Room on the Broom – Learning Ordinal Numbers

Julia Donaldson is one of our favourite authors consistently producing books that my children love – from board books to early reader books there’s been something that sparks the interest of either J and T. As this months feature author for the virtual book club for kids and 3 fantastic books to focus on by her we have chosen a topical favourite from the choices Room on the Broom.

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Room on the Broom is written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler and is a rhyming book about a witch and the animals that she picks up as she rides through the wind as well as the Dragon chasing her. Using the order that the animals climb on the Broom I decided that we would learn about Ordinal Numbers using our broom and Room on the Broom finger puppets.

Materials needed for this Room on the Broom Activity

Stick
Elastic or rubber Band
Pipe Cleaner
Room on the Broom Finger Puppets from website
Paper
Scissors
Sticky Tape

Preparation

Cut out the finger puppets from the printed sheet and sticky tape them so that they form a circle that you can then use to put on your finger.

Create a Broom using a stick and a pipe cleaner – Cut up the pipe cleaner to make the brush part of the broom and then attach to the stick with an elastic band.

Write or print out 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th – depending on your child’s ability you could print/write out the numbers or the words or even both to extend with a matching exercise.

Looking for more maths activities to share this Halloween with your preschoolers? Check out these Halloween Maths Activities for Preschool for more ideas.

Learning Ordinal Numbers with Room on the Broom

Reading through the book I emphasised which order the animals got on the broom showing T the number cards at the same time, she’s just starting to recognise numbers and adding in the st, nd, rd, and th initally confused her but I got her to focus on the first number. So as we went through I would say things like – “Look First the witch got on the broom”, “The Frog was the fifth animal to get on the broom”.

Once we had finished reading I showed T the broom we had made and the finger puppets and we started off by putting the animals onto the broom in the right order – witch, cat, dog, bird and frog and as she put them on showed her the number cards.

• First went on the witch
• Second was the cat
• Third animal on the broom was the dog
• Forth came the Green Bird
• Fifth and last was the frog

Love Room on the Broom then check out our other favourite Witch Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers.

She liked putting the animals onto the broom with the finger loop it was perfect for the broom to go through and they kind of looked like they were sitting on the broom.

With the number cards I got her to lay them out in order from 1st to 5th and then 5th to 1st from a muddled pile. If your child is familiar with the numbers then use the words to order or try matching the numbers to words.

Once the order was in place we then laid the character finger puppets onto the correct place that they sat on the broom in the story.

I then got her to tell me who came was on the broom 5th, 3rd, 2nd, 4th and 1st – mixing up the numbers so she wasn’t repeating them in order. Pointing to the number to help with recognition at the same time as helping her to remember and develop comprehension of the story.

She then decided that the finger puppets needed to be used on our fingers and we put the puppets on in the order that they sat on the broom.

Room on the Broom Resources for Preschoolers

Watch the Room on the Broom movie which stays true to the book and the characters have the same look as the illustrations. This was a favourite of my children from the Christmas that it first showed in the UK it was on our planner and watched frequently.

One of my favourite ways to help my children with storytelling is to use props and there is a full set of characters from Room in the Broom as soft toys – the witch, dog, frog, bird, cat and even the dragon. These are ideal for play in a setting or if your children love this book then they will spend hours recreating the story themselves.

Room on the Broom Activities

Room on the Broom Activities by Inspiration Laboratories

Counting Ingredients into the Caldron by 3 Dinosaurs

Room on the Broom for a Rhyme by Ready Set Read

Room on a Broom Ordinal Numbers You are Here

Room on the Broom Sensory Bin by Still Playing School

Witch Hat Cupcakes for Kids by Coffee Cups and Crayons

Witch Hat Halloween Treat by The Pleasantest Thing

Witch Shape Craft by Toddler Approved

Room on the Boom Coloring Pages by Crystal and Co

Stick Man Activities

Books for Kids: Stick Man by Growing Book by Book

Fancy Stick Crown by Mama Miss

Going on a Stick Hunt by Playing with Words 365

Recycled Stick Man Craft by LalyMom

The Gruffalo Activities

DIY Gruffalo Inspired Mouse Costume by The Educators’ Spin On It

Gruffalo Rhyming Tic Tac Toe Game by Royal Baloo

Gruffalo Themed Shape Animals by The Educators’ Spin On It

Roll a Gruffalo Game by Playdough to Plato