Juvenile toilet seat, 'Teacher', polypropylene, made in Great Britain, 1950s

Training toilet seat and original box. The seat is an egg-shaped ring made from injection-moulded baby blue polypropylene. There is a raised lip at the narrowest end. On the underside are four 'fins' set vertically to the base. On the underside, on the two long sides and the widest end, there are crosses which are moulded in to strengthen the plastic seat.

The original box has a colour printed sheet of paper glued to its front.This show instructions for the seat's use, a graphic of a nude toddler carrying a 'Teacher', and general information about the product.

Given by Jenny Mason

Given to the Museum in 2017 by Jenny Mason. The donor was given it by her mother's friend [2017/434]

The three most important considerations during a child’s early life are food, sleep and going to the toilet. Each of these represents a unique design challenge, which has resulted in products which are exclusively used by children, such as highchairs, baby monitors and cradles. Training an infant to graduate from nappies to adult toilets can be a frustrating process, so it is usually done in several steps. Often, a child will make use of a smaller seat which can be fitted onto an adult toilet as an intermediate step up from the potty.

Great advances were made in plastics technology during the Second World War, and civilian uses followed quickly as manufacturers sought to exploit these newly-available materials. Plastics were marketed as a cheaper, more hygienic alternative to traditional materials, and a staggering range of products were made from them.

B.95:1, 2-2017