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[Yes, here's the poo post - if it's not your sort of thing please ignore and come back later in the week when we'll have left all toilet business behind. I really don't want to offend anyone with this. If on the other hand you're comfortable with talking about no. 2s (I hope that's not just UK slang) then do read on! If you've arrived here as part of Nonfiction Monday, you have made it to the right place I promise.]

Photo: jronaldlee

Whilst Book Blogger Appreciation Week was on I was stuck at home potty training J. It’s all gone well but there has been much inspection of potty contents and lots of questions about where the said contents come from and go to. As luck would have it we found Where Does The Poo Go? by Caren Trafford, illustrated by Jade Oakley in one of our local charity shops. We snapped it up and have been enjoying it (honest!) ever since.

I can pretty much promise you that this book will make you and your kids giggle whilst you learn fascinating new things about history, medicine and recycling. Starting with the oldest known poos (some of which, we learn, are now classified as gemstones), this jam-packed book takes you on a journey through to the modern day, investigating the development of toilets, sewerage systems, the use of poo as fertiliser and the link between poos, germs and health.

It’s written in a lighthearted, conversational manner, (but never descends to the level of crude toilet humour, despite the matter in hand!), pitched perfectly for kids who like a little bit of yuckiness but not too much. The fun and intrigue generated by facts such as what materials are traditionally used for toilet paper around the world, or the number of people who are hospitalised each year in Paris after slipping on dog poo turn this book into a real page turner whilst the illustrations raise further smiles (accompanied by just the slightest turnings of the stomach). The use of brown watercolours for illustrating the poos is really rather genius!

Although probably aimed at kids of M’s age and older, J has loved pouring over the illustrations whilst sat on the potty. The detail, colour and humour kept her (and me) coming back to this book time and time again.

When it came to doing something creative inspired by Where Does The Poo Go? I did think about having a sweetcorn race (everyone in the family eat some and see whose reappears first…), and about making chocolate meringues with the girls (no prizes for guessing what the would look like), but in the end I decided to make use of the zillions of toilet rolls we’re now accumulating in lieu of using nappies. There’s a great round up of toilet roll crafts on Crafty Crow and we tried our hands at a few of the ones we liked the look of best.

First we tried painting with toilet rolls, inspired by the instructions from Kids Craft Weekly.