Room on the broom - youtube

A closet (especially in North American usage) is an enclosed space, with a door, used for storage, particularly that of clothes. Fitted closets are built into the walls of the house so that they take up no apparent space in the room. Closets are often built under stairs, thereby using awkward space that would otherwise go unused.

A piece of furniture such as a cabinet or chest of drawers serves the same purpose of storage, but is not a closet, which is an architectural feature rather than a piece of furniture. A closet always has space for hanging, where a cupboard may consist only of shelves for folded garments. Wardrobe can refer to a free-standing piece of furniture (also known as an armoire), but according to the Oxford English Dictionary, a wardrobe can also be a "large cupboard or cabinet for storing clothes or other linen", including "built-in wardrobe, fitted wardrobe, walk-in wardrobe, etc."[1]

Other uses of the word[edit]

In Elizabethan and Middle English, closet referred to a small private room, an inner sanctum within a far larger house, used for prayer, reading, or study.

The use of "closet" for "toilet" dates back to 1662.[2] In Indian English, this use continues.[3] Related forms include earth closet and water closet (W.C. or flush toilet). "Privy" meaning an outhouse derives from "private", making the connection with the Middle English use of "closet", above.

A typical modern wall-mounted space-saving closet.

• Airing cupboard: A closet containing a water heater, with slatted shelves to allow air to circulate around the clothes or linen stored there.
• Broom closet: A closet with top-to-bottom space used for storing cleaning items, like brooms, mops, vacuum cleaners, cleaning supplies, buckets, etc.
• Coat closet: A closet located near the front door. Usually used to store coats, jackets, hoodies, sweatshirts, gloves, hats, scarfs, sunglasses, and boots/shoes. This kind of closet sometimes has shelving. It only has a rod and some bottom space used for clothes stored in boxes or drawers. Some may have a top shelf for storage above the rod.
• Custom closet: A closet that is made specifically to meet the needs of the user, like a kids closet.[4]
• Linen-press or linen closet: A tall, narrow closet. Typically located in or near bathrooms and/or bedrooms, such a closet contains shelves used to hold items such as toiletries and linens, including towels, washcloths, or sheets.
• Pantry: A closet or cabinet in a kitchen used for storing food, dishes, linens, and provisions. The closet may have shelves for putting food on.
• Spear closet A closet made to use up otherwise unused space in a building.
• Supply closet A closet most commonly used for storing office supplies.
• Utility closet: A closet most commonly used to house appliances and cleaning supplies
• Walk-in closet: A storage room with enough space for someone to stand in it while accessing stored items. Larger ones used for clothes shade into dressing room.
• Wall closet: A closet in a bedroom that is built into the wall. It may be closed by curtains or folding doors, which clothes can be stored folded on shelves.
• Wardrobe: A small closet used for storing clothes.

Closet tax question in colonial America[edit]

Though some sources claim that colonial American houses often lacked closets because of a "closet tax" imposed by the British crown,[5] others argue that closets were absent in most houses simply because their residents had few possessions.[6]

Closet organizers[edit]

Closet organizers are integrated shelving systems. Different materials have advantages and disadvantages:[7][8]

Keep reading for some fun Room on the Broom activities. These are designed for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten and are sure to be a hit with your little learners!

We are a participant in the amazon services llc associates program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to amazon.com and affiliated sites. This post contains affiliate links. Click HERE to read our full disclosure.

Our October story of the month is Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson. (You might be familiar with another famous book by Julia Donaldson, The Gruffalo. We have some super fun activities to go along with The Gruffalo that you can read about out HERE.)

Room on the Broom is perfect to read in October! It’s a super cute rhyming story that has also been turned into a mini-movie!

The witch and her cat are flying along on their broom when suddenly, her hat blows off. After landing and finding her hat, the witch and her cat also find a new friend…a dog! He climbs onto the broom, and away they fly.

This happens a few times (the friends drop something, land to find it, and end up finding more friends to join them on their broom) Eventually, the broom gets so heavy that it cracks, and they all go tumbling down…right near a fire-breathing dragon who wants to eat the witch (with french fries)!

Can the friends save the witch before it’s too late?!

Click on the picture to learn more about this cute book!

After reading this story, check out these fun Room on the Broom activities that include Broomstick Pretzel Sticks, a Witch’s Broom, and a FREE printable rhyming activity.

Adding these activities to your October plans (at home or in the classroom!) will allow you to use your little one’s Halloween excitement to practice important academic skills.

Looking for more Halloween printables? Check these out!

Looking for a spooktacular Halloween sensory bin? Check this one out!

BROOMSTICK PRETZEL STICKS

You can’t have Room on the Broom activities without having some broomstick snacks! The witch’s broom plays an important role in this story, so why not turn it into a fun snack for your littles? They are sure to love these Broomstick Pretzel Sticks (and you’re going to love how easy they are!)

Ingredients:

• Pretzel sticks
• Mini Reese’s peanut butter cups

Directions:

• Unwrap the mini Reese’s peanut butter cups and turn them upside down on a plate
• Stick a pretzel stick into the top of each one
• That’s it!

If you’d like to try something besides candy, you can also make the bottom of the broomstick out of a piece of string cheese. Just cut the ends of the string cheese to look like the bottom of a broom, and you’ll have the same fun snack.

WITCH’S BROOM

Not only can your little one make edible broomsticks this month, but they can also make their very own to use while playing! They could use this easy Witch’s Broom (inspired by Preschool Play) to retell Room on the Broom or while pretending to be a witch themselves! They could also decorate it with their favorite Halloween drawings.

Supplies:

• Paper towel roll
• Toilet paper roll
• Paint / paintbrush
• Scissors
• String

Directions:

• Paint the paper towel roll and the toilet paper roll and let them dry. (We chose black and orange paint, but you can use whatever colors you’d like.)
• Once the paint is dry, cut the top of the toilet paper roll to make small fringes, then cut the bottom to make wider fringes.
• Stick the paper towel roll into the top of the toilet paper roll.
• Wrap the top of the toilet paper roll with string.
• That’s it! Now your little one has their very own witch’s broom, which is perfect for Halloween!

Looking for more Halloween inspiration? Check out this post with over 40 ideas for you!

HALLOWEEN RHYMES

The last Room on the Broom activity is a FREEBIE for you! This Halloween rhyming activity is perfect for October and goes along great with this rhyming story.

There are five witches to choose from, and each witch has a different word family on it. Your little one will choose a witch and place it on the Halloween Rhymes mat. Then they will find the broom, cat, and cauldron with rhyming words that go along with that witch. (The first set of rhyming words are CVC words, but I’ve also included a sheet of more challenging words that cover blends and digraphs.)

This activity (along with all of our freebies!) can be downloaded from the Free Activity Library. If you’re already a member of our email community, you can click HERE to head to the Free Activity Library, enter your password (it’s on your most current email from me), and download your copy!

If you’d like to join our email community & receive the password as my way of saying THANK YOU for joining, you can click HERE to subscribe. Once you enter your information, the password will be emailed to you within minutes.

Have you read Room on the Broom? Do you have any fun Room on the Broom activities for preschoolers or kindergarteners that I should add to our list? Let me know! Comment below or find me on Instagram [@littleslovelearningblog] to share!

love these ideas? pin for later!

Did you miss any of our past Story of the Month posts? Click HERE to check them out!

Looking for more Halloween fun? How about other holidays? Click HERE to check out all of our HOLIDAY posts!

MORE FALL FREEBIES

I’ve teamed up with a few of my teacher friends to bring you 13 more FREE fall activities to use in October! These activities are designed for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten, and they cover a wide variety of skills, such as colors, shapes, size, patterns, and sight words! All of the link are listed below so you can check them out:

How can I watch Room on the Broom video?

Is Room on the Broom on YouTube?

What is the story Room on the Broom about?

Where can I watch witch on a broom?