old to the toilet seat and the sink, the feet are non-slip, and at 16 ounces it’s light enough for a child to carry one-handed from the bathroom to the kitchen. That combination is why we recommend it as the second stool in a house — the one that stays in the downstairs bath rather than being hauled around.

The compromise is depth. It’s only 6 inches front to back, so there’s less platform for a toddler to plant both feet on than the 9- and 10-inch footprints elsewhere here, and a wriggly child will notice. Height sets the other limit: seven inches is right for a 2- or 3-year-old and short for a tall 4-year-old at the sink.

The StrongTek is the heaviest stool in this group, and lifting it is the quickest way to understand what it is: a piece of furniture built for a house with kids in it rather than a bathroom accessory. The frame is wood, both steps are wide with textured treads, and the whole thing carries a 350-pound rating.

Two steps change how a child climbs. Instead of hopping up 7 inches in one go, they take a stair — a lower tread at roughly half height, then the top — which is steadier for a 4-year-old and gets them high enough to reach a countertop, not just a toilet seat. Side handles help a parent carry it, and the treads and non-slip feet keep it planted once it’s down.

The cost of all that is mobility. At several times the weight of the plastic stools here, it isn’t something a toddler repositions alone, so the independence a 1.5-pound stool gives you goes away — this is a stool a parent moves and a child climbs.

For a family that wants to buy once, that’s a good trade. The lower step works for a 2-year-old, the upper step for a 4-year-old, and by the time training is over it’s a kitchen and closet stool that takes an adult’s weight. If your child insists on doing everything themselves, one of the lighter picks serves better; if you want the last stool you buy for this stage, this is the one.

Training goes faster when the equipment is something a toddler wants to use, and that’s the entire case for the Disney Princess stool. It’s contoured so it nests against the toilet base, it has gripping rubber on both the top and the feet, and it’s covered in characters a toddler will claim as theirs before they’ll sit on the toilet.

As a stool it’s competent rather than exceptional: 12.1 inches wide, 4.7 inches deep, 14.56 ounces, rated to 200 pounds. The step is low, so it does its best work in the first year or two of training and stops reaching the sink for a tall 4-year-old. Buy it when motivation is the missing piece and you already have one of the taller stools above; a toddler will climb on a princess before they’ll climb a plain grey step.