Learning possibilities
Text: Donaldson, J 2001, Room on the broom,
Resources
MacMillan Children’s Books, London.
Video
Note: This fantasy story has a witch as the central
Room on the Broom (Julia Donaldson) | Read Aloud
character. Please check prior to reading to ensure that Children’s Story (YouTube, Family Pinboard)
the story will not cause offence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCnY5ju15oY
Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson & Illustrated By Axel
Engage
Scheffler (YouTube, MissEmsBookworm Read Aloud)
Step 1. If you have this book at home, encourage your https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRany_OScms
child/children to predict what the story is about
from the cover. If not use the suggested video link in the Resources box and watch the story together.
Step 2. Read/watch the story and encourage your child/children to join in the refrain, ‘Is there room on the
broom?’
Step 3. Here are some questions to ask your child/children about the story.
1. Who were the characters in the story? (witch, cat, dog, bird, frog, dragon)
2. What happened when the frog jumped for joy? (the broom broke)
3. Where did the witch and the animals travel on the broom?
4. How do you think the dog and the cat felt when the strong wind blew? (scared) What makes you
think that? (look for child’s explanation/justification)
Respond
Encourage your child/children to help retell the story by making the characters with playdough or puppets using
drawings attached to a stick or cardboard. As the story is retold, place emphasis on the rhyming words and explain
that they end with the same sound. Encourage your child/children to listen for words that sound the same.
Examples of rhyming pairs in this story are: hat/cat/plait, grinned/wind, cat/spat/hat, ground/found,
claws/jaws/paws, said/head, room/broom, on/gone, flew/blew.
Extend
Retell the story with your child/children, encouraging them to think of sound effects for the wind blowing, rain
splattering, frog hopping etc.
Make a map of all the places the characters visit using sheets of paper taped to a table. Encourage your
child/children to create the details for each part of the story, for example: bushes, pond, mud, mountains using
empty containers and play objects.
Invite your child/children to gather sticks outside to make their own brooms. Once collected, ask your
child/children to put the sticks on a length of fabric and sort them out from shortest to longest. Observe the
problem-solving your child/children use, for example: What do they do with or say about fatter sticks and
twisted or bent sticks?
Encourage your child/children to make their own witch’s potion using eye droppers of food colouring,
teaspoons of vinegar and bicarb soda (to create a frothing effect- do this outside). Encourage your
child/children to use their imaginations and think about what special powers they might have with a wand and
magic potion.
Create a retelling of the story using a broomstick and soft toys.
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(Department of Education) 2020
