Both parents and daycare center employees struggle to find a way to relieve kids' stress with the challenges of potty-training. By making the toilet paper that kids use, the Lohas school was able to directly provide the product and instruct how best to use it for the individual kids and their parents.

Japanese moms can become quite stressed about potty training, given their busy lives and their desire to return to work when their babies become toddlers. This stress can be unknowingly passed on to their children, leaving them feeling upset and reluctant to develop their potty skills.

Lohas Kindergarten wanted to support kids’ potty-training development in a way that would fit in with their education philosophy of “creative imagination and art activity to raise enlightened children." Lohas was also looking for a way to engage parents in the process by giving them a way to support their kids during this trying time.

The idea was born out of this situation.

The idea was very simple.

Since kids love to draw, paint and, in general, make art, the approach takes this fundamental characteristic into consideration and applies it to something they're uncomfortable with, to ease the potty-training challenge and make it fun.

By printing playful unfinished illustrations onto the toilet paper, it turned the frightful experience into something they already like doing, and help build their skills in potty-training, while coloring within the toilet paper's lines.

The unusual approach was taken on by the childcare center, which cared for toddlers during the potty-training age. After understanding the issues and challenges for many years, the center and agency partner came up with this solution that started small, but instantly became a sensation.

In response to the Kindergarten's challenge, toilet time became an educational and fun moment that kids would participate in spontaneously.

By removing the typical seriousness of the occasion and giving the kids something they could easily understand and relate to, they were happy to engage and learn. This approach was a change from the old ways of education, which more likely involved being pushy and scolding.

A coloring book and toilet paper were combined to create "PooPaint." Once the product was developed, the Lohas Child Center team held an experiential event, including kids and their parents, to educate both on the new product and demonstrate its learning potential.

Soon after this event, the PooPaint website was launched, where it was explained and available for purchase, along with being introduced through social media channels. PooPaint sold out in a matter of days.

All of these activities contributed to significant word of mouth, both from the unique approach and the immediate attraction from kids. The Lohas Center continues to teach and help toddlers, and their parents, through this difficult challenge, with the inventive product, PooPaint.

PooPaint became the perfect communication device and aid to their potty-training development. Bringing fun to this typically serious developmental period ended up shortening the time to potty-training mastery while also helping the previously challenged parents see the lighter side, and in so doing, lighten up their potty-training attitudes, which, in turn, helped their kids even further. Of those Child Center parents surveyed, 95% said PooPaint eased the burden and stress of potty training tremendously.

PooPaint gained global media attention after a feature on Yahoo! Japan. Picked up by culture site 9GAG, it went on to achieve:

• 740 million global impressions

• US$2,000,000 in earned media through TV and radio programs in Japan, Australia and in North America.

• Parents showed their support and delight through Instagram posts showing their happy kids.